A quick post here to echo the thoughts from @73cuttysupreme - very few mentions of the Meitner MA3 on this board, or in the press generally. I had the chance to home audition it this weekend and it is stellar. 100% engagement with the music -- I forgot about lunch it was so good. Not warm, not cold, just right and natural -- great dynamics, timing, timbre, transparency, linearity and whatever other category you care to name. Not quite as alive as the $50k analog setup I A/B'ed it with, but close enough that I suspect many folks wouldn't care about the difference in exchange for the convenience.
It's the only DAC in the ~$10k range that made me seriously consider selling my current DAC. If you're looking for a network-capable DAC and it's in your budget, I'd highly recommend a home audition.
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Hi,
could anyone compare the Meitner MA3 and the Meitner MA1 v2? |
Agreed, there's just something about his stuff that just seems to work. I was looking to see if I could score one on the used market, but they don't come up often and when they do, they're gone like beer in a college fridge.
I have hear the Bartok and Vivaldi, and the Select version of the MSB in other rooms but also with wilson front end and while very nice, i actually prefer the MA3. it's apples/oranges, but I'm not going to get on the DAC merry-go-round. At that level they are all of similar cloth, and you'd have to spend a ton more to get 'more', whatever that is. I'd rather save the cash and pay for a Qobuz subscription for the next 350 years or every last subscription that acoustic sounds puts out between now and my death bed! |
Good review so far, and looking forward to hearing more about it.
I'm also a turntable first kind of guy, and recently bought an EMM Labs DAC2X V2 and NS1 Streamer (the two units connected by Meitner's Optilink). His stuff is just special, probably because he gets that the "A" pat of the D/A process is essential.
Since you have Qobuz, here is a track to try - Snarky Puppy's "Sintra." Listen when the woodwinds come in after the intro. Listen for the small percussion instruments in the background. If you A/B between a lesser DAC and the EMM, the differences are just unreal. Another track that I noticed wholesale differences (and don't laugh) is Taylor Swift's "August" from her Folklore album. There is so much going on in that track...low fi, high fi, layered vocals...and as much as I heard through my system both through my prior Lampizator DAC and on the vinyl version, the EMM took things to a whole different level, especially with the NS1 in the chain.
Enjoy the new toy! |
Hi there....What other DACs did you consider before purchasing the MA3....? You think it would compete with the dCs Bartok...or the MSB Discrete? I'm waiting to hear reviews! |
That delay is called resync delay, and it’s set per device. |
No issues, not one. The interaction between core, remote and MA3 has worked flawlessly. I’ve taken all the point release updates from roon on day 1, no issues there. I’m running defaults everywhere except I popped in a 500ms delay when switching formats so you don’t get a click. I haven’t done any MQA, gonna re-enable my Tidal subscription this weekend and play around. I do like me the Qobuz though, like redbook but on steroids. |
great update! So roon integration is smooth and glitch free?
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Liking what roon did for classical music and compositions,conductors, etc. LOVE what the MA3 has done to the overall playback. Best I can describe without all those stupid metaphors or sounding snooty is the thing just kinda gets out of the way. It’s rather strange. It’s got detail, gobs, but subtlety is there too. No ringing, no fatigue. It’s rather laid back but still quite detailed. I’d put it up against the Bartok any day of the week. I stumbled across a qobuz playlist by Optimal Enchantment today and had it on while on the screens for work. About two tracks in I sat on the sofa and just chilled. 40 minutes later I got direct reports Slacking me on why I wasn’t in the meeting I scheduled! I hav.e had it continuously powered on since it hit the rack, maybe have 300 real hours on it. Long break in, but wasn’t like driving it off a cliff, was gradual, but took a while to get here. Running Nordost a Frey 2 xlr to the xp30. Seems to match up great.
So in the final analysis, was a great purchase so far. No regrets, everything that the Aurender a10 was, and then more, and ROON!
maybe it was last weekend but was listening to a Channel Classics LP by Rachel Podger doing Vivaldi la stravaganza. A wonderful piece. A wonderful performance and recording and just has that rightness that brings out the best in the system. Then I found it on qobuz in hi-res. It’s close... LP will win every time, but I’ll tell ya, I don’t feel I’m missing much on digital. Got find that recording and give it a whirl on your respective systems. Now I got a boat load of money in the TT rig and some fantastic tubes but if wasn’t already a total degenerate there, I’d be more than smitten with the Meitner MA3.
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how's it going with Roon and MA3?
Thanks!
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Roon just went live with it's MA3 certification in past day or so. I've updated my settings. I am going to get some listening time this weekend with the MA3 as a decoder and render directly, removing the Oppo (and toslink thank the good lord) |
Okay, using qobuz/tidal direct with the unit produces some fine sounds and is quite the experience. Have to use this off the shelf crappy app called M connect. Makes the UI/UX on Aurender seem like a pinnacle of good design ;-( The unit is still awaiting its roon certification so I can’t use it as intended yet. I hooked up my old oppo-203 which can become a roon ready endpoint but I have to run toslink out and to the MA3. When doing so, it all sounds kinda flat and thin if I can beat describe it. It sounds like a piano, and is recognizable but it’s far far from the real thing. So I just queued up some fat playlists in quobuz and letting it rip and sure is sweet. The Brandenburg concertos are 300 years old this week so that’s sure been in heavy rotation! |
Thanks for the update. Looking forward to hearing more. |
So VERY early assessment. It been powered on continuously for a week now, and overnight just firing up a random 8 hr playlist to break it in. May need 300-500 hours to settle in, but...... Wow, for the money will be tough to beat. Since it’s not roon certified yet (maybe a few weeks or a month before it’s official, fingers crossed), I’m using my old opp udp-203 as the roon renderer, and my Mac as roon core hooked up over toslink to the MA3. I had to run it like this even though roon saw it as an endpoint, can’t stream to it until it’s been certified. Not ideal but I’ll tell ya this thing is smooth. Zero digital etch, bass response is fantastic, and sounds remarkably better than my Aurender a10, which it replaced. Large scale orchestral and female vocals are spot on and have that sort or ‘rightness’ that MSB and DCS can deliver without spending gobs of money. The unit sounded a bit flat when first powered on, which was totally expected and didn’t get much better for the first few days then bam. First step function cleared. I suspect there are more to be had. I have a window of 3 hours while the family is out of the house Saturday morning, I’ll have more to report in then. |
The Meitner MA3 was just recommended to me, so I am very much interested to hear your thoughts once you get some time with it. |
