Hi. I’m interested in getting into multichannel audio and was wondering whether there were any Merging Hapi users who could share their experiences? I’m particulary drawn to this device because of its quality reviews, expandability and the web-based UI for configuration.
I would start off in a 4.1 mode making use of a spare set of speakers and take it from there.
One of my main curiosities is whether Roon can directly control the Hapi’s volume level without using DSP?
Another one is whether you are just listening to music or whether you have managed to get this working with a home theatre setup as well, and if so, how are you getting the HDMI signal to the Hapi? I’m a music-first person, but the home theatre option might help me explain to my family why more boxes have entered the living room!
Hi Chris, I have a Hapi (Mk I), which is my interface in my studio. I have the newer non-Premium ADA8 card (8 channels of 192k A/D and D/A). Whilst I use it predominantly for microphone inputs into Logic Pro, a pair of channels are hooked up to my active monitors.
I do stream to it occasionally from Roon in a stereo capacity – when you install the Ravenna driver and configure the correct mappings in Aneman, it appears as a Core Audio device on my Mac (so you need a Mac or PC to stream to) – but I just use the knob on the front to control volume. The volume is also controllable from the Hapi’s web UI, so it *might* be possible to code something up as a Roon extension. Not for the fainthearted! In fact, the Hapi, while very cool, is not for the fainthearted full stop.
Thanks @joel I had realised it was aimed at music production users rather than home users so wasn’t expecting anything straightforward. I’m quite happy coding and tinkering and quite excited about facing the learning curve with audio over IP.
I kind of wasn’t expecting Roon to be able to control the volume directly, think that’s what Roon Ready implies, and with this being a production tool I don’t ever think it will become Roon Ready.
The unit would be placed in my cabinet under the TV so I’m hardly likely to be using the volume control directly on the device.
Would you say it’s a bit of a faff getting into the WebUI to change the volume control, or would you be able to directly bookmark that web page so it’s easy to quickly access when needed? If there was a API to it all, that would be even better but I haven’t managed to find anything online yet.
Unfortunately, the specific page is not bookmarkable. It’s one of those web UIs where the URL doesn’t change. The only info I know about web control starts on page 78 of the Hapi manual. Not sure if the commands are sniffable. It honestly might be worth emailing Merging’s support and asking them.
One further thought: if you go through an unmanaged switch, these devices can flood your network with multicast traffic. I tend to set up point-to-point Ravenna connections, so it might not actually be a problem for me, but I picked up one of the older managed switches years ago and created an isolated collision network on which my Hapi and one network interface of my Mac reside. The Mac’s primary interface is on my main network. You’ve probably already discovered the downloads page. Something to consider.