I was really excited to get this DAC, with high expectations. The DAC came yesterday. Nicely packed, and the unit itself is really nice in terms of build quality and aesthetics. Now the performance.
I little background first. I am running active speakers. They are modified Klipsch RF7IIs, with Scanspeak 12mu midrange driver instead of the horns and Pioneer PT-R7 Beryllium ribbon tweeters. Running Marchand x44 crossed over at 300hz and 3khz. Low end is driven by Wyred4Sound st-1000, mids by Mcintosh mc275 mkvi, and highs by Consanance cyber 800se tube monoblocks.
I initially had an Oppo 105 and was happy with it. Tried upgrading to PS auio direct stream DAC. But resold the PS audio as it was a big subjective downgrade for me. Mainly upper mids were lean and made female voices ring really bad. After the Oppo I bought the Benchmark DAC3 and Mytek Brooklyn DAC+. I thought the Benchmark was a hair better than Mytek (had to go back and forth many times to hear the difference), mainly more defined bass. Both were better than Oppo. I kept the Mytek because of the extra phono preamp functionality.
Now, I felt I can upgrade the Mytek. Reading the review of the Element X and it’s measurements, I had high hopes for the X-Sabre pro mqa. On paper, it has all the same hardware as the element x, minus the hybrid volume and the streaming.
I am a little disappointed to say the least. Feels like my PS audio purchase all over again. The Matrix sounds congested compared to the Mytek. And again, upper midrange is lean and lots of ringing from female voices. Also, seems there is no coherence compared to the Mytek, which sounds more upfront in the mids, but weightier. And the soundstage seems significantly larger with the Mytek. I do have some equiment to measure and calibrate my speakers, so volume was equalized at my listening position.
I am a scientist myself and don’t believe most of the bogus subjective audiophile claims. But this is a clear difference to my ears. Can any one elaborate what is actually happening to cause the upper midrange congestion and the narrow soundstage?
I just contacted Matrix to return the unit. Keeping my Mytek DAC+
EDIT: see post #11. With a blind test, I could not hear a difference between the DACs. That is subjectivity for you.
I little background first. I am running active speakers. They are modified Klipsch RF7IIs, with Scanspeak 12mu midrange driver instead of the horns and Pioneer PT-R7 Beryllium ribbon tweeters. Running Marchand x44 crossed over at 300hz and 3khz. Low end is driven by Wyred4Sound st-1000, mids by Mcintosh mc275 mkvi, and highs by Consanance cyber 800se tube monoblocks.
I initially had an Oppo 105 and was happy with it. Tried upgrading to PS auio direct stream DAC. But resold the PS audio as it was a big subjective downgrade for me. Mainly upper mids were lean and made female voices ring really bad. After the Oppo I bought the Benchmark DAC3 and Mytek Brooklyn DAC+. I thought the Benchmark was a hair better than Mytek (had to go back and forth many times to hear the difference), mainly more defined bass. Both were better than Oppo. I kept the Mytek because of the extra phono preamp functionality.
Now, I felt I can upgrade the Mytek. Reading the review of the Element X and it’s measurements, I had high hopes for the X-Sabre pro mqa. On paper, it has all the same hardware as the element x, minus the hybrid volume and the streaming.
I am a little disappointed to say the least. Feels like my PS audio purchase all over again. The Matrix sounds congested compared to the Mytek. And again, upper midrange is lean and lots of ringing from female voices. Also, seems there is no coherence compared to the Mytek, which sounds more upfront in the mids, but weightier. And the soundstage seems significantly larger with the Mytek. I do have some equiment to measure and calibrate my speakers, so volume was equalized at my listening position.
I am a scientist myself and don’t believe most of the bogus subjective audiophile claims. But this is a clear difference to my ears. Can any one elaborate what is actually happening to cause the upper midrange congestion and the narrow soundstage?
I just contacted Matrix to return the unit. Keeping my Mytek DAC+
EDIT: see post #11. With a blind test, I could not hear a difference between the DACs. That is subjectivity for you.
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