Limitations
The Merging Audio Device runs one single sampling rate for ASIO.
Meaning that all ASIO instances (clients) will run at the same sampling rate as the Master ASIO device.Some applications may not work properly when switching to DXD/DSD sampling rates in Unite mode. In Such case, please run in RAV/AES67 mode.
DSD currently not supported with WDM bridge. Please convert to 352.8 kHz.
Another possibility, some applications may convert DSD to 352.8 in real-time, such as Foobar 2000 with SACD plugin (but limited to 176.4 kHz), Signalyst HQ Player, Jriver,....The WDM Bridge cannot be set as Master Host.
Some WDM applications do not support WDM settings change while running, and needs to be reloaded for the changes to apply.
Some WDM applications are not compatible with 352.8/384 kHz sampling rates. See this page for help and list of compatible applications
Some WDM applications only supports the WDM bridge set to 2 channels (VLC, Spotify,...). See this page for help and workaround.
Some WDM applications will only supports multichannel on the MAD WDM Speakers, and may not work on the MAD WDM Line See this page for help and workaround.
Windows 7 is not supported (WDM Bridge not compatible)
Windows 10 is not supported. Please use MAD 2.x if you run Windows 10.
Specific ASIO hosts may prevent sampling rate changes when Merging Audio Device is set as Master ASIO Host. In such case, set another running ASIO Host as Master.
Known ASIO host triggering this issue : AIMP.Merging Audio Device may fail to start if the Windows "Fast Startup" feature is enabled. See Windows Control Panel - Power Options - Choose what the power buttons do.
Pyramix v12 (and above) / Ovation v8 (and above) required, MAD will not work with previous Pyramix / Ovation versions.
Multiple Stereo WDM devices : all WDM devices will run at the same sampling rate.
Multiple stereo WDM devices : only applies to MAD WDM Line.
WDM Bridge - Exclusive Mode not supported.
WDM Bridge - Max 8 channels
WASAPI Mode : Supported sampling rates, buffer sizes, number of channels and Mode (Shared/Exclusive) depends on your WDM device capabilities.
WASAPI Mode : Sampling rates below 44100 Hz are not supported nor listed.
WASAPI Mode : not compatible with DSD sampling rates.
WASAPI Mode : WDM Applications cannot be set as Master host application.
ASIO Hosts
When running Roon in General Mode, please set the number of output channels to 128 when playing DXD/DSD files.
AVID ProTools must be set as Master ASIO Host, as it needs to have full control of the device to run properly. It only supports 64-based buffer sizes (will not start with AES67 buffer sizes).
Dolby Atmos Renderer requires the 32bit integer option, a 512 samples buffer size.
Performance
Due to the additional mixing capabilities, the Merging Audio Device driver uses a bit more resource than the previous Ravenna ASIO driver.
In case of performance problems, user needing to match the performance of the legacy RAVENNA ASIO driver should first consider disabling the Mix Safe mode and WDM within the MAD panel in order to have equivalent resources handling as the legacy RAVENNA ASIO Driver.