Charles's findings on the lovely Taranis are right on the money.
I had the pleasure of evaluating Taranis in my own system for a few months in late spring and summer.... Let me premise that my listening room is demanding.... Relatively large at about 18 x 30+ feet, and a system that consists of an Esoteric X-01 CD player, a Rowland Aeris DAC going directly into mono power amps, and a pair of rather demanding Vienna Die muzik speakers, which feature an wild impedance curve, jumping around from 3 to perhaps 6 Ohms.... These beasties require stiff power to shine -- my standard amps serve them with 430W/8 and 850W/4 per channell, and Taranis made it, with only a simple tweak, as discussed later.
Even new, no more than a couple of hours out of the box, I could tell that Teranis is likely to develop into a very fine amp. Of course, I heard some of the typical artifacts of a brand new device... A little constraint, a touch of thinness in the sound, perhaps some peakiness in the treble, less than perfect staging and imaging, and a frequency band that could use some stretching. But most unusual for amps, Taranis is quite pleasing to the ear even before "teething" occurs. This is as much a characteristics of the underlying NCore technology in the core of the device, as it is a product of the loving treatment that merrill has given to this entry level NCore NC500 implementation through the Merrill designed input stage, and all the quality connectivity surrounding the NC500 modules and the single NC1200 SMPS.
The break-in process is relatively short, and seems to be reaching plateau at about 600 hours, at which point Teranis achieves full bloom and makes music at a level that can be seldom expected at its moderate price point. Characteristic of Merrill's creations, there is negligible treble intermodulation to yield hardness in complex treble and confusion in lower frequencies... High string passages are clean and without effort, midrange has fine texture and one can hear distinctly harmonic ringing in piano music, bass is distinct and well developed with a fine sense of pitch. Brass music is full and complex with more than a good amount of growl required in orchestral tutti. Staging and imaging is amazingly satisfying, even in those purely acoustic and live recordings like Bernstein and the Israel Phylharmonic playing Dvorak's New World Symphony, where the feel of the venue is, well... The venue itself. In case you asked, I would rate the overall stage and image sizes to perhaps 75% of what the Merrill Veritas generate.
As I mentioned earlier, in order to drive my speakers, Taranis did require a small tweak. During the first few weeks, I was nagged by the sudden appearance of some fatigue appearing all of the sudden as I raised the volume to "realistic" listening levels... This, in the more earthy language that my better half likes to throw at her suffering audiophilic hubbie is.. "Way too bloody loud!" I discussed the problem with Merrill: no, the issue was not the obvious incorrect spousal judgment of my sonic needs, nor the recommendation of a good family lawyer, but this odd discontinuity of the clenliness in the sound.
Merrill conjectured that for my speakers, a slightly higher gain than the standard 26dB might have been appropriate. And true enough, a quick return trip to the Merrill factory increased gain by 3 dB to a total 29dB, and the problem was solved completely. Taranis suddenly behaved linearly thereafter, and always maintained its remarkable musicality, even when I increased volume to the aforementioned "realistic" level that my audiophrenia gravis demands, and my wife abhors.
Granted, if my speakers were just a little smaller and less demanding, such as the Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Imperials, or the Vienna Listz, it is highly unlikely that the increase in gain would have been needed at all.
Like many other amplifiers, Taranis is exquisitely sensitive to power cords. While its fine qualities are obvious even through its stock cord, the use of a carefully selected after market cord enhances results even further. I found the most desirable results with the fabulous HFC (High Fidelity Cables) CT-1 designed by Rick Schultz in Dallas. Its application seems to augment the performance of Taranis for all parameters mentioned earlier, without introducing any unbalance or negative artifacts.
So, whom is this lovely amp for? First of all, Taranis is for anyone who adores a refined sound of music, and requires significant power, while controlling cost. I can see only one "drawback" to Taranis... It might spoil you, and make you wonder what Merrill's higher end creations can do for living... Thus, Teranis is also one ideal entry point for the music lover who might later on want to venture higher up in the progressively more refined realm of Merrill's creations... Which is, in my opinion, a worth wile quest!
Saluti, Guido
