ulysse21

Well MBL amplifier seems to be in another price range, 2 or 3 more expensive... Both are not really conventionnal Class D considering it as been a lot modified by Auralic and MBL... For the best? :-)

Yes Merak are very beautiful and WAF :-) One important thing is that it work excellent with my JPS Labs Superconductor V speakers cables : this cable reveal all Merak qualities you could miss with some other cables.

Hi, When you access to your NAS directly from your PC it uses a specific network protocol so you can browse files on your NAS. UPNP is another protocol, dedicated to access multimedia files on the network : it has been invented to simplify connection between all heterogeneous home's devices so you don't need to know network information as IP address, you don't need to build complex configuration to connect together Apple OS, Windows OS, Android OS, Smartphone, Camera, etc... With UPNP, all devices from all brands compatible with UPNP can talk together and share multimedia files., without network configuration knowledge. The good thing is that Aries should be compatible with USB key or external hard drive : so you loose the media files share capability in your home but you don't need to buy a NAS.

Hi, I have both Merak and NC400+SMPS600 at home with a VEGA DAC. I wanted to compare them together and really know how it differ! NC400 are more a mastering studio : extreme silence, very pint point soundstage, huge bandwith, high depth soundstage but they are so boring :-( I'm not involved in music, definitively not for me! MERAK are for audiophile music lovers : a very little less silence and precision but so lot of more music, you have to hear and compare with NC400 to know you are in a really higher musical league, no comparison possible, Merak do music and involve you in the perfomance. OK it's more expensive but for me not so expensive comparing other hifi product to get this level of quality! My GRAAF GM 50B tube amplifier has the same musical qualities but with less drive capabilities and less precision but we are in both case in the high end musicality and performance, not with NC400+SMSP600. Nevertheless, I can understand NC400 are certainly the perfect amplifier to work in studio mastering, revealing all what you have to hear for this job. So don't mistake, Merak use Hypex UCD400 but sound's really better than NC400, certainly because the excellent power supply, the class A output stage and all modification done on the UCD400 itself. Now my NC400 are to sell, only two weeks old, email me if you want to give them a try, perhaps it's more for other tastes ;-)