Meitner MA3i DAC Review

@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. 

@kray on the D-1 I tried A, B, C 2nd Order Harmonic Distortion filters. The A & C filters were only used when burning in the DAC and the sound was fatiguing. Once burned in I removed 2HD filters went naked for a while. However, I found I wanted a bit of warmth when using headphones, so I am now settled in with filter B at Level 4. I even use that with 2-channel. In fact, the D-1 is really only used with 2-channel (Livingroom) and the MA3i will be used with both 2-channel (office) and headphones.

I asked John La Grou, the D-1 designer, to help end users out by posting a page on their web site to explain the sonic attributes of 2HD A to F filters. I have no clue as to how they individually differ from each other, John said that was on their ToDo list.

BTW - do you have a D-1 DAC in the house?

@audphile1 I had to reinstall my Qobuz desktop app and I am now able to stream to the MA3i from Qobuz by-passing ROON. I do not have time to do a lot of testing, but I tried 1 song that I find can sound too hot on playback, that is DREAMS by Fleetwood Mac. On the MA3i streaming from Qobuz there is a bit more energy on top. Not too much to make it fatiguing but noticeable. On ROON, this is slightly tampered down. I do not feel like I am losing resolution (hard to tell) but the sound is a bit less hot on top and I prefer it (for this song).

After listening to another song, there is definitely a subtle difference, and I am not sure which I prefer. I am listening with the CODA #16 and the Yamaha NS5000 speakers. 

I do not have a direct connection via USB to my D-1 DAC, so I am not sure how I can get the Qobuz app to stream to the D-1. I think I need Qobuz connect to be setup to my DAC. My Sonore OpticalRendu which I use to stream to the D-1 is the ROON ONLY version so that will not work.