Merrill VERITAS monoblock amplifiers

Thank you for the great review PTHEO!

My amps are now playing at around 1300 hours and have proven to me that I can settle in and enjoy the fact that I no longer need to think, ever again, about replacing my amps for better performance. The combo of Vienna Acoustics The Music with the Veritas amps has taken my system to a place it's never been before. I have to admit that I found the amps to sound even better with Shunyata ZiTron Cobra PC's.

I'm still playing around with the front end. My sources are set (Mac mini and turntable feeding my trusted (and simple) Electrocompaniet phono stage. I just compared using a Levinson 326s pre and a Rowland Capri S2 pre, and although the Levinson gave me more accuracy and resolution, the Capri S2 gave me music and emotion. It was as if the Capri S2 had been made for the Veritas amps (system synergy). I guess it sort of has been, considering that Rowland uses the same heart to power it's top end amps....

My next step will be to try the DAC straight to the amps vs through the pre. More and more seam to lean in this direction. A listening test will tell for me. Then I will try out the HiLo, and a few other DAC's.

I can honestly say that if I had to use my current system exactly as is, I would be ecstatically happy for the rest of my life! To know that it will only get even better from here is awe inspiring! These amps do exactly what amps are supposed to do - they make the signal louder to feed the speakers. Pick every audiophile quality that is of value to us (imaging, accuracy, dynamics, spacial depth, soundstage, emotion, involving, etc) and the Veritas just does it right.

Tune to your tastes with speakers, cables and front end gear; but the Veritas is a pure window, or should I say optically flawless magnifying glass. Merrill is an audio genius and I sincerely hope his masterpiece creation will give him the success and recognition he deserves!

For those of you on the fence, keep in mind that the raves for these amps seam to keep coming from seasoned audiophiles who have had a dozen or more amps in their system over the years. I have personally owned more solid state, tube and hybrid amps then I can even remember. All had their strong points. But the only amps I have ever owned that equalled this level of performance were my Tenor Audio HP 300 mono blocks, which retailed for $55K. Seriously.

Hi Matt, I am not surprised you love Veritas... like the Mola-Mola Kaluga, the Rowland M825 stereo and M925 mono, the Merrill Veritas use the amazing Ncore NC1200 power conversion modules designed by Bruno Putzeys at Hypex.... These modules are incredibly high starting points for an amp.

Merril has then chosen the conservative approach on Veritas. From a pure active circuit design point of view, one might consider Veritas a basic NCore implementation... However, what Merrill has done is to surround the modules and matching NCore unregulated SMPS with high quality and carefully chosen parts that work in wonderful sinergy with the active components from Hypex to make real music without distortions and artifacts... Internal wiring and XLR connectors from Cardas, IEC from Furutech, StillPoint footers, largely non resonant milled chassis, and mechanical dampeners for internal components.

Could you do markedly better than Veritas? Sure, but more than likely you would need to be prepared for a significant investment up the NCore chain.... Like $18K for The Veritas Siamese Twin monos with two NCore NC1200 modules per side that I suspect might deliver even more authority than Veritas, or the over $32K Rowland M825 stereo, which pushes the NCore potential to its limits with a cost no object power supply, regulation, and I/O design.

There is also the very interesting $15K Mola-Mola Mono... A fine NCore implementation, which uses custom NC1200 modules I believe.... I did like it quite a bit at RMAF, but not having had Mola-Mola in my system yet, I cannot guess the audible difference with Veritas.

Guido

Hi Guido- thanks for chiming in again! Yes I would love to own the Siamese Twins. But being that Merrill was kind enough to sell the VERITAS amps to me as a demo pair, I was able to them at a reduced cost. Maybe someday(3-5 years) I will be able to afford that hot dish. Thanks Guido, now you have me wondering.... ; ) Any Siamese Twins owners out there?!

Hey Matt- thanks for the compliment & chiming in again! Looks like you have a killer system there. VA The Music speakers are awesome looking/sounding speakers & must very dynamic with the VERITAS driving them! Do you have any inclination to try the Twins someday?!

Hey Al, I tried to find the technical specs of the Siamese on the Merrill site, but no cigar... Do you have a link to them?

G.

I'm very happy with my system right now. I'm focusing on my DAC/Pre-amp combo. Deciding if I should run DAC straight into amps or keep the Rowland Pre-amp which I have fallen in love with.

I just traded in my PerfectWave 2 for the new PS Audio Hotness DirectStream DAC. It arrives in May. I want to also try the Rowland Aeris, Meitner and Esoteric DAC's, although my gut is telling me that for my tastes, it will be between the new DirectStream and the Rowland.

Once that's done I can decide direct or keep the pre.

Once I'm there, I'm happy.

I'm picking up the Ultra SS footers today to swap out my mini's. Looking forward to that. I'm lucky to live about 2 miles from Merrill, so maybe I can borrow a pair of twins when the opportunity arises. But I'm not interested right now as the music my system is currently making is beyond words!