Millennia Media imersiv D1

@woutb Great feedback.

I also had the Allnic D-15000 Signature OTL/OCL in the house for a while with the Benchmark HPA4 preamp. At that time, I thought it was the very best DAC I had heard. A very detailed and holographic sound. I loved the OTL/OCL sound so much that I got a $500 Schiit Valhalla 3 OTL/OCL preamp as a stop gap, but it may become permanent since I am very happy with it. The Allnic OTL/OCL preamps are better, but the Schiit is very good.

I later heard the imersiv D-1 and the Meitner MA3i DACs, both in the house at the same time. The D-1 is more detailed, and I like it more but the MA3i is great and I expect to be buying that DAC for my office. The MA3i is also more robust with better playback options and connectivity compared to the D-1. The MA3i has DoP on SPDIF which I need for SACD disk playback. The MA3i also has XLR and RCA outputs that both work. The D-1 has neither of those.

Another DAC I will listen to before I pull the trigger on the MA3i is the new Allnic ASRA DAC. I do not think it is an OTL/OCL, but the ASRA headphone amp was really good, and the DAC should also be of similar quality. Only issue for me with the Allnic D-15000 Signature OTL/OCL was that DoP on SPDIF did not work. Hopefully they get that resolved on the ASRA.

@woutb 

Thank you so much for your feedback.  

The Tambaqui offered great resolution and speed, a lot of detail, a very 'airy', extended sound, but was somewhat lacking in body and timbre , for my tastes. 

I spent much more time with the D-1, in my own system. Compared to my impressions of the Tambaqui, it had a similar airy extension into the highs, but with even stronger, better-defined bass, and greater resolution of tonality in the mids. Voices and instruments sounded very layered on the D-1. I.e. for me, taking into account the different listening conditions, the D-1 beat the Tambaqui at its own game and then offered other qualities too. 

So far in my audio journey, I prefer this type of sound.  Excellent dynamics and resolution but doesn't sound "thin" like a cheap chip based DAC.  Enough meat on the bones but that's not my top priority.

@yyzsantabarbara 

Been reading your posts and we have similar tastes.  Neutral gear.

Does the Meitner not sound overly warm and rolled off?  That's the impression I got from watching reviews of it.  

Does the Meitner not sound overly warm and rolled off?  That’s the impression I got from watching reviews of it.  
 

@kumizi The MA3i is not a warm sounding dac and it’s definitely not rolled off. It’s neutral. It balances details with musicality. Where did you watch a review of MA3i?

@audphile1 

https://youtu.be/z6egK2M_w_M?t=468

"This DAC is using a really slow filter with quite steep roll off.  By 20khz, the frequency response is attenuated by 4db."

edit:  This is a MA3 review.  Maybe they changed the sound in the MA3i.