[Powermankw]

It shows as sold out for me not sure if my patience will last long till new version will be released
I’ll watch this thread if anyone will have a chance to compare against other popular budget streamers. My main preference would be streamer without a DAC though

The story is lots of supply chain issues that delayed cometion. Right now there was an initial 200 for production run. All those have sold. Looking ahead there are already issues, and as was mentioned, it has to go in a different box. For right now things look indefinitely delayed for mercury. There is always just making a Pi42AES.... Probably get it sooner, but everything Pi these days seems scarce. I didn't know it before, but Volumio put out their Pi based streamer, you could look at that. The mercury is really nice, too bad for all the outside problems.

 

[mine]

@xtiva
Ohh.... this would be interesting , as the Hermes was on my wishlist too....

 

[hakunamakaka]

The story is lots of supply chain issues that delayed cometion. Right now there was an initial 200 for production run. All those have sold. Looking ahead there are already issues, and as was mentioned, it has to go in a different box. For right now things look indefinitely delayed for mercury. There is always just making a Pi42AES.... Probably get it sooner, but everything Pi these days seems scarce. I didn't know it before, but Volumio put out their Pi based streamer, you could look at that. The mercury is really nice, too bad for all the outside problems.

This Mercury seems a killer streamer for me. Low noise, small size and comes with wifi and airplay. Basically I do not need anything else...but at least with Pi2aes being out of stock for years it doesn't look promising as well...

I was thinking to grab used Node 2i, but many folks complain about it's optical output which I was planing to use to dac. There is no way to add DDC like U18/Iris as Node 2i has no USB output...Maybe something like Wiim Mini -> USB to DDC -> DAC. I'm open to any other ideas, but don't want to get stuck with large streamer again, unless it's a smallish/medium size with a good DAC which would outperform Qutest

crap seems Wiim Mini has no usb out as well

 

[Powermankw]

This Mercury seems a killer streamer for me. Low noise, small size and comes with wifi and airplay. Basically I do not need anything else...but at least with Pi2aes being out of stock for years it doesn't look promising as well...

I was thinking to grab used Node 2i, but many folks complain about it's optical output which I was planing to use to dac. There is no way to add DDC like U18/Iris as Node 2i has no USB output...Maybe something like Wiim Mini -> USB to DDC -> DAC. I'm open to any other ideas, but don't want to get stuck with large streamer again, unless it's a smallish/medium size with a good DAC which would outperform Qutest

crap seems Wiim Mini has no usb out as well

Take a look at Volumio Primo. Just released and supposedly still available. Wifi, USB, HDMI... Small. I like Volumio, but giving gentoo a try to see if I can get better.

 

[hakunamakaka]

Take a look at Volumio Primo. Just released and supposedly still available. Wifi, USB, HDMI... Small. I like Volumio, but giving gentoo a try to see if I can get better.

Does it have airplay ? Their website doesn't mention anything about it and this would be dealbreaker for me as I want to stream soundcloud. I don't mind optical inputs as well if it's properly done, but noisy source worries me as qutest degrades quite a lot with my laptop

 

[Powermankw]

IDK personally. I don't do apple... I just saw it announced when I got Volumio. It's in line with other SCB players. I used optical to get away from noisy USB... At least from a computer. I K ow resolution is limited, but that still includes the overwhelming majority of hi-res. I used optical from Bluesound and did not have any complaints. The digital outs do bypass the dac. They are at least common and you could pick up used and sell later.

Mercury is worth waiting, but they have to offered for sale first and no word on when that will be. Clearly there is a market for a well done Pi4 with every audio output and nvme drive

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I was thinking to grab used Node 2i, but many folks complain about it's optical output which I was planing to use to dac. There is no way to add DDC like U18/Iris as Node 2i has no USB output...

But it has coax output. And the new node has USB DAC support, but it's around 650 euros.

There are plenty of DDC that have optical and coaxial S/PDIF input, AES/EBU, etc. There is no reason to limit yourself to a DDC with only USB input.

 

[mine]

I would not buy a unit without I2S . As this is my favorite output to my Holo DAC
( after long testing with a similar Pi4 streamer = https://www.silent-angel-audio.com/munich-m1t
B.t.w. Technically not quite the level of Mercury , but with a rockstable OS (VitOs)

 

[hakunamakaka]

I agree that I2S is the best way to get digital to DAC, but qutest doesn’t have such.

The budget line of DDC usually works with USB only. I’m ordering used Node 2i which goes cheap for 250$, it’s easy to upgrade internal PSU if I feel the need. I’ll better save the energy elsewhere for now and upgrade once I will settle down

 

[gimmeheadroom]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dou...or-an-affordable-clean-digital-signal.958462/

 

[mine]

Michael Kelly (Pi2design) wrote (about 07/01) :

We have 50 more orders to ship and will be done over the next two weeks.

So , as these14 days are over we are in a very good hope to get a shipment message all day soon.


Update : 7/18/2022 :

We now have 30 more orders to ship and should be done over the next two weeks.


Best
mine

***********My Mercury is shipped .

 

[xtiva]

inally got my unit back after some chip was replaced to fix the issue of AES not being able to play 192kHz, earlier this week

Ohh.... this would be interesting , as the Hermes was on my wishlist too....

A quick comparison between Sonnet Hermes and Pi2Design Mercury.

The equipment used for this test was;

DAC - Aqua La Voce
Amp - SPL Phonitor X
Headphone - Hifiman Susvara & Sennheiser HD800

Build Quality - hands down Hermes has far better build quality compared to Mercury. Mercury seems to be using about a 1mm thick panel whereas Hermes looks to be using a much thicker panel for its unit. But this is expected as Hermes is $1200 unit (nearly 2.5 times the price of Mercury).

Mercury seems to sound a little brighter between the 2 units, though Hermes is able to produce a similar amount of treble and detail retrieval. This seems to be due to Mercury lacking a little bass compared to Hermes and hence you get the feeling of Mercury being a little brighter than Hermes. (Hermes is more than a year old and has been my main streamer so it would have been very well burned in)

Mercury's detail retrieval is amazing with both of my headphones tested without any fatiguing or nasty treble glare, just clean treble. The bass is very good just not to the level of Hermes in my opinion, the difference is very marginal at best but you can hear the difference. This might be because Mercury is very new, hence might report back in a few week's time.

Hermes also seems to have a wider and deeper soundstage but this difference is very marginal and you really need to listen hard to tell the difference. Instrumental separation and layering are very good on both streamers.

Mercury is definitely a keeper for me, very clean sound with a great soundstage.

All of the above is my very subjective comparison

 

[mine]

Mercury (Volumio) > Holo spring DAC

No DSD at all with I2S .

DSD (dop) shows 176,4 KHz ( no sound)
DSD (direct)converted to PCM (192 KHz)

Tried Volumio . Ropiee , MoOde , Picoplayer.
No way.

 

[xtiva]

Mercury (Volumio) > Holo spring DAC

No DSD at all with I2S .

DSD (dop) shows 176,4 KHz ( no sound)
DSD (direct)converted to PCM (192 KHz)

Tried Volumio . Ropiee , MoOde , Picoplayer.
No way.

What DAC are you using? The pin might not be compatible. Some DAC needs DSD on flag on pin 14 or 15... ie. Topping SMSL

 

[mine]

Pin is correct , but
No working DSD ( DAC Holo Spring 3) with Mercury , and I2S.

Same behaviour here , as reported @ Audiophile Style.