Matrix Mini -i 3 Streamer/Dac is now Roon ready!!

The new Ethernet ROON READY works great. As does the AirPlay2. You get the visual display showing the artist info with both of these approaches. 

I also tried Wifi and it was good when it was connected. However, after a few hours the sound would get garbled, so I cancelled the WiFi experiment. 

I also have a Sonore micoRendu with an LPS connected to the Mini and so far it is hard to tell if that is the best streaming option. The Rendu does not provide the artist update on the display screen. 

The Mini also has Android connectivity but I have not tried that.

I bought this for $749 on Black Friday. It is great for the price. I like my Benchmark DAC3B a bit more than this DAC, Both are ESS variants with the DAC3B having the more powerful chip (I think).

I am using this DAC with a Topping A90 headphone amp and Meze Empy headphones.

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/matrix-audio-mini-i-pro-3-third-time-s-a-charm/

Great info. I would go Ethernet connection. The WiFi in my 1920’s house is terrible

Great info. I would go Ethernet connection. The WiFi in my 1920’s house is terrible

My view on streaming is that the best way to do that is with Fibre Optic cable (not referring to Toslink). The improvement with Fibre over the microRendu to usb was massive. On my best setup, I have 2 DACs and both use a Sonore OpticalRendu with a network switch having 2 Fibre SPF cages.

I do not use any fancy Ethernet cable to the Mini (I think Cat 5). It sounds good enough to me for this bedroom use case. One day, I should compare the OpticalRendu connected to the Mini vs the Ethernet streaming on the Mini. I expect the OpticalRendu to be much better.

The Mini is a fun DAC for me. It can be used in many rooms with it's various network connectivity options. It feels almost like a portable DAC.  It also has some nice GUI filters that show the frequency curve that applies to each filter. Cool stuff.