Meitner MA3i DAC Review

@yyzsantabarbara I’m sure you know but to use qobuz connect with Meitner you just open the qobuz app on your phone, start the song and click on the bottom left  icon to select the source. Choose MA3i. That’s all there is to it. 

@habaneromonk Ethernet cable makes a difference especially one that feeds your streamer. Every streamer will buffer or cache the data. You can pull the cable out and it will continue playing until the buffer is depleted. But this doesn’t mean the cable won’t impact the sound quality. 

@mdonda i had three guys over for a listening session to compare the MU2 with the MA3i, and everyone felt that the MU2 was more musical and presented more color.  One fellow felt that the Meitner had more high frequency extension. 

@audphile1 

So the sound should change just with the cable in or out. Since all playback is actually always local.

I've tried two different specialty cables vs my Panduit. I have a 2.0 main setup, another 2.2 office setup, and a headphone setup. All seem impervious to this.

@habaneromonk no. The buffer is small. Usually 30sec to a minute. It isn’t local playback.

The only streamer I know that will cache your entire playlist or album is Aurender - they use a fairly large SSD as a cache. 

You hear the difference between Ethernet cables or not depends on several factors including your system and your ability to hear these differences.