XXHighEnd

I heard it recently in a friend's system (Pacific Microsonics Model Two) and it beat the pants off of my Lynx AES16.  However, the Mykerions comes with its own playback software which includes a ton of mixing functionality and therefore looks way too complicated for simple playback.  Has anyone used this card running XXHE?

Hi Dan.  Interesting.  Was that Mani's system you heard it in?  I know he has a Model 2.  I use the AES16 and a Berkeley Alpha DAC which is the successor, next generation DAC from the guys who built the Model 2.  I am intriqued.  So let me understand better.  You were able to do an A/B comparison of your AES16 card versus the Mykerinos card where everything else remained constant...i.e. same DAC, amplifiers, speakers, etc.?

In what ways was the Mykerinos better than the AES16?

Thanks!

Dan, one other question.  Was the system you heard the Mykerinos in running Windows 7 or Vista?  I went onto the Merging website and it's unclear to me if the Mykerinos drivers support Windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit yet.

 

Do you know how much the Mykerinos with DXD support costs?

About 3k.

Telstar, yep, it is certainly much more expensive than other sound cards.  Plus, it appears it will only be at its best if you use the Paramix software. 

Dan, what a coincidence.  Tim Marutani called me within an hour of my post and we spoke for about an hour about the trial you guys did.  I have very deep respect for Tim.

What XXHE settings did you use for the test?  I presume you used unattended playback, engine 3, etc.?  Did you use Quad Arc Prediction mode as well as no upsampling?  Thanks for sharing your experience.

Dan, was this Tim Marutani's system that you heard?

Chris Connaker of Computer Audiophile believes it will take computer audio to another level: "Based on my experience I don't think this solution [Pyramix software and Mykerinos card] can be beat by any USB or FireWire interface or DAC available today."

I hope not... I've only had my AFI1 for a year!

Mani.

Mani,

Yes, it was Tim's system, and it really did sound terrific. Realize, though, that it was through a Pacific Microsonics Model 2.  I'm anxious to hear how it sounds with my Berkeley Alpha when Tim gets back from CES.

Dan

Ah Dan - So you are one of these "friends in the neighbourhood" Tim wrote about over at CA ...

Interesting. I never saw the connection with Tim to your question here from November, until yesterday.



Hi Telstar - Maybe you are talking about another sound card, but the one Dan talks about should be something like $12K.
If I am the one who's mixing up things, someone well tell. :yes:

Peter

My understanding is that it's $12K for the Pyramix software and the Mykerinos card...

Mani.

... which card doesn't work without that software ...

?
:) :)

IIRC the pyramix software is a plugin suit. The Mykerinos card SHOULD have its own drivers.

Peter,

Just to be clear, I don't have a horse in this race. I have no business ties with Tim.  I like him, and I respect him, but I've seen him only three or four times since I met him about five months ago.  What I heard in his system was impressive - in my recollection, the best I've ever heard. It would be interesting to see, if possible, how much of the Pyramix sound comes from their hardware versus their software.  No choice but to use their drivers, but I would hope one would be able to use another application, like XXHE, with their card.  I'd rather not be locked into one vendor for everything.  Also, my admittedly limited experience with a full-blown DAW, Solitude, is that it has way too much functionality for  simple music playback.  It's hard to imagine sitting my friends in front of the console and allowing them to select the next album.  I would guess that Pyramix is similar.  (I only listened at Tim's.  I didn't get my hands on it.)  And of course there's the cost.  I don't believe there's anything official about the $12k number a CA reader through out there, but it's bound to be appreciably costlier than my current Lynx card and XXHE.  At what price, Hi-fi?  Like I said previously, I'm anxious to A/B Pyramix vs. XXHE/Lynx/Berkeley in my system.  If the Pyramix solution sounds better, I'll have to decide if it's enough better to justify the price and to live with a potentially awkward interface.  The bar is pretty high: I'm very happy with the sound of XXHE, and I look forward to hearing Engine 4 on my Windows 7 system.  The UI could still use a bit of work though.   ;)

Dan

I was able to interface the Mykerinos Audio PCI Card with a free software called CUE 1.7 (http://www.gasteropod.ch/)
With CUE 1.7 I was able to playback stereo lossless flac files trough the Mykerinos.
The ADAT output of the Mykerinos is connected to a Merging DUA II converter. (@ 44.1Khz)
The DUA II is referenced on ODI, and the Mykerinos run on INT sync.

The Mykerinos almost work with Foobar,
the VS3 application start during the configuration but Foobar report an error message about not supporting multitrack cards.

Using Pyramix will allow DSD playback but the essential audio processing occur on the card itself, so other software may be used for playback at lower resolution.

The Mykerinos card is an excellent audio product introduced in 1998,
one of the first audio card on the market to support MADI I/O and also one of the best card to be referenced with Video Black-Burst and Tri-Level Sync.

It's amazing to observe that this card is based on chip usually used for TV Box. (the TriMedia Chip).

I got no doubt that the Mykerinos card could be at the heart of a High End Media Server.

Hey, interesting. I read about this chip only a few weeks ago, and actually wondered why it wasn't used for audio.

Anyway, thanks ! Btw, I never could have guessed the Mykerinos is that long around already.
Peter

FYI:
The latest version of Foobar 1.0.1 now support the Mykerinos board.
With the previous version, Foobar was crashing during the Asio driver starting process and report an error about -being unable to support a multichannel board-.
Now the Mykerinos VS3 Mixer appears and could be configured but the drivers stop every time when you click on next.
The workaround is to use the scroll bar (when you hit the end the track will change).

If you see how the Model Two is build compared to the Alpha DAC, it seems rather unlikly that the Alpha DAC can keep up with the Model Two. It would surprise me if it does.

Hey Dan,

Did you ever manage to try the Mykerinos with your Alpha? I'm just interested...

Cheers,
Mani.