Hah, I think we have all figured out which module Mike will be using in his next products 
In all seriousness, there are definitely reasons to be excited about this. Merging are a great company and a great partner. We are happy to see them making this technology available.
As the press release states, the module will bring Roon Ready support as well–and we’re looking forward to certifying each and every one of those products once they’re done.
Uhh…no. This is misinformation. USB DACs are something we support in order to interoperate with pre-existing products, and to support the Computer Audio crowd, which has already bought into USB.
But USB, to us, is legacy. Important to support, not going away soon, but not the future. Our product is and has always been about networking.
This MERGING module and RAAT target different objectives. We are trying to bridge cheap and expensive, existing hardware platforms and new ones in software. We refuse to depend on specific hardware modules. We work with WiFi because real people need it, but we don’t compromise quality when dealing with the high end gear that wants to be Ethernet-only.
This module with RAVENNA can do very tight inter-channel sync because of hardware support built into this board. With RAAT, we were unwilling to gun for a single-module ecosystem since it limits choice for our users.
We have been deploying networked products that support RAAT with no USB involved since we first created the protocol. We’ve averaged around one certified product per week since the Roon Ready program launched. Today, there are dozens of Roon Ready networked DACs available for sale today–all with RAAT on board and no USB.
This is why you see RAAT being used for multi-room sync (which can be done adequately without hardware support), but with a hand-off to hardware-supported sync mechanisms when it’s time to do inter-channel sync (as we’ve done with Bluesound’s inter-channel system). I’d imagine the same thing will be possible using the RAAT support on this board–RAAT to get to the room, and RAVENNA to distribute to the speakers–but I guess we’ll find out as this thing proceeds to market.
But, the main point is: like any other hardware supported inter-channel sync system, this board isn’t capable of being the glue that ties together a $200 Wireless speaker from Bluesound, a $20,000 networked DAC from dCS, and the headphone jack on your old Android phone. RAAT is doing that today.
That is way more than “just a solution to network connect to USB interface DACs”
This is nothing new. There is no bonus. The game isn’t changing. That bar was raised a long time ago. But it’s nice to see people getting with the program and moving past USB in their products
Many of our customers already enjoy these benefits with RAAT and avoid USB completely. Just like our previous customers did at Meridian using the network streaming protocols we developed there, and Sooloos before that.
And Squeezebox and UPnP before that, lets not forget…networked DACs aren’t a new thing.
Such a broad range of them at a huge range of cost-levels all interoperating with a single piece of server software, though…that’s pretty unique