Micromega M-One Integrated - any first hand experience?

Hi stenfanwegner,

We started the thread and thanks for your interest.

I will give you some insight that might help you gain some clarity.

We begain on seeking the best all in ones after hearing all the Devialet buzz. So we signed on to be Devialet dealers. 

Long story short Devialet was a love hate relationship. The  Devialet piece was sexy, the setup program really cool, the issue was the sound.

The Devialet was super clean, but always lacked an engaging quality, you wanted to fall in love with it, the lack of noise, bass tightness, light weight, software upgradability.

The isse was after listening for a while you never relaxed into the music could be a Class D thing. I never liked Ice, Hypex or Ncore amps either.

Then we heard about the Micromega and boy did it seem like it had some of the cool Devialet things going on, small in size, every connection imaginable, and then added blu tooth, and DSD playback over the Devialet, and then were the cool other new advantages a headphone jack, room correction option,  and at $4,500.00 a lot cheaper than the Devialet which was now $7,000.00 

So we ordered one, and aside from the functionality, there was the sound, the Micromega added a much richer midrange, boardering on tube like, also with a warm punchy bass and it was so much more musically engaging.

This piece has become one of our favorites and we sell a number of other cool integrateds, including the Anthem STR great room correction, no built in streaming, no blu tooth, etc, but a lot of power, and a bit drier.

The other cool new integrated we got was the Naim Nova and Atom, boy these are also really cool with an outstanding feature set as well fantastic app and a great echo system with additonal streaming device options.

We also nave the NAD M32 which has a cool clean prespective the NAD sounds fantastic with warmer speakers.

So we have found four insanly good integrated all with strengths and weaknesses, I would like to say the Micromega is really special sonically. I can't wait to get the room correction module. 

Dave  owner
Audio Doctor NJ

Dave,
That's really helpful. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I'm going to take a look at the other integrated amps you mentioned, for comparison's sake. If you have another minute to spare, could you please describe your experiences with the sound of the phono stage on the MC setting? I have a lot of vinyl that needs to be played! And again, thank you for chiming in. It's fantastic to see engaged retailers sharing their considerable knowledge. Cheers!

Honestly never tested the phono stage on the Micromega, I am sure it is decent. 

The question is how much and how serious is your vinyl playback.

I have 4,000 records but I tend to enjoy the convenience and good sound of streaming TIdal or flac files. I do love good vinyl playback. The issue is how good do you expect? $4,500.00 for an amp/streamer/dac/phono stage/headphone amp is not exactly huge money. 

I can honestly test it for you and report back. I love the Rega Aria $1,500.00  great phono stage especially with the Rega RP 6 or 8 just outstanding.

What table and cart are you using? 

Hey Dave,
I'm using a Wilson Benesch Full Circle with an Ortofon Quintet Black. It's a decent combo and I use it daily. So yeah, a good amount of vinyl playback going on. I know that a great separate phono stage will always perform better than one jammed into an integrated amp. But I'm hoping the Micromega's is a strong enough performer with MC cartridges to warrant purchasing the unit. Thanks so much for being willing to try yours out with a turntable. I would love to hear your honest impressions of it!

Dave – any thoughts on the Micromega M-One phono stage sound quality?

I have a M-One and can state that the phono stage is superb. I use it with my vintage Thorens TD 160 and the combo, despite being unusual, works really well. Totally recommend. 

can i ask a follow up regarding the phono stage? i'm not seeing any literature on the specs of the M-1, other than the sensitivity is 1.2mv and 12mv for MC and MM, respectively. can anyone with more experience in this matter recommend appropriate cartridge output levels for the M-1? in other words, would a MM 2mv output cartridge work with the 12mv sensitivity phono stage (without haveing to crank it up to very high volume levels) or do we need more information about the pre-amp before making that determination? do the cartridge outputs need to match (or closely approximate) the input sensitivity figures or are there other measures to be looking at and comparing? i realize i may not be asking the right question, but that's because i'm not exactly sure how to ask... i'm hoping i've said enough to warrant someone to chime in here. thanks!

I bought an M150 two weeks ago.  The sound is quite good; you can't say that it can't be bettered but it delivers a sound you expect at this price.  The room correction is superb and takes the amp to a higher level.

The big problem is the software.  My amp has been 'aging' rapidly, losing some functions every day.  First, it was the buttons on the amp that stopped working, so that I can only use the remote.  Then, the volume control stopped working so that the volume was fixed at a loud level.  Then even the remote stopped working.  Yesterday, it can't be turned on at all. 

The build and reliability of this amp is disappointing to the extreme.  Amplifiers (non-valve) are usually the most reliable part of the hifi system.  To make matters worse, even the Micromega.com website is difficult to access; I can only access it from my mobile phone but not my computer.  Micromega admit that they are not software experts, but IMHO, the M150 is not a marketable product at all with this degree of unreliability.

By all means burn your money and splash out on this expensive toy.  I did get two weeks of immense pleasure out of it. But I would advise before making the plunge, wait for the company to sort out the software problems first.

That is frustrating, but it isn't the experience of most of us who own the 100 or 150.  If you bought new, have you contacted your dealer?  Otherwise I would try following the procedure to install all of the updates from memory stick.  I've never had issues getting to their website from any device.  Even simpler, have you tried unplugging the power cord for a bit and plugging in again (only guessing on that).

Second what benb says, in spite of our oblique boy-fight on free vs pay-for 'value' in hifi  :  ).   Do what he suggests.

fwiw, given my experience with my M-100 I'm confident in its reliability and performance. So far I rate the unit's overall 'quality' 9 of 10 (only due to weird one-off corruption of network firmware during a UPnP listening session, easily addressed by re-install of the network update).

Also, Micromega seems pretty responsive to support inquiries, as does their distributor here in USA (Audio Plus Service in NY). I've had no problems reaching the Micromega website. Try a traceroute from your home network using www.micromega.com, to see where it fails.

Bernardhk you should try doing a firmware update. Unplug the amp insert a  usb stick with newest firmware in appropriate usb slot  then plug amp back in,  it should install without any user input when finished unplug the amp remove usb stick then plug the amp back up. After the firmware update do the network and usb update if applicable.  If that doesn't fix it call the dealer or Micromega. I have never had a problem going to their site from any device mobile, laptop, desktop. 

Does it have user EQ as well?
Loudness ?
Adjustable crossover for sub out and main speakers ?

Server function ? (Stick a hard drive to the USB port. No expensive audiophile router, nas and cables needed?)

Hi guys 

do you know what happened to tidal ? I cannot see tidal anymore on micromega app.