Merging announces surge in Hapi customers

Merging Technologies has revealed that sales of its latest Hapi Networked Audio Interface have topped 400 in less than a year.

The 1U-form-factor Hapi is therefore rapidly catching up with its ‘father’, Horus; sales of the older unit currently sit as 600-plus since 2012.

Both units are fully AES67-compliant, with the added features and functionality afforded by RAVENNA. In addition to having the huge RAVENNA I/O count, 8 x AES/EBU plus 8 x ADAT or 2 x SPDIF is standard. An optional MADI card will also make Hapi into an AES67-to-MADI converter with one slot left for analogue I/O.

Hapi is for more than just Pyramix users or RAVENNA enthusiasts, Merging says. The CoreAudio and ASIO drivers allow any DAW to connect to the RAVENNA network and the superior I/O performance can become part of whatever DAW set up is used. Pro Tools user and Lady Gaga engineer, Dave Russell said: “It murders everything else. Everything you put into it, you get out of it. It is so detailed.”

The interface is also a favourite with many mastering engineers and top classical recording engineers as a control room monitoring DAC. The recent growth of DSD and DXD download sites is stimulating more demand for original hi-resolution recordings, and since so many are recorded with Pyramix/Horus/Hapi systems, there is a healthy demand for converters with the Premium cards fitted, according to the manufacturer.

Multiple Grammy Award-winning engineer Robert Friedrich, of Five/Four Productions, commented: “Recording to Direct Stream Digital has always been a must for us to deliver the most revealing and accurate sound. Taking DSD from 2.8 MHz to 11.2 MHz doesn’t just step it up to the next level, it catapults it!"

Even at lower sampling rates like 96 kHz, users are seeing the benefits. Celebrated mastering and recording guru, Bob Katz added: “Hapi is closer to the source than any other converter I have used. It is truly excellent.”

For a lot more information on Hapi, take a look at our review of the product from the May issue of AMI.

www.merging.com