Meitner i upgrades

Well, I am in audio bliss.  Yesterday I received my updated MA3i. I streamed music through it overnight to help break it in and I am now doing some listening. It sounds fantastic!  This is consistent with other responses but I will be more specific about what my trusty ears tell me   Before I form any long-term conclusions I’ll need to spend some more time with it, but my immediate impressions are: 

• Music is presented in a tonally neutral / uncolored manner, but the sound is buttery smooth, smoother than the MA3. Voices and instruments are presented in a more 3D and lifelike manner. I feel more of a reach out and touch the musicians experience.
• The soundstage is deeper and wider, with instruments and voices more clearly layered and resolved within the soundstage and with greater focus.
• The top end is more extended, but without brightness. There is more "air" around notes in the upper treble.
• There is more detail in recordings being uncovered. I am hearing background instruments and other information with greater clarity. On recordings I have listened to hundreds of times I found myself saying I don’t recall hearing that before, or with such clarity. 
• The bass is more extended and more articulate, and notes are reproduced with better clarity. Resonance attributable to strings being plucked and the related harmonics, are much more apparent.
• The mid-bass and lower mid-range regions are more present, and add greatly to the more 3D sense of the musicians being in front of me.
• The mid-bass has more punch, but still sounds natural. Percussion instruments are more dynamic.

Ed has really worked some magic with this new iteration of his DAC.  And the revised streamer sounds great.  It now processes up to DSD128, and I seriously question whether spending more $ on a separate streamer will enhance my experience.

I just received my upgraded MA3 to MA3i. Goosebumps! If you were on the fence all I can say is do it. The improvement is immediate. Won’t repeat what everyone else has said other than it’s all true. 

After extended listening I can confirm that my initial findings (stated above) are accurate.  The MA3i is an outstanding streamer/DAC!

For the MA3i owners there is a firmware update that you can apply via the MControlHD app. Not sure what it addresses but it’s version 4.4.58. In the past these addressed compatibility issues with various streaming providers.

Following up on ayang90's post, Meitner informed me that this firmware update mainly addresses "how the MConnect app interacts with latest updates to Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify."  

More from Meitner:

"You can use either the MConnect Control app or the MConnect ControlHD app (meant for tablets) to update your MA3i streamer firmware.  It should be automatic and is applied OTA (via the network) when using MConnect Control app. 

1. Select “Play To” and choose the MA3i

2. Once MA3i is selected select the “Player” button to go back to the main screen

3. Select the “cog wheel” (settings) on the top left corner of the MConnect app and select “Device Setup” from the drop down list

4. Select MA3i

5. Once this is done the app will automatically go out to our servers and look for any firmware updates.

6. Latest firmware (look down the list to “F/W”) after you update should be “….v4.4.58”