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Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 3 Review (Streamer & DAC)

enricoclaudio

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enricoclaudio

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What was wrong with the Arcam ST60? Except for not having a USB input, it seems like a fairly good unit.

Sound is OK, nothing great. ARCAM was promoting it as Roon Ready and it's not. I got it because it was suppose to be Roon Ready and still is not Roon Certified. Then is has some bugs and the Music Life app is just HORRIBLE. I have Roon Life Subscription so Roon Ready is a must have for me. I wanted to keep it but not without Roon Ready Certification. Got a Matrix mini-i Pro 3 and a Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra + Pre Box S2 Digital which are Roon Ready and work/sound great.
 

Joachim Herbert

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True... but then on the other side of the coin if it goes to a 220/230V market and they don't read the warning... suddenly will have double voltage hitting the PSU, which won't have the same result as under-voltage. It seems a PSU that accepts both is a better solution.

Happened to me with an Emotiva DAC and rendered the unit unusable. They sent replacement free of charge and I think they double check the voltage setting now before shipping outside the US.
 

Joachim Herbert

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Impedance of the headphone out sucks since the very first version of the mini-i, which makes the unit unusable as a neutral source for a wide variety of phones. If you don't care and also do not need digital out to drive monitors with digital in this is a great unit. Not true for me, unfortunately.
 

PeteL

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10 ohm range. Nothing disastrous IMO. Power output looks perfectly fine in any case :)
So they wouldn’t be recommended for any dynamic headphones in the sub 50 ohm (and even beyond) category, which is maybe 90% of the headphones out there? how is it not disastrous? I know Amir tested with his 23 ohm ether cx but planars are different animals.
 

Veri

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So they wouldn’t be recommended for any dynamic headphones in the sub 50 ohm (and even beyond) category, which is maybe 90% of the headphones out there? how is it not disastrous? I know Amir tested with his 23 ohm ether cx but planars are different animals.
Because I believe with ~10ohm the effect is still relatively small (it is there but maybe benign/not really all that bad). And as you say with planars it's no issue.
 

p370

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Maybe I'm wishing for too much (I'm already really tempted to replace my Topping D90 MQA with this due the possible inputs), but by any chance, does it remember volume per input? In manual the only mention of different volume is in regard of line vs. headphones output.
 

PeteL

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Because I believe with ~10ohm the effect is still relatively small (it is there but maybe benign/not really all that bad). And as you say with planars it's no issue.
Can be small, can be big, we need to see the impedance curve of the headphone for this, but the thing is, you buy this you don’t know if your headphone will sound the same. An amp that has the potential to modify the frequency response is much audible. We see products here being slammed for issues much much less audible than that!
 

respice finem

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Sidenote: I could never really understand the idea of "upscale" low impedance headphones. These are small full-range speakers essentially, so damping factor should play a role? I suppose if such a headphone is connected to a high output impedance amp, the resulting frequency response will be "interesting". Extreme case: An "oldschool" amp with headphones out via resistors, output impedance like... 200 Ohms? Might be interesting to measure, what this does to the FR of a sub 50 Ohm headphone, vs. 300 or 600...
 

Sonic-Wall

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Putting all the measurements aside honestly I do not understand the feature set of this fairly expensive device.
No support for NAS, DLNA, Spotify and their MA Player.
A good streamer should at least provide access to most of the digital sources via a user friendly GUI.
I‘m a little bit surprised about the recommendation!
 

SunnyRehde

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Putting all the measurements aside honestly I do not understand the feature set of this fairly expensive device.
No support for NAS, DLNA, Spotify and their MA Player.
A good streamer should at least provide access to most of the digital sources via a user friendly GUI.
I‘m a little bit surprised about the recommendation!
The solution is not to see it as a streamer :)
It has a perfect feature-set for Roon-users imho. If you‘re not into Roon and still want access to, let‘s say, Tidal and your HiRes-files-networkshare, you probably better look elsewhere. just my 2c
 
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enricoclaudio

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The Mini-i Pro 3 is not DLNA because it has the MA Lite chip, also meaning it does not support the MA app. The target for this device is Roon customers, simple as that. With Roon you get support for NAS, Tidal and Quobuz. The Mini-i Pro 3 has Airplay 2 support as well, though. Regarding how it handles headphones, check the review from Z Reviews.

 

beefkabob

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MiniDSP SHD has no headphone out, most other streaming DACs don't have analog in (citation needed). Any EQ option built in here? If so it's seems to be a great, compact, nearly full service preamp.

The MiniDSP SHD Studio has a headphone out but not the SHD. That's very funny. I'd like to see headphone measurements. @amirm I'll send you my SHD Studio if you want to measure the headphone output as well as jitter and such on the digital outputs. Might also be a good chance to test a digital volume control.
 

RichB

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The Mini-i Pro 3 is not DLNA because it has the MA Lite chip, also meaning it does not support the MA app. The target for this device is Roon customers, simple as that. With Roon you get support for NAS, Tidal and Quobuz. The Mini-i Pro 3 has Airplay 2 support as well, though. Regarding how it handles headphones, check the review from Z Reviews.


I keep expecting the reviewer to shoot the thing :)

- Rich
 
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enricoclaudio

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I keep expecting the review to shoot the thing :)

- Rich

Zeos is a mess but I love his passion while reviewing stuff LOL
 

Sonic-Wall

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I would never invest one grant in a device where the use Model is fully dependent on Roon which btw. causes additional cost.
Flexibility and the freedom of choice never hurts. As somebody mentioned already for non Roon users you can also get a device at a fraction of this price.
Just my two cents
 

maniolo

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[QUOTE = "enricoclaudio, post: 726688, membre: 24637"] Le Mini-i Pro 3 n'est pas DLNA car il a la puce MA Lite, ce qui signifie également qu'il ne prend pas en charge l'application MA . La cible de cet appareil est les clients de Roon, aussi simple que cela. Avec Roon, vous bénéficiez d'une assistance pour NAS, Tidal et Quobuz. Le Mini-i Pro 3 prend également en charge Airplay 2. En ce qui concerne la façon dont il gère les écouteurs, consultez la critique de Z Reviews.
[/ QUOTE]

Is that mean that we can't use an app like ‎mconnect Player HD?
 
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