The SPL Hermes does what it’s supposed to and is sonically completely neutral. The free linking of all inserts makes it very flexible to use. The technical effort required is enormous, and the price is justified given the high quality of German workmanship. However, if you want to put together a serious mastering setup, the Hermes alone isn’t enough. You’ll certainly also need the SPL DMC to be able to channel more than one source and sink through your insert arsenal – the Hermes itself unfortunately only has one I/O. The DMC then also handles the absolutely necessary L/R trim, as well as other gain adjustments and speaker/monitor management. You might also want to work in M/S and use an elliptical filter, which the SPL Gemini offers.
