Eastern Electric Minimax Plus vs. Calyx 24/192

I owned the Calyx 24/192 for about half a year, and had the Minimax Plus in my system at the same time for about two months.

The Calyx was used with its matching linear power supply, and to my ears there wasn't much of a contest. The Calyx was more confident and natural sounding, and was better resolving. This was so even after tube rolling with the Minimax Plus and rollin opamps.

BTW, my musical diet is quite similar to yours.

Note that both comparisons were made using USB. The Calyx has a better USB than SPDIF input.

Strange Eric, I had the exact opposite experience when comparing the Minimax Plus and the Calyx. First off, the buying experience couldn't have been more different. Buying from Bill at Morningstar was as easy as it gets. Buying from Calyx was a totally different and frustrating experience. After about 4 months I finally got a working Calyx to compare with my Minimax that by then had the DEXA discrete op-amps.

My thoughts when listening through the Genesis 5.2's in my 2nd system was that it was the Calyx that sounded edgy, and the Minimax effortless. The soundstage on the Minimax was larger in all dimensions, especially noticable with more presence around the extreme edge of the soundstage. I find myself listening for hours with the Minimax, but many times have shut the system down after 30 minutes when the Calyx is hooked up. I still own both, but plan on selling the Calyx.

I'd go for the plus, because you can tweak the sound by opamp/tube rolling. I know the burson op-amps works great with it.

@J_fav,

In Singapore, both brands are represented by responsible dealers and can be easily obtained subject to stock availability.

Did you try the Calyx with its linear power supply, or the older switching power supply ? I found that the Calyx to be less stellar through its coaxial input, and it really came into its own with the USB input.

For the Minimax Plus, I only tried National Semiconductor LME 49710/49720 and Burr Brown OPA627s.