Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?

@charles007100  @audphile1 

I can't bypass the preamp because I have an analogue section. Also, I have a very good preamp. It's the three box Pass XP-30. Also, I can do a lot of experimenting with my ears, but not so much with my body. I'd have to be crawling around in a 20" space behind my racks to hook the Meitner to the amp. I don't do a lot of testing that requires physical work.

I'm playing Eric Clapton's unplugged. A lot of acoustic guitar with transcient attacks on the strings. It sounds perfect. The only place I've found the MA3i lacking at this point is with shimmering cymbals. I have both the album (all analogue reissue) of Bill Evans "Waltz for Debbie." The first cut has a lot of cymbal decays. I don't know if any DAC at this point in time could capture that perfectly. If you have the Bill Evans album you can test it out. If you don't and you have a turntable, you should buy the album. It's so involving, I just want to sink into it.

@audio-b-dog I have Bill Evans Waltz for Debbie vinyl record from Craft Original Jazz Classics Series. It’s an all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. It is 100% better than any version of this album you can find on streaming. KG is a mastering genius. No Meitner’s fault that the cymbals don’t shimmer. It’s not the same master. 
 

here is the vinyl record https://craftrecordings.com/products/waltz-for-debby-original-jazz-classics-series-180g-lp

@audphile1 

I have the same version of "Waltz for Debbie" that you do, and it is one of the best sounding records I own. As for the cymbals, I believe they are one of the most difficult instruments for a DAC to reproduce. Their waves must look extremely complex. To my ear, I think I can hear the DAC trying to piece together that wave and falling short. My guess is that the $1/4 million dCS would also have trouble properly reproducing that wave, no matter what the master is. I will continue to pay attention to the sound of cymbals, especially when they have long decays. Just out of curiosity. That being said, the MA3i is brilliant. It is fantastic. I played Martha Argerich with Claudio Abbado playing Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto. The MA3i sounded better than the record.

I have been talking to Gemini about my setup with the 35' ethernet cable versus running a short, expensive cable from a mesh to the Meitner MA3i. It said without reservation that the long run from the ATT fiber hub was the way to go. When waves are sent through the air, they are prone to dropping info and the DAC has to work very hard to try to bring the timing back together. As for the problem with the long ethernet cable being an antennae, the MA3i has an isolater built in to filter that out. At first it said I should buy an isolater, but I reminded it that on the Meitner literature it talks about adding isolation filtering toi the MA3i. So, I think I am set with the best networking setup I can have.

Anyway, it sounds very good. The first night I turned it on, I noticed the rough top end, but that is pretty well gone as I have burned it in. 

@audio-b-dog try the following two tracks for cymbals and overall great music

1. Album: The Unforgettable NHOP Trio Live; track 10: Jeg Gik Mig

2. Album: Cafe Blue by Patricia Barber; track: Nardis

@audphile1 

Thanks. I listen to them tomorrow.