Lyngdorf MP-40 2.1 AV Processor Review

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Lyngdorf MP-40 version 2.1 12-channel Audio/Video Processor. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $11,299.

Apologies for lousy beauty shot. I did not want to remove the protective plastics. I was very pleased to see a "real" volume control with flywheel momentum and very responsive input selection knob. A highly useful web interface is provided which I used to configure the unit. In addition to being an AV Processor, the MP-40 can also act as a USB DAC (a rarity in AV products) and supports Roon streaming over the network, both of which I tested below.

The unit is targeted at the Custom Integration (CI) channel as evidenced by extensive triggering functionality and such things as serial interface. Not many HDMI inputs are provided though.

Lyngdorf MP-40 2.1 AV Processor Measurements
Let's start by testing HDMI input and measuring noise+distortion:

Channel 2 has excellent performance ranking at the top of our SINAD tier. Sadly distortion is higher in Channel 1 (Left) bringing their average a couple of notches lower:

Bits should be bits and MP-40 shows this by having identical performance with both USB input and Streaming:

It is easier for me to test using USB input so that is what you will see in the rest of the tests. Output goes up to a healthy 8 volts:

Unlike some other AV products, the volume control does not change the gain structure. You just get less output voltage which is one expects. You can see that performance is maintained almost up to max output. We see that lower performing channel takes a hit at just 1.4 volt. Very strange.

Edit: forgot dynamic range:

Linearity also shows a strange negative tilt at lower levels:

IMD performance is very good by AV standards:

Here, we see an increase in distortion at around -8 dB which is likely due to 60 Hz component in this test. We see that increase in THD+N vs frequency:

For compatibility with stereophile testing, here is 50 Hz response into a very low load impedance:

Jitter performance is again good for an AV product:

I did not see a configurable filter but what is there is good:

It does droop a bit in frequency response though:

Conclusions
The build quality and feature set of MP-40 V2.1 is excellent. Measured performance seems very good, just stopping the best we have tested. I am wondering whether there are part variations that caused the one channel to underperform. One main feature, RoomPerfect EQ, was tested before and turns in excellent performance. So as a package, I expect this processor to perform quite well. Some of you may know that the company/its founder have funded Purifi amplifier companies. Seeing how they squeeze every bit of distortion and noise out of their products, I am hoping that the same gets done in their processors in the future.

I am going to put the Lyngdorf MP-40 V 2.1 on my recommended list.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

 

[diddley]

Thanks for the fine review and the member who send it in for testing.

 

[Jimster480]

Pretty crazy price and it looks like it has a few software issues?

 

[sam_adams]

Very strange.

For ≈$12,000 it certainly is. Odd measurements like this could indicate a 'one-off' problem with the DUT. It could be verified with another unit to test. I don't see that happening, though. Anyway, nice review @amirm!

 

[tktran303]

Everyone knows you need at least three samples to have a trend.

Who’s going to purchase and send in the other two?
Both channels beat the spec of 0.005%, and one is better than the other. One is 0.001 and the other is 0.0005.

So what’s a few dB of harmonics between (channel) friends?


Made in Denmark.
If there was an Australian Made 11.1 channel Atmos processor with 16 channel outputs, I’d buy it!

Do you guys know how much an Australian Made amplifier or processor costs??

Halcro or DEQX?

The recently reviewed Anthem AVM90 was Made In Vietnam, and I can tell you a few things about about costs to manufacture in Vietnam vs Australia vs Denmark vs Canada (yes I’ve been to aforementioned countries)

This represents real value… whether you want to spend the money on that for your theatre is a different matter.

 

[Music1969]

I did not see a configurable filter but what is there is good:

This is only 15dB attenuation before Nyquist?

This is good?

 

[GD Fan]

Considering the ubiquity of this class of product (albeit usually at a different price point) and the variability of their quality it is always good to see another one come under the microscope.

Great review.

 

[TonyJZX]

so

>EQ: RoomPerfect™, Subwoofer level assistant, 32 x adjustable voicings holding ≤8 shelving, high/low pass or parametric filters with adjustable gain and Q

how does this compare to the obvious???

and I dont mean audyssey

 

[AndreaT]

Why even at this high price point AV processors cannot get linearity, output level and SINAD in the SOTA range?!? Does it depend on having in the same box the video and the audio signal? Or is it just too much to ask to see one day a Topping level audio performance? Before investing this kind of money I wonder if the video signal processing suffers from the same glitches as the audio. Great review Amir!

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Performance seems like it could be good, but the determinant for this kind of product is what kind of feature set it offers. I don't know how elaborate, flexible or effective Lyngdorf's EQ, DSP, or Bass Management is, and I think having the right kind of firmware--like the Trinov or Storm--is what really makes one of these units worth more than the "surround processors" they sell in the stores where you can also pick up a refrigerator on your way out the door. Dac performance does look transparent though.

 

[amirm]

This is only 15dB attenuation before Nyquist?

This is good?

The 100 dB of attenuation at 24 kHz is good. Many don't get that far.

I forgot to post the published manufacturer specifications so here they are:

Manufacturer Specifications:

 

[jhaider]

so

>EQ: RoomPerfect™, Subwoofer level assistant, 32 x adjustable voicings holding ≤8 shelving, high/low pass or parametric filters with adjustable gain and Q

how does this compare to the obvious???

and I dont mean audyssey

It's good. The current version as of @Sean Olive's blind tests of room correction systems was the best performing room correction system available for purchase, though DLBC was not around then.

@amirm measured it as well. I have some measurements of an MP60 as well, though they are as yet unpublished.

When I wanted to good sound from a 2.2-channel system despite minimal interest in exerting effort in calibration/integration, I happily picked up Lyngdorf's TDAI-1120.

 

[Mr. Widget]

It's good.

It is also extremely easy to get right... truly fool proof.

 

[Mr. Widget]

Performance seems like it could be good, but the determinant for this kind of product is what kind of feature set it offers. I don't know how elaborate, flexible or effective Lyngdorf's EQ, DSP, or Bass Management is, and I think having the right kind of firmware--like the Trinov or Storm--is what really makes one of these units worth more than the "surround processors" they sell in the stores where you can also pick up a refrigerator on your way out the door. Dac performance does look transparent though.

I have a Lyngdorf MP-40 in my home theater and am pretty happy with it.

The Lyngdorf MP-40 is their "smaller" processor with only 3 HDMI inputs and 12 channels of ATMOS/DTS processing... though you can set up 5 discrete (delay, phase, and amplitude) LFE channels on top of the 11 other channels. The DSP allows pre and post room correction PEQ EQ curves. The UI is pretty straight forward, easy to use and will satisfy most users.

That said, there are no analog inputs which can be a limitation. I use a miniDSP Flex as an A to D and that has worked well for me. Glad to see Amir test this unit. I have been curious to see how it would stack up.

 

[jhaider]

It is also extremely easy to get right... truly fool proof.

That’s a very good point. RP is by far the easiest modern room correction system to use. If you’re used to the others the process (and tones) are very different. But not in a way that’s harder to use.

 

[Paffi]

It's good. The current version as of @Sean Olive's blind tests of room correction systems was the best performing room correction system available for purchase, though DLBC was not around then.

@amirm measured it as well. I have some measurements of an MP60 as well, though they are as yet unpublished.

When I wanted to good sound from a 2.2-channel system despite minimal interest in exerting effort in calibration/integration, I happily picked up Lyngdorf's TDAI-1120.

Based on my experience, made with an TDAI-1120, room perfect sounds much better than dirac (which i don´t like) but is qualitywise equal to the antimode X-algorithm (which is, unfortunately, not available for multichannel). What is special to roomperfect is the fact, that it can´t handle phase inverted configurations (it requires signals in phase), which was the reason, I replaced it with Antimode X2 (I have two of them). At least it is the case with the stereo RoomPerfect, not sure, if it´s also applicable for the AV-Processors. Would loved to keep roomperfect, but that´s how it is (and with Antimode found a perfect substitue).

 

[TonyJZX]

you can find inside images of this and its brothers easily

as soon as i saw them I literally went... <GAAAKKKK>

its a smorgasbord of stacked boards, ribbon cables and the occasional out of place usb3 cable... hey at least its not like trinnov as they hide an MSI pc motherboard cpu and ram in there too!

and so how do you get a clean design with so many boards... ie. it looks like there's a dedicated hdmi board, network board etc.

its very hard

i know $12k seems over the top but if you 'economise' and buy say a top of the line Japanese mass market unit its not going to come close chart wise to this

whether you can tell a $6k japanese unit to this is another story

 

[JSmith]

you can find inside images of this and its brothers easily

All I could find were pics of the older MP-40, not the updated MP-40 with HDMI 2.1.

This device is priced ridiculously too for what it offers... but always nice to see gear tested anyway, thanks @amirm.


JSmith

 

[Pinkynator]

Such a great device, but what's with the crappy low-res screen at that price point?

 

[Mulder]

I once visited a Hi-Fi fair where Peter Lyngdorf himself demonstrated their room correction. That was the best room correction I've heard. Incredibly realistic sound reproduction. Now, I'm not saying their room correction is necessarily the best, just that it's the best I've heard. Yet. Also,
Lyngdorf SDA 2175 was the first amplifier I heard that convinced me of the potential of class d