Emm labs DAC2x v2 or Meitner MA3i or ?

The MA3i will have the latest circuit ideas from EMM/Meitner.  That should be significant.

I've heard both and have a slight preference for the Meitner. Even though it is the "lower" of the two in terms of original positioning. To my ears the Meitner sounded a little more natural and organic. They are both excellent though.

@v-fi thanks for that. what was the streamer pairing with DAC2X-v2? Did your observation relate to both PCM and DSD?

@delm doesn‘t Meitner products receive trickle down from the EMM line? Do you know what advances MA3i has over the dac2x-v2?

@Rays19, the Dac2x v2 is from 2017 and the MA3i was released in late 2024. The MA3i incorporates about eight years of circuit and programming ideas. I think the conclusion the two products sound the same is flawed as I have a MA3i and had a MA1 with a Dac2x analog board for a few years.

@rays19 I heard both at the home of a friend who uses a slightly older middle of the range Antipodes server which feeds a Berkeley Alpha USB series 2 USB to SPDIF converter, then out to the DAC using AES/EBU cable. Not the most current server but still quite good, and should be enough to make the most of each DAC. 

Now that I think about it, the results may vary based on using USB or AES or other input type. But from the scenario I heard, the Meitner was superior. This was all using PCM though, no comment on DSD.