Pi 2 Design - Mercury Streamer

[Voxata]

May be discontinued, I say this due to no stock anywhere. I sent an inquiry to a vendor and it's been out for a bit - hopeful to get more but no updates.

 

[Guidostrunk]

Thread resurrection. Anyone interested in the mercury, the V3 is now available on the pi2design site. I just bought one and they're $499 with your choice of OS. I was really surprised to see there's not much info on headfi about this device. Hopefully we can get this thread going again.

 

[Guidostrunk]

 

[Guidostrunk]

The above video is Marvs(sbaf) review of the holo red and mercury 3

 

[theveterans]

Which output did you like the most with the Mercury 3? AES? COAX? USB?

Considering this to retire my SP2000 DAP. My only worry is that I do hope it's as good as the SP2000 at least since that DAP blows away any PC/iPad/Macbook even with a DDC in between. Considering Marv likes things that are more analog, I'm afraid Mercuy V3 might be too polite/laid back and lack dynamics and air and immediacy without any digital prickliness of the SP2000. I know for sure something like the Grimm MU1 on AES will blow the SP2000 DAP on USB, but I unfortunately can't afford such a streamer. I'm planning to use the AES to Yggy MIB which might be probably the best output for Yggy

 

[Zachik]

I have been using AES to Holo May, and been very happy.

 

[theveterans]

I have been using AES to Holo May, and been very happy.

Thanks! I’m gonna stick with Roopie since I’m primarily Roon. Hopefully an Occasional Spotify Connect or AirPlay will still work with Roopie. Once I get my AES cable I’ll most likely get the V3

 

[Guidostrunk]

AES for me.

 

[Sko0byDoo]

Have been using AES and I2S from Mercury v2 to Holo Spring; sounded the same/good to my ears either connection. Still stick to v2 due to internal M2 memory. Hopefully, Raspberry will reintroduce the compute module w/ m2 slot and I'll upgrade.

I switched from the free Volumio to paid GentooPlayer and like it a lot! Not sure of better sound quality but usability is much better. Library loads faster, MPD works flawlessly. Highly recommended.

 

[matthia]

Which output did you like the most with the Mercury 3? AES? COAX? USB?

Does the Mercury 3 offer USB output to a DAC?
Thx

 

[Orange5o]

I mean, that would kind of defeat the purpose of the device?

 

[matthia]

I mean, that would kind of defeat the purpose of the device?

Why?
AFAIK, the Holo Red and quite a few other streamers do

 

[conductor609]

yeah there is a usb output, but as was said it wouldn't make much sense on the mercury. the usb output is part of the pi board, it doesn't have anything special done to it and would be the same as just buying a raspberry pi and using usb out of it.

 

[theveterans]

You can, but it's not isolated from the RPi circuitry so in essence it's similar to a regular iDevice or android tablet.

Best way is to A/B directly with your DAC. USB vs Coax/AES and let your ears guide you

Does the Mercury 3 offer USB output to a DAC?
Thx

 

[matthia]

You can, but it's not isolated from the RPi circuitry so in essence it's similar to a regular iDevice or android tablet.

Best way is to A/B directly with your DAC. USB vs Coax/AES and let your ears guide you

Thanks,
btw is this the same with the Red or does the Red offer a superior USB like Lumin U2?