Micromega M-One Integrated - any first hand experience?


Hi all,

I'm looking for a modern all-in-one integrated amp that includes a really nice phono stage. (I know, I know, this comes up a lot in the forums!)

The Micromega M-One looks like it might fit the bill – simple in form, good range of connectivity options, rumoured to sound great at shows, etc...  But I haven't seen many decent reviews of it. And that seems a bit odd.

The Parasound Halo (as a comparable integrated) is well covered – lots of opinions on it from the audio media. But this M-One has stayed under the radar even though it's been out for several months. Weird.

I know there's a thread on this amp already, but it was started by a dealer – a very knowledgeable and nice one at that – and it kind of lost focus.

I'm just hoping for an unbiased opinion from anyone who's had first hand experience with the M-One and is willing to share any thoughts on its sound and operation.

Thanks for reading this, guys.
Stefan
stefanwegner
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!