Meitner i upgrades

Safe travels for your dac. Please let me know what you think. Don’t be put off by my lack of additional info. I think the new unit is noticeably better and a bargain. I’ve never been one to think the sound of components changes significantly over a long time. Been doing this a while and I know what I like sonically and can tell within a few days at most if I like a new component or set up. 

I'm currently using an Auralic Aries S1 streamer to Laiv Harmony R2r dac to Holo Serene KTE pre onward. Really love the preamp, but have been thinking of going to an integrated dac/streamer. Was looking at Lumin X1 and now looking into the Meitner MA3i. Any insights or thoughts on what I could expect from a performance perspective? I've enjoyed R2R dacs the past few years but like the idea of fewer boxes and from what I've read the MA3i seems very similar to the EMM Labs DA2i, which would make it a killer bargain. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

MA3i back in my possession now for a week. Right out of the box, I was hit over the head with  everything everyone has commented about in this post. However, I will say that after over 100 hours on the upgrade, to these ears, I notice little change from the first day. YMMV. I had to call Meitner about a $425 bill I received from FedEx yesterday ( for another discussion another day), and spoke to a tech about my listening observations. He confirmed my observation as he said most of the upgrade is done on the analog boards and that they spend about 3 days on the test bench so that each upgrade has quite a few hours on them prior to being shipped out. Currently, I’m using it as a DAC only. BTW, the volume by pass mode has been eliminated so “100” is considered “bypass”. I’ll soon try the MA3i as a pre on a Decware amp and a SS Sim amp. Now, do I need to upgrade the usb cable from the DH Silversonic? 

Well, I am in audio bliss.  Yesterday I received my updated MA3i. I streamed music through it overnight to help break it in and I am now doing some listening. It sounds fantastic!  This is consistent with other responses but I will be more specific about what my trusty ears tell me   Before I form any long-term conclusions I’ll need to spend some more time with it, but my immediate impressions are: 

• Music is presented in a tonally neutral / uncolored manner, but the sound is buttery smooth, smoother than the MA3. Voices and instruments are presented in a more 3D and lifelike manner. I feel more of a reach out and touch the musicians experience.
• The soundstage is deeper and wider, with instruments and voices more clearly layered and resolved within the soundstage and with greater focus.
• The top end is more extended, but without brightness. There is more "air" around notes in the upper treble.
• There is more detail in recordings being uncovered. I am hearing background instruments and other information with greater clarity. On recordings I have listened to hundreds of times I found myself saying I don’t recall hearing that before, or with such clarity. 
• The bass is more extended and more articulate, and notes are reproduced with better clarity. Resonance attributable to strings being plucked and the related harmonics, are much more apparent.
• The mid-bass and lower mid-range regions are more present, and add greatly to the more 3D sense of the musicians being in front of me.
• The mid-bass has more punch, but still sounds natural. Percussion instruments are more dynamic.

Ed has really worked some magic with this new iteration of his DAC.  And the revised streamer sounds great.  It now processes up to DSD128, and I seriously question whether spending more $ on a separate streamer will enhance my experience.