Well, it can go that way sometimes. The Swiss-based company Merason, with its two D / A converters DAC 1 and Frérot, has garnered so many laurels from test editors and buyers that there have recently been delivery bottlenecks. These have now been overcome.
Merason DAC 1 and Frérot: similarities and differences
Both devices are pure D / A converters without volume control. The great Merason DAC 1 offers four different digital inputs (USB-B, S / PDIF optical and coaxial, AES / EBU), while the smaller one Merason Frérot has a slightly different connectivity: AES / EBU is left out here, but there is a USB-B input and two optical and two coaxial S / PDIF inputs.
With the DAC 1, Merason relies on components that have also been selected by ear, reclocking of the input signal without resampling, a consistently symmetrical signal path and class A buffering. The smaller brother Frérot is technically a bit simpler, but both DACs were able to win the coveted fairaudio’s favorite awards.
If you don’t know exactly which of the two DACs it should be: The sales department CM-Audio offers for both DAC 1 as well as for the Frérot Test packages for comfortable testing at home.
… and for comparison the connection panel of the smaller brother Merason Frérot
In the course of “restoring the supply chain”, Merason had to raise prices slightly, but this is done carefully: If you order by January 31, 2022, you save 400 euros with the DAC 1 and pay only 4,500 euros instead of 4,900 euros. The price of the Frérot will also be increased from February 1, 2022. It then costs 1,200 euros; those who order beforehand pay 1,100 euros.
