I will have to wait for my new Meitner MA3 streamer. I played James Taylor's "Gorilla" streaming at 192 kHz, the highest sampling rate I've ever seen. I could hear it working hard to assemble all the bits into music. I put on the LP and there was no comparison, even though the LP is a bit beat up. It was so much more present and in the room.
Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?
I have a good analogue front end. Not stratuspherically good but good enough for this comparison. VPI Prime Signature 21 turntable, Pass Labs XP-25 pono preamp, Pass Labs XP-30 preamp and Hovland Radia amp. It has a lovely, very involving sound. On the right recording, I just drop everythng and am drawn in to listen.
My streamer, on the other hand, is decent but not spectacular. It is better than my CD player, but it is not jaw-dropping like my analogue front-end. My question is this: does anyone have a high-end, tier-one streamer (dCS Bartok Apex, Lumin X2, or something like them) that can rival a good analogue system?
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I am testing the Meitner MA3. It is very much better than the Moon. The first word that comes to mind is resonant. Music resonates coming out of my speaker. I can hear the wood of a piano on a deep note. I can hear the decay of the cymbals. I am using it through my Pass Labs XP-30 preamp, so that's going to juice up the sound quite a bit. I'll live with it for a while and hear many other things. |
@audio-b-dog excellent! I had no doubt it would be better than the Moon. |
My original question was whether digital could be as involving as analogue. This is. I'm listening to Graceland because I'm very familiar with the album. I haven't done an A/B test, but it is as involving as analogue. Question: before you considered the upgrade (which I won't be able to purchase probably for a year) did you consider putting a transport on instead? Also, Jplay doesn't show nearly as many albums as Moon's Mind2 or Qobuz connect. I couldn't find Graceland under Paul Simon's name, so I had to type in the album name. |
Meitner DAC is very good and I’m not surprised you like it and find its presentation engaging and musical.
Having heard both versions of this DAC, I would 100% send it in for an upgrade. The improvements are well worth it. As to transports, I tried a few. It’s very good with CDs but honestly if the master is the same on streaming as the CD you own, no need to bother with CD. |
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