Merrill Audio VERITAS Amps: Any other experiances?


Despite the Sandy Hurricane interruptions, Merrill was kind enough to provide me the opportunity to audition his Merrill Audio Veritas Mono-block amps with my system. He delivered the amps and I listened for approx 48 hours over a period of three days. It should be noted that never once in this time frame did I or anyone else listening experience listening fatigue.

The Veritas units were temporary replacements for my ARC VTM200 MONO-blocks and other than a short experience with my neighbors ARC 610 Mono-Blocks which really brought my Maggies to life, it was a reawakening as to what my Maggies can do given sufficient power. It's not that the VTM200 don't do a good job, its that financially, moving up with more powerful tube amps is out of the question.

Basically , I was overjoyed with what I was listening to. With the Veritas supplying 700 watts per channel vs the 200 tube watts, which is fundamentally 3 and one half times the power I had been feeding them, it was the first time I heard the Maggies with the power they were recommended to be supplied with other than the 610 experience. It should be noted that every piece of electronic audio equipment I have is TUBE centered. The presentation of the Veritas into the system was the first time a pure solid state unit had been introduced to the system and the lasting impression was WOW...just like the web site stated!

We listened to vinyl as well as CDs...Jazz and full orchestration as well as solo piano, cello and violin. Beside myself and occasionally my wife, the listening panel included Blaine Handzus of the NJAS as well as an interested neighbor along with Merrill.

If and when I replace the ARC VTM200s, the Veritas would be at the top of the list.

Having heard Class D amps at other systems, I had never been totally satisfied with what they delivered but the Veritas units presented a completely satisfying and different audio presentation. In short, the 'you are there' effect the Maggies are famous for with the proper watts was stunning.

Simply put, the Veritas are an audio achievement, with extremely accurate front to back definition as well as a superbly accurate soundstage presentation. The holographic effect of instrument position within the orchestra was excellent.

But more to the point, the sounds of the instruments themselves were very accurate. My wife, who listens to live music on a daily basis, both strings, keyboard and horns made the comment that she "could hear the cellos and violas breath".

It was a sad hour when Merrill came back to take his amps away!
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Showing 11 responses by hifial

The following is from an earlier post and an update on the Veritas amps by Merrill Audio.

*** I have no financial interest or benefit of any kind of Merrill Audio or Hypex who make the Ncore NC1200 and NC400.***

I am just a big fan of how great the Ncore based amps sound.

Update:
An Audiophile friend got a pair of Sanders Sound speakers with a Roger Sanders Magtech amp ($11,000 mono) for the top end and a Sanders sound ESL amp ($9,000 mono) for the bottom end as the speakers need to be bi-amped per channel.
They had a wonderful sound and I was impressed but I thought the sound could be "smoother". I felt that I could hear a very slight sound of "noise". So when I mentioned this to the others in the room it was "really?". Well I insisted and suggested a challenge. The Merrill Audio Veritas to replace the Sanders amps. Well we had to come up with four of them. I had my pair and I got Merrill to bring a pair. It was some sight. We first listened to the Sanders amps and then put in the Veritas amps.
After awhile of listening I made no comments as I did not want to be the first. To a man (4) they all thought the Veritas had a better sound from top to bottom, was smoother, dead quite, more dimensional, better tonality and control. The difference was enough that the owner of the Sanders decided to buy the Veritas amps.

Well the above post "could hear the cellos and violas breath" could be experienced when the Veritas was being used in place of the Sanders amps.

Now, do not get me wrong, the Sanders amps are very fine indeed. It is just that the Veritas are that good.

Repost;
I was lucky enough to know Merrill from one of the local NJ/NY area Audio Clubs we both belong and had the opportunity to assist Merrill in listening tests of his prototypes. Besides myself there were a few other Club and Rave Audiophiles that gave their input from time to time. This was in my system as well as several of the others.

My system is: B&W 802D speakers; PS Audio Perfectwave DAC MKII with Bridge by Ethernet and PW Transport by I2S/HDMI; Synergistic Research Galileo Universal Bi-wire Speaker Cells and Balanced Interconnect Cells; Power Conditioning is Synergistic Tesla PowerCell 10 SE MKII; Power cords to the amps and DAC and Transport are Triode Wire Labs Ten Plus (Very impressed with Pete's power cords. You owe it to your self to try them. Money back Guarantee).

I have tried MANY amps but could not find the RIGHT one with the BEST sound with also the following: Mono Blocks; True Differential Balanced Inputs; Not to weigh a TON but also to have quality chases; Cool running, for an amp; Quality parts, and no throw away power cords; Sound that is Pure, life like, true to tone, fast with total control of the speakers, real sounding rise and decay of the sound of instruments, deep, wide holographic sound-stage, not sterile but not warm, even sounding from top to bottom, able to reach well into the highs and dig deep into the lows, easy to maintain, no added noise of its' own (I can not believe how quite they are) and also musical/toe taping. And the price is NOT an arm and a leg. Yes, Merrill's amps are not inexpensive but to even come close to the sound, let alone everything else Merrill is including, someone would have spend a HELL of a lot more. I quit after hearing $16,000 to $30,000+/- amps and while some were really great sounding amps, NOT one can give me the sound that Merrill's Veritas amps do.

Now, every person, who I know of, who heard Merrill Audio Veritas in their system (who has a system that can really take advantage of it) have all been surprised and impressed. ONE CAVEAT!! They are very sensitive to power cords and power conditioning. We found out that you can not just assume that a well regarded power cord will work well with the amps. They did not like a pair of Synergistic Basik cords but their active type were fine. Also there were other well known brands that had some issues. They LOVE Pete's Triode Wire Labs Cables, both Ten Plus and Seven Plus. So make sure you try several types if you upgrade from what Merrill Audio already gives you(but I think you would have to spend a lot more before you "might" get an improvement over the TWL cables). And 9 out of 10 times they will sound better NOT plugged into a power conditioner.

If you have the source and speakers that can take advantage of what this amp can do you will be AMAZED!! My B&W 802Ds never sounded this good. I hear things, from top to bottom, that I never heard or as well. And base, who needs a woofer?!

As with food we all have different tastes and this my not be yours and that is fine, more power to you, but if you have no ax to grind and really hear them set up properly you are in for a treat.

Now these are my opinions and observations and YMMV but if you take the time and set it up properly you will be amazed. It REALLY takes A LOT to impress me enough to make me spend my money and I rarely post. That is how impressed I am. Call me a FAN BOY.

I have no financial interest in Merrill Audio. Yes I have bought a pair. Are they perfect, no, nothing is but they come pretty close to it, and at this price for new, I have not heard anything else like it and as good.

PS These amps need to be left ON, not standby, and seeing that they use like 8-9 watts when not in use it is like leaving on a night light. They need several hundred hours of play four the amps, fuses, power cords to sound their best so take your time and you will be rewarded. If you do shut them off it will take a couple of hours to sound good but after a day or two you are back to great.
Several points Audiozen.

1) Bruno at one time worked for Philips and was one of the driving forces behind their class D. Hypex is not owned by Philips. Hypex is one of the largest suppliers of Class D OEM amps to the world market.

2) All you ever do is Praise the "tech" without ever hearing it or the other equipment that you put down, for whatever agenda you have. It seems that for you it must always fit what YOU THINK it should be built and what it should have to be considered WORTHY of consideration.

3) Again, have you ever heard the Veritas? No, then why do you have an opinion. Because you "think" you know what the Tech in it is and from that you "Know how it will sound".

4) Have you heard the ARC D450M? Why is it I think I know that answer.
Well I have. I like ARC equipment very much but when I heard the D450M at my dealer (on my model speakers) I was disappointed in the sound. I went in expecting to walk out with them. Now it is possible that since then ARC made some adjustments so I may have to take another listen.

5)Why is it that you could not give the Veritas amps and Hypex some consideration from the above comparisons to the ARC Tube amps and the Sanders Sound Magtech amps (that you praised so much in one of your posts).

By the way, after my post I said to a friend that I expected you to be on here dumping on Hypex and the Veritas.

PS The Veritas and Ncore NC1200, with the lack of what you consider the need of power reserves has is one of the most dynamic sounding amps and with speed that not only that I have heard but also the others who HAVE HEARD it. You know there is more then one way to get to the moon. All are high tech but the old way is not necessarily the best.
Audiozen, Please stop your character assassinations.

"Upon further investigation, heres the accurate truth" from your above post. But you always take half truths and make up your own history for your agenda.

Also you still have not said you have or have not heard the Veritas or any Ncore NC1200 or the ARC D450M amp or for that matter any Class D design that you praise above over the Ncore.

NOW HERE IS THE ACCURATE TRUTH FROM THE SOURCE:

"What a bul.s.it

Bruno worked for Philips until 2005, in April or May 2005 Bruno start to work for Hypex, fully employed (not as a consultant or freelancer!). Somewhere in 2002 Bruno started to developed the UcD design. Bruno started to work on NCORE in 2008. We have filed the patent early 2009 and we have filed the NCORE trademark in 2010.

NCORE patent and trademarkt is fully owned by Hypex, there are no other companies involved in Hypex. Both the NCORE patent and trademark are granted in the USA. Thereby Hypex is solely owned by one owner.....

Furthermore, we have more engineers as only Bruno. In total we're with 16 people, half of them is R&D with two DSP specialist.

Jan-Peter van Amerongen
CEO/Owner
Hypex Electronics bv "

ALSO FROM HYPEX:

"In 2005, Hypex took the strategic decision to move from a being a technology user to being a technology source and hired UcD's inventor, Bruno Putzeys, to be its chief of R&D."

Do you see the part that BRUNO invented UcD?

For more on Bruno: http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/bruno-putzeys-the-sound-of-music-extended-play

Now lets see if you can be gracious. Or are you just here for making trouble.

Can we now stay on topic of the OP.
+1

01-28-13: Guidocorona
Hi Audiozen, could you post the URL of the biography of Bruno Putzeys that is the source of your assertion:
Tim, No Problem. Trust me, go with the NC400 but DO IT RIGHT!

If you have any questions PM.

PS Just encase you did not know and it could make a difference, Merrill Audio has a trade up program and I have heard it has helped others. Otherwise go with the above.
My friend asked me if I could bring my pair of Veritas amps over to his house so he could listen to them again. He really likes them but wanted to have a friend of his who is an award winning recording engineer hear them in his system against his current amps. Said amps are tube based and highly regarded.

To make a long story short, "Mikey likes it". No he really, really liked the sound of the system with the Veritas in it.

Now my friend plans on getting a pair of Veritas. Go figure?!
Noble100 AKA Tim

I must say you should write conspiracy novels. If memory serves me I stated I have NO affiliation with Hypex or Merrill Audio.

My passion is from hearing a product that I think is ground breaking. I also mentioned not only my experience but that of others that I know from Audio Clubs I belong to in the NJ/NY area.

I have heard both the DIY Hypex NC400 and the OEM Hypex NC1200. As good as the NC400 is the NC1200 is in another league. That is not just my opinion. A well known cable designer compared his modified NC400 to the Veritas and was surprised how much better the NC1200 was.

If you try and build the NC400 and are looking to maximize the potential of the amp use a solid chassis, Litz cabling, quality binding posts, fuses and anti vibration (think Stillpoints Ultra Mini). Unless you have heard the Mods do not comment.

But if you have the system that can take advantage of the NC1200 and can afford the cost you owe yourself a listen to the Veritas amps.

PS If you live near NYC the Veritas is at the NY Audio Show http://www.newyork-audioshow.com/ in April. They are in two rooms, one with Sanders Sound Speakers and one with Raidho speakers.
Noble100, Good luck and enjoy. Just make sure you layout the modules correctly, twist the wiring were needed, do not cross certain wire over the modules and point the contact wires/spades on the screws in the same direction on the amp modules.

I know it is long but the DIY site has photos, just make sure it was one of the correctly done ones and not one that is done "good enough" as far as wiring and layout. Also audio circle.

PS If possible look for a enclosure that gives you the best of layouts even if it means a larger chassis.
Ufolilerz, I agree with Guidocorona about giving them enough time to break-in. Also always leave them on not in standby. Standby will make have to wait several hours for them to sound great again.

By the way, what feet did you get. Ultra Mini Stillpoints?

I have tried the MIG by Synergistic Research and the Mini and Ultra SS by Stillpoints. All were very good but the Mini were a worthwhile improvement over the MIG. For the hell of it I tried the SS and was surprised of the improvement over the Mini. Not small at all. So now my Veritas all have the Ultra SS. I recommend the SS otherwise go with the MIni. you will not regret it.

Looking foreword to you listening impressions.
Guido, how you doin, as they say here in some parts of Jersey.

GREAT review and it was worth the long wait. I see the attacks have started. You handle them well.