MERGING TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES HAPI MKII

 

Following a record quarter of sales of the original Hapi

It is unusual for a six-year-old product to achieve record sales but MERGING+HAPI has never been usual. Since the beginning of October 2020, more than 120 units have been sold and the diversity of user and countries has been remarkable. On the one hand, there were four sold to the French theme park, Puy du Fou along with two Horus units which, when added to their already significant installation, makes them one of the largest individual purchasers worldwide. On the other, units were supplied to film and post studios in Denmark and Germany, classical recording facilities in UK, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and USA, broadcasters in France, Switzerland, Canada, USA and Indonesia, Dolby Atmos® studios in Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Additional Sales to Australia, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Hungary, Slovenia, Norway, Sweden, China and the Czech Republic covering all the above applications plus Mastering Houses and studios using Pro Tools and Nuendo.

This flourish of activity provides the ideal scenario for the launch of MERGING+HAPI MKII which will start shipping in March. Advance orders are already more than fifty, so eagerly is this product anticipated. All the good bits of Hapi remain, meaning all the current and future AD/DA interface cards will slot straight in as will the PT64 HDX and MADI cards.

NEW FEATURES

• Channel-based routing. Each channel can be routed individually to make the most efficient use of resources
• Improved Headphones specifications and features
  • Mastering grade Headphone Amp
  • Powerful Headphone Amp suitable for ultra-low to very high impedance headphones.
  • Headphones DSD volume support (DSD64, DSD128, DSD256)
  • Headphones DSD256 support
  • Per channel Headphones Trims for level and polarity
• New front panel with improved display. Clear Plexiglas with dimming options
• ST2022-7 Support. Perfectly complementing Anubis SPS and MAD, Hapi MKII is now fully compliant with the Seamless Protection Switching strategy
• Switch mode support - Remove the need for an external network switch when using one additional Networked Interface
• Additional DA Roll Off filters
• Per channel DA Trims level and polarity support
• 0.1 dB level precision steps on DA and all trims - Precision mastering control

Hapi MKII also retains the redundant power supply option and now has ST2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching added to the NMOS and ST2110-30 compatibility it already had. The dual Ethernet ports also allow "Switch Mode" operation which permits the connection of one additional RAVENNA/AES67 device without the need for an external switch. This is particularly useful for compact location recording systems where additional switches add to the complexity and overall weight. Anubis and Hapi provide a surprisingly powerful package that delivers exceptional audio fidelity with all the control needed to route your microphones, control your monitoring and even provide the talkback to the artists.

The core of Hapi MKII is the powerful ZMAN "system-on-a-chip" featured in MERGING+ANUBIS and this allows for individual channel-based routing and the other important enhancements to the headphone performance and DA control. The headphone amplifier now monitors full DSD256 material with volume control from the front panel and, as with Anubis, it is now capable of driving ultra-low to very high impedance headphones.

Additional roll-off filters on the DA have per-channel trims and polarity switching. Demands from many mastering houses have seen all trims including the DAs to be adjusted in 0.1 dB steps to provide the precision demanded by this speciality. These adjustments are also applicable to the headphone monitoring making sure that you get identical results whether you are listening on speakers or headphones. As an added bonus, the front-panel display is improved and has dimming options to cope with any lighting conditions.

Rune Jacobsen, Merging's newly appointed International Sales Manager commented; "I have been blown away by the 2020 sales results that have defied all earlier predictions. Hapi has been one of the outstanding products recently and we are certain that Hapi MKII will achieve even greater success."

Merging Technologies is a Swiss manufacturer with over 30 years of experience in developing groundbreaking, professional Audio and Video products for a wide range of entertainment and media industries.  With a dedicated user base in the elite end of the music, film, television, mastering and performances industries, Merging is committed to developing product ranges with unrivalled quality and flexibility, no matter what the application. Merging builds tools for people who want more from their systems, have an inherent need to push boundaries, and believe that quality always comes first.

RAVENNA is a solution for real-time distribution of audio and other media content in IP-based network environments. Utilizing standardized network protocols and technologies, RAVENNA can operate on existing network infrastructures. RAVENNA is designed to meet the strict requirements of the pro audio market featuring low latency, full signal transparency and high reliability and is fully AES67 and ST2110 compatible. With a capacity of nearly 8 x MADI streams over a single Gigabit Ethernet link, it is also the first and only Layer-3 based IP audio protocol with full support for high-channel count DXD and DSD signals.

While primarily targeting the professional broadcast market, RAVENNA is also suitable for deployment in other pro audio market segments like live sound, install market and recording. Possible fields of application include (but are not limited to) in-house signal distribution in broadcasting houses, theatres, concert halls and other fixed installations, flexible setups at venues and live events, OB van support, inter-facility links across WAN connections and in production & recording applications. http://ravenna.alcnetworx.com