Micromega M-100/150 field reports

The latest version of the Micromega iOS app now streams Tidal.  I don't have an account so haven't tested.

"... is there no way to stream Tidal to the M100?"

vingard: if you’re on Android you’re in luck: BubbleUPnP for DLNA will totally stream Tidal to the M-100 (as UPnP/DLNA renderer). Integration is built right in.

Excellent app, free or paid - but at its modest price (< $5 USD), paid version is a no-brainer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bubblesoft.android.bubbleupnp

To confirm - is there no way to stream Tidal to the M100?

Djones it is very easy to stream a CD library directly to the M100 using Jriver works like a charm and you don't need a usb connection just as long as each device is on the network it sounds great.

Unfortunatly never tested any of our turntables with the M100 we do have a Rega RP8 with Alpheta 2 in the same room this is a fantastic turntable.

If you have any specific questions I would email either Micromega directly or their importer Audio Plus Services, talk to Micheal Russo in service.

If you have any additional questions we can answer please feel free to contact us.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Benb at the moment i'm busy ripping and figuring out what I have but I have researched roon mostly for what you are saying the management aspect. That might be a toy I'll find an excuse for around xmas. The iOS app was enough to get me worked up after playing with the android mess which hopefully they will fix as usery said. My mini will be delivered Wed. 

Djones51 - I’m always up for an excuse to buy a new toy.  My wife loves her iPad mini and I use my iPad Pro all the time.  

Usery - in my limited time playing with Roon, Audirvana, and iTunes as the means to get music to the M100, I would say they all sound mostly the same.  Some of the fancy Izotope DSD filters in Audirvana can affect the sound but I’m not sure if I prefer or not.  

Where im digging Roon is on the management of my music.  I’ve got 1300 albums and over 17,000 tracks and it does a great job of suggesting and browsing.  I’ve rediscovered a lot in my collection the last few weeks.  I’m just about to the point where I feel it’s worth the lifetime subscription.   But to each their own.  

They are also also adding Roon to firmware hopefully by the end of the year

I don’t know Roon or Roon Labs much, but I do see they have Roon Remote app for Android. Not being a Roon Core owner, all I get is a "Looking for Roon Core" pulser in the UX. From what I could see it appears way, way more polished than the Micromega app for Android (no surprise).

The little I’ve read/seen about Roon Core suggests it has a slick UX, lots of tagging/cataloging/library features including access to a jumbo-size metadata collection, some nice integration with music services (esp. Tidal) and endpoints (amps/dacs/playback devices), the usual commodity streaming/playback features you’ll find on lots of other apps like this, and some ’trophy’ features like MQA transcoding, DSD support and maybe some others.

Best I can tell there’s no credible, empirical data or experiments in the literature that demonstrate Roon Core produces ’better’ output than any one of a number of other playback apps - including free ones. Whether it ’sounds’ better to someone, well, that by definition is subjective. $119/yr or $499/lifetime is a bit dear, given what one gets and what I value. Relative to the alternatives out there, both paid and free, I might consider it at half that price.

I am grateful to the Roon Labs COO for obliquely dismissing some of the industry hype around ’audiophile cables’ (in this case ethernet cables), here: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/validity-of-audiophile-ethernet-cables/30251/25.

A mildly bold move: biting a finger on the hand that feeds them, as it were.

I suppose I could try Roon for a year but the iPad mini is $100 less than a lifetime Roon subscription. Besides the app on iOS does everything I need it to do and I can use the iPad for other things as well since my old table is getting pretty long in the tooth. 

Just FYI, Roon will also play internet radio.  For the price of an iPad mini, you might be able to buy a lifetime subscription to Roon and that may have a better Android interface (I don’t have any to check but it should be easy enough to find out on the web).  You can try a trial to see.   I’ve become a big fan of the interface.  

Ok I got to finally play with my wife's work ipad not sure I can keep the app on it, anyway, yes this is what I thought this thing could do.  It's an older version so it wouldn't put the latest app release on but it plays radio stations from all over the world as well as internet only stations. I don't need jriver or bubbleUPnP.  any other third party media player just share a folder with your ripped music just make sure you have DLNA enabled on windows 10,  or use a DLNA NAS and the amp finds it and plays. I think I might buy me a new ipad mini to get the latest app version. 

They are also also adding Roon to firmware hopefully by the end of the year, but that’s just for us “semi-incumbent audiophile “elite” on Macs” who like music more than equipment :)

"I could only be happier if Micromega fixed the android version of their mobile app ; )"

I contacted main distributor Audio Plus Services about the crappy Android version of the Micromega app. They passed on my inquiry to Micromega en Boissy-saint-Leger, et voila, Micromega ils ont répondu:

me: "...I’m using the Micromega for Android app with my M-100, and as you may know the app is outdated and not maintained (no updates since 2016). It is extremely unstable, crashes frequently and is missing features that are included in the iOS version (internet radio, maybe others are missing?). I inquired with Micromega weeks ago, but no reply from them. I’d like to hear whether they plan to address the problems with their Android app."

Micromega: "To answer your question, indeed we have decided to go straight [to] and finalize the iOS version before the Android version. But as the software is very demanding in terms of time, cost and development, [we] have decided to work with a new software company dedicated & specialized in Android development!   On our agreement with them, it [is] shown that the entire development including Tidal, qobuz, deezer, web radio and the audio server has to be completed and done by December 31st 2018."

That’s hopeful ... une bonne année ; )

"...any thoughts on best ways to feed the Micromega M100. I’m loving the Roon interface but from what I understand it feeds the M100 via Airplay which may not be giving the highest quality sound. I also have Audirvana+ latest version which seems to output UPnP to the M100 giving all the filtering options. Would adding a microRendu and feeding Ethernet into that and then USB into the M100 give even better sound? The microRendu is also Roon ready which I think would open up possibilities within Roon."

No devices output UPnP per se. Like Apple’s proprietary AirPlay it’s a set of protocols for devices to interact with each other on a IP network. UPnP is open-source, _not_ proprietary (lots of advantages to that), and there’s an entire subset of the standard dedicated to A/V applications. And where there’s UPnP, DLNA is often there too - at least on AV hardware from such manufacturers. Indeed, DLNA is a superset of the UPnP spec.

Of course, Apple’s OSX doesn’t support UPnP - that would be antithetical to their AirPlay machinations. Nor does Roon: like with Apple, I think that would erode or otherwise devalue their proprietary and competing spec, RAAT. Roon also wants to cater to (read: extract $$$ from) the semi-incumbent audiophile ’elite’ on Macs, so they support AirPlay too. Here and there you may find Roon reps doing some thinly-veiled sniping at UPnP.

Those fancy-pants, multi-thousands-of-dollars ’audiophile’ streamers/servers/players (eg Auralic, Aurender, Cary, Moon, Music Fidelity, and the’elite’ lines from Denon/Marantz/Onkyo/Sony etc) are basically all computers, running dedicated (and proprietary) OS’s, most if not all of them Linux variants. They too support UPnP/DLNA as a means to deliver a lot of their value.

It’s work to get learned-up on all this, but the computer audio future has been here since about 2000, and it’s only going to become more pervasive, disruptive and all-consuming. Among a handful of helpful resources for getting informed is Archimago’s blog - start with this article:

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/03/musings-computer-audio-part-ii-basics.html

And especially read this, top to bottom and everything in between:

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/

"... M100 sounds absolutely fabulous almost any way I feed it including straight Airplay from iTunes"

2nd that - like, I'm again at risk of gushing.  My primary source is my LAN: .flac over UPnP/http from a Win7-64 Pro host (acting as the 'NAS' - Network Attached Storage), with the UPnP control point being the excellent BubbleUPnP android app on my phone, and the M-100 as the UPnP renderer.  Transcendent sound quality out of the M-100 ... I could only be happier if Micromega fixed the android version of their mobile app  ;  )

I wanted to see if there were any thoughts on best ways to feed the Micromega M100.  I’m loving the Roon interface but from what I understand it feeds the M100 via Airplay which may not be giving the highest quality sound.  I also have Audirvana+ latest version which seems to output UPnP to the M100 giving all the filtering options.  Would adding a microRendu and feeding Ethernet into that and then USB into the M100 give even better sound?   The microRendu is also Roon ready which I think would open up possibilities within Roon.  Sorry for my limited knowledge on this part of computer audio.  

Now ow what I can say is that the Micromega M100 sounds absolutely fabulous almost any way I feed it including straight Airplay from iTunes.  It is making the best sound in my system ever.  So alive with great presence.  I would also say the mars is well worth the money.  It’s like buying a new set of speakers so in that light it’s a bargain.  

Thanks for any info info and hopefully this thread can keep expanding and become a good resource for owners.  

I’m using iPhone X and iPad Pro.  Both work fine.  But I think once the settings are dialed in, all of which can be done on the unit or the remote, there isn’t much need for the Micromega app.  At least as I’m using Roon.  Not sure if I’ll pony up the $$ for it though.  

I assume there aren’t enough android users so they don’t bother with it.

Maybe - but they did do an initial release on android, and it would reflect real well on company and developer/s skillset (and CV/s) if they’d stabilize the app and get it to parity with the iOS version.

And I think you answered my earlier question to benb about the internet radio feature: it isn't in the (abjectly outdated) android version of their mobile app  :  /

... punch and clarity of this amp is amazing for only 100 watts. The background is always dead silent.

I’m having a similar experience with my Nola Boxers - they’ve been transported to entirely different dimension by the M-100.

I know Paradigm isn't a well thought of speaker but I am sitting here  listening to the Moody Blues and this is the best these speakers have ever sounded. The room correction on this thing is wonderful or these speakers are better than I remember. I had them stored away for about a year while I was downsizing. This punch and clarity of this amp is amazing for only 100 watts. The background is always dead silent. 

I got curious and looked up the app for the ipad/ iphone on my wife's ipad and found it has had a steady update path since the initial release in 2016 the last was in Feb 2018 making it compatible with the iphone X. The android app has never been updated since Dec 2016. I assume there aren't enough android users so they don't bother with it. 

I would think it's a bug in the M100. If they get around to that as quick as the android app it might get fixed in a few more years.

djones51: yes agree it's likely a Micromega network module firmware bug, rather than the UPnP clients.  That and the crappy android app is laziness on Micromega's part, if not mild sw development negligence.

I haven’t had any bugs on the Mac side...

benb: glad to hear that.  wrt the internet radio feature, on what device are you running the Micromega app?

I haven’t had any bugs on the Mac side of the world.  A couple of 1-2 second dropouts where the WiFi wasn’t keeping up, but that’s all.  I like the internet radio on the app.  
One other configuration for the record is I run Audience Au24 speaker cable to Silverline Sonatinas (v1) with separate wires going to the speaker input on my Adire Rava subwoofer so the speakers run full range.  Good integration, especially with the MARS.  Someday I’ll play with the sub out.  

Jriver did the same thing to mine as BubbleUPnP. I have to reflash the network firmware to get the M100 recogized whenever it gets lost. I would think it's a bug in the M100. If they get around to that as quick as the android app it might get fixed in a few more years. 

With MARS turned off my Paradigm 85f speakers are barely listenable  so having that alone is worth it to me though I am thinking of upgrading my speakers. The M100 drives them very easy and even after 3 or 4 hours it never gets any warmer than any other a/b amp I have had. The compact size worried me a bit on heat. I use the stock power cord hooked to a panamax conditioner I have had for years, actually it's the oldest piece I have and have never had any problem with it. The network probkems while annoying don't bother me since I am looking to run a wireless streamer/server down the road. 

Mine gets lost in internet space all the time. The android app can't even find it now, jriver loses it all the time I don't bother with it anymore I just use my cdp. I can ping it, I can get to it typing in it's ip address. I did all the recent updates. The MARS works bery well. 

"The amp and streamer are outstanding with really good imaging and presence."

benb: that's my experience too with the M-100, and it just keeps getting better the more material I listen to (varying genres, recordings, volume levels etc). No MARS, no power conditioning and a Cullen Cable Crossover Series as power cable. Other than Audioquest Sydney rca from CDP (which I don't use much), no other fancy-pants interconnects to speak of. For my money those aren't a good & credible investment.

Like you I'm getting super-good imaging & stage, presence and drive. Totally stoked.

I did have a weird encounter during .flac playback via http over ethernet through the M-100 LAN input. I use the BubbleUPnP for DLNA/Chromecast android app as control point, with the M-100 as UPnP renderer via its LAN input. Btw the BubbleUPnP app is excellent: well-designed, feature-wealthy, responsibly and frequently maintained, rock-solid stable. Superb value, from the Google Play Store.

I use the Micromega android app to control the M-100 hardware: volume, input sources, etc. Sadly, that app is of entirely different caliber than BubbleUPnP (see my earlier posts about that).  No response from Micromega to my questions about that. 

I had just played back a single track from .flac, and selected another single track in BubbleUPnP.   I hit Play - and nothing happened. Tried again: nothing. Rebooted the BubbleUPnP app - and it no longer found the M-100 as a UPnP renderer on the LAN. Rescanned for devices in the Micromega app, and it too no longer found the M-100. Restarted both Micromega app and M-100: still no UPnP renderer.  M-100 still had a valid IP, an active network connection and responded to ping. All other M-100 functions and source inputs still worked fine, as did the remote.

The tl;dr: after hours of troubleshooting including router and network debugging, and hw/sw isolation, I finally pulled the nuclear option and reapplied the firmware update to the M-100 network module. That fixed it: M-100 reappeared as UPnP renderer and playback via its LAN input works again.

A cautionary tale but hopefully useful outcome if other owners have the same problem (I didn't find any out on the interwebz). I think it's highly unlikely the BubbleUPnP control app 'exploded' the UPnP interface on the M-100 network module - for now I'm treating it as an isolated "lost-its-mind" failure on Micromega's part.

A couple other things, my Ethernet comes in from a Plume pod situated nearby (mesh Wi-Fi).  And the iOS app is in pretty good shape.  Also, so far I’m liking Roon for feeding it but Apple Airplay works pretty well too.  JRiver is just too terrible an interface for me to want to use it.  

I received my M100 last week.  So far, so great.  It is replacing a VAC Avatar Super, so going from pure tubes to pretty much pure digital.  The amp and streamer are outstanding with really good imaging and presence.  I run a Thorens TD125 Mk II (Vinyl Nirvana modded with SME M2-9 tonearm and Ortofon 2M Black) into the phono.  I can say the phono stage on the VAC was better, but the Micromega is very good.  I’m going to try feeding a Parks Audio Puffin to see if I can warm it up a bit.  
I have the MARS and really like it.  The difference on and off is not subtle and plan to leave it on auto (on).  Other items are a Purepower 1050 power regenerator and the power to the M100 is via an Audience Powerchord. I haven’t compared to stock.