Mark Levinson Announces New Audio Company, Daniel Hertz

(February, 24, 2023)

The name Mark Levinson is synonymous with elite Hi-Fi both in the home and on the road, but few may know that Levinson isn't the first in his family to have a name tied to audio. His uncle, Heinrich Hertz, was the first German physicist to demonstrate the electromagnetic wave, thus embedding his name in audiophile vernacular for eternity. So, it's no surprise that Levinson opted to continue the trend by weaving more family into his latest venture, Daniel Hertz, with Daniel being his father's first name and Hertz his mother's maiden name.

Over the past decade, Levinson and his team of Daniel Hertz audio engineers have developed a new class of audio chips with embedded C-wave (continuous wave) software called Mighty Cat. Mighty Cat, combined with new Daniel Hertz audio architecture and speakers, are the first products to deliver the experience of pure analog from any digital source, including streaming.

According to Levinson, "Our new technology is the first fundamental development in the audio industry since the 1970s. Daniel Hertz products are the best I have ever produced. My associates and I are proud to offer them through the Daniel Hertz website."

The Daniel Hertz Maria amplifiers using the Daniel Hertz Mighty Cat chip replace the traditional DAC, preamplifier, amplifier, headphone amplifier, and active crossovers in one elegant chassis made of art-grade Perspex. Daniel Hertz speakers, the perfect match for our technology, are personally designed by Mark Levinson and hand built in Venice, Italy.

Huey Long, CEO of Daniel Hertz says, "Mark's vision of delivering a listening experience the way the artist intended is now at a new level. The launch of DanielHertz.com makes that experience available to anyone who wants the best audio equipment, priced within reach."

Learn more about Mark Levinson's new company Daniel Hertz at www.DanielHertz.com.

 

[TNT]

"Daniel Hertz was founded in 2007 by Mark Levinson, who...."

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hertz_S.A.

//

 

[Grayson Dere]

From the website, https://danielhertz.com/pages/exclusive-technology:

"Daniel Hertz C Wave fills in the spaces of the PCM digital audio waveform with original musical information - not sound effects - which enables the brain to respond like to pure analog., with no fatigue or stress reaction."

This sounds very interesting. I'd love to have a listen.

 

[JStewart]

From the website:

“Daniel Hertz Exclusive Speaker Technology​

Observing that no available speaker could faithfully reproduce the sound of all instruments and voices, Mark Levinson decided to make one.”

And the top of the line is $200k and they are pictured in front of a wall of glass and behind a behind a sofa.

Audio Systems – Daniel Hertz S.r.l.

Daniel Hertz is the culmination of my 50 years of work in music reproduction and introduces a new era of emotion and opportunity for those who want only the best.

danielhertz.com

 

[Todd Anderson]

There are some serious oddities, here. That wall of glass being one of them!

 

[Todd Anderson]

"Daniel Hertz was founded in 2007 by Mark Levinson, who...."

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hertz_S.A.

//

There seems to be some confusion, here. Yes, Daniel Hertz was founded more than a decade ago, but the technology is now being sold D2C.

"Over the past decade, Mark Levinson and his team of Daniel Hertz audio engineers have developed a new class of audio chips with embedded C-wave (continuous wave) software called Mighty Cat. Mighty Cat, combined with new Daniel Hertz audio architecture and speakers, are the first products to deliver the experience of pure analog from any digital source, including streaming, and are available for the first time at www.DanielHertz.com."

I think it's totally reasonable to do a double take, here... but this news is definitely current. We're in contact with DL, and ML's partner GaN Systems.

 

[ddude003]

Interesting 6 band EQ and A+ algorithm... "A+ is a version of Daniel Hertz's patent pending C Wave technology that fills in the spaces of the non-continuous digital waveform, so the brain responds more like to pure analog."

Is this another Robb Watts (of Chord Electronics Ltd) million plus tap filter along with convolutional EQ in an easy to use package, read audiophile consumer not mastering engineer...

 

[Todd Anderson]

Question is: can the human brain actually hear any sort of difference?

 

[ddude003]

I can hear a difference on my system using things like Hang Loose Convolver, LiquidSonics, Tone Kelvin & Unisum and so on... Heck for a few extra bucks stick a couple analogue Neve Shelford Channels or a Manley Massive Passive EQ in the signal path... LOL... I already cheat with a Tube Preamp in my system...

Actually, I am getting some of the best sound from my system using the new REW vmath, err Trace Arithmetic, for room correction and some sweetening with LiquidSonics...

@Todd Anderson does sound below and above human hearing range, ~20Hz to 20kHz, influence/interact with sound within the human hearing range? And does sound below and above the human hearing range interact with other parts of the human body other than the ears? You are the Bass Hunter, what is it like to get hit in the gut with a 15Hz bass wave? An interesting paper to consider... https://earthworksaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-world-beyond-20kHz.pdf

 

[Todd Anderson]

Definitely below 20Hz… and I’d imagine above 20kHz. Though the energy above is less powerful… so perhaps it has less of an impact?

 

[ddude003]

So CD quality is 44.1kHz... One half of that (Nyquist–Shannon theorem) is 22.05kHz... If you are limiting your kit in some way to only do 20Hz to 20kHz your missing some interesting bits below and above... And what about 48kHz and above content?

 

[JStewart]

I can hear a difference on my system using things like Hang Loose Convolver, LiquidSonics, Tone Kelvin & Unisum and so on... Heck for a few extra bucks stick a couple analogue Neve Shelford Channels or a Manley Massive Passive EQ in the signal path... LOL... I already cheat with a Tube Preamp in my system...

Actually, I am getting some of the best sound from my system using the new REW vmath, err Trace Arithmetic, for room correction and some sweetening with LiquidSonics...

@Todd Anderson does sound below and above human hearing range, ~20Hz to 20kHz, influence/interact with sound within the human hearing range? And does sound below and above the human hearing range interact with other parts of the human body other than the ears? You are the Bass Hunter, what is it like to get hit in the gut with a 15Hz bass wave? An interesting paper to consider... https://earthworksaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-world-beyond-20kHz.pdf

Some good questions in there.
It’s weird to me that I can’t hear over 13kHz anymore, but I can hear changes made by DAC filters like these in my SMSL SU-9

Then there’s the Marantz “sound” which, if I understand correctly, comes in part a very slow roll off dac filter that has a couple of dB attenuation at 20kHz and doesn’t fully attenuate until 40kHz. Earns them poor results in high frequency noise and distortion due to inclusion of very low level spurious tones that my dogs couldn’t hear in the 40kHz range. Bats might.