Wireworld Platinum Starlight® 10 Twinax and AQ Diamond

Btw, I wondered whether the upgraded MA3i could be used as my primary streamer to replace the Aurender, but the fact that you have the N200 in your system indicates the MA3i is good, but the N200 is better.  Care to comment on that?  Thanks,

Robert

@traubr I tried the new Shunyata Alpha X USB cable. While very good and more detailed than the Audience FrontRow USB cable I have now and the Stealth USB I had for a brief period of time, I find Shunyata lean and cool sounding. It’s not as musical, not as colorful as Audience and Stealth. Their Alpha power cords have exactly the same sonic signature. So I ruled Shunyata out for my setup. 
 

As to Meitner DAC…it’s awesome. I heard the MA3 in my system and loved it. Ended up getting a new MA3i. I have been comparing N200/MA3i to MA3i alone and I can tell you in my system to my ears they sound slightly different with N200 being a bit rounder and slightly less fleshed out but a bit fuller than the MA3i when used as a roon end point. I can say it boils down to preference. One’s not better than the other. These differences are very slight and require a trained and strained ear. I will most likely be selling the N200. Further testing needed but that’s my preliminary findings with about 240hrs on the Meitner. 

@audphile1 , thanks for your review.  I was ready to pull the trigger on the new Alpha cable but there was a long lead time, so went with the Omega.  I don't find it lean sounding at all, but in fairness it has yet to be tested on the stereo side, where the rubber really hits the road.  Time will tell on that one.

After a mini DAC merry-go-round, the Meitner has been a joy, so much so that I decided to (again-- notice the trend?) go for the gusto and upgrade to the "i" version.  Your comment about preference vs. better is spot on: it's different, and therein lies the beauty .  It's easy enough to A-B the setups, with and without N200, and use one or the other as the mood strikes.

Robert

@traubr you won’t regret upgrading to the latest “i” version. It’s a great DAC. 
I’m right there with you on being able to revert to ether a streamer in the Meitner or the N200. My approach is - do I miss the sound one of them offers to want to switch back? I actually prefer the airier and more alive presentation produced by the MA3i alone. My N200 has been off for a few days now as an experiment. I feel I compared apples to apples using audience hidden treasure ethernet cable to both and audience studio one USB from N200 into Meitner. Keeping the audience house sound and level of cabling the same. When I auditioned the MA3 I preferred the N200.
The upgraded streamer in the MA3i bridged the gap. 

@audphile1 ​​@ghdprentice , May I ask a side question please ? This is regarding Ethernet cables. Are the sound characteristics similar in your systems that you experienced with Ethernet cables the same as the similar brand USB cable ? I’ve played with USB and I’m getting ready to add a noise suppression devise and upgrade my Ethernet cable. Thanks , Mike B.