Lyngdorf MP-40 2.1 AV Processor Review

[SuicideSquid]

I know this review is primarily about audio, but three HDMI inputs on a flagship A/V pre/pro is simply unacceptable. Five seems to be the minimum with most having 6-7.

 

[JDS]

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.
View attachment 370979
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.
View attachment 370981
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:
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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:
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Bits should be bits and MP-40 shows this by having identical performance with both USB input and Streaming:
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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:
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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.

Linearity also shows a strange negative tilt at lower levels:
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IMD performance is very good by AV standards:
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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:

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For compatibility with stereophile testing, here is 50 Hz response into a very low load impedance:
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Jitter performance is again good for an AV product:
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I did not see a configurable filter but what is there is good:
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It does droop a bit in frequency response though:
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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.

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A five-figure price, but only three HDMI inputs?

 

[Mr. Widget]

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.

With only 3 HDMI inputs, this AVP is virtually useless for most home theater owners... I'm currently using 5 inputs on my Denon AVR (HTPC, Apple TV, Sheild TV, Zidoo Z9X Pro, and Eversolo dmp-a6 connected via HDMI).

I know this review is primarily about audio, but three HDMI inputs on a flagship A/V pre/pro is simply unacceptable. Five seems to be the minimum with most having 6-7.

As a system designer in the CI world, I have not found the lack of HDMI inputs to be an issue. On most of our projects we use an outboard HDMI switch or matrix sending a parallel HDMI output to the AV processor exclusively for audio processing and avoid sending video to the processor entirely. This allows the audio portion of the system to remain installed and working for a number of years and allows the video portion to get updates as the technology evolves.

Not only do I personally have an MP-40 in my home theater, I have designed systems where we have installed a few MP-40s and quite a number of MP 50s and MP-60s. They have been providing excellent audio performance and reliable audio processing over the years. By using the outboard HDMI switch, we can replace a compact lower cost video device and not have to rebuild a rack with each video upgrade.

 

[hash70]

Don't understand why people pay this crazy money for av,performance is good but should be better for the price,ud get better performance for around £1000 for a good av with pre outs and £1200 for a external amp

 

[Fidji]

I have considered Lyngdorf as one of the options.
Deal breaker for me was seriously limited channel count. 12 (or 16 for MP60) is not enough for the market segment it is supposed to serve.

9.4.4 seems tp be healthy minimum today for high performance cinemas with 1-2 rows,

 

[Mr. Widget]

Don't understand why people pay this crazy money for av,performance is good but should be better for the price,ud get better performance for around £1000 for a good av with pre outs and £1200 for a external amp

Understanding why people spend money is an entire area of study in its own right.

Regardless, I agree with you that a mid level AVR with pre-outs and a three channel amp for the front speakers is a very reasonable design approach. I have designed plenty of such systems and they can work quite well.

 

[Mart68]

Gave it a 'Fine' as I don't take price into account, but for that sort of money it should be golfing or go home.

 

[Mr. Widget]

I have considered Lyngdorf as one of the options.
Deal breaker for me was seriously limited channel count. 12 (or 16 for MP60) is not enough for the market segment it is supposed to serve.

9.4.4 seems tp be healthy minimum today for high performance cinemas with 1-2 rows,

If you really want 9.4.4 then Storm Audio or Trinnov are the way to go. That said, take a hard look at the 9 in that layout. There is precious little content that is beyond 7 primary speakers.

 

[Fidji]

If you really want 9.4.4 then Storm Audio or Trinnov are the way to go. That said, take a hard look at the 9 in that layout. There is precious little content that is beyond 7 primary speakers.

yes, Iwith Trinnov I have 9.8.7 setup combined atmos/auro layout and going for front wides was at 60dg was audible improvement over 7.x.x.
Still 4 channels free, probably will do 9.10.9 ,

 

[elmoe420]

"Value" is always going to be subjective although I do personally agree that Lyngdorf products are quite expensive for the feature set.

Of course I say this having owned three of their products (1120, 3400 and MP60). The "value" for me is the turnkey nature of the products. They tend to do basically everything with minimal setup and no tweaking necessary.

Not a brand I recommend to folks unless they have both a large amount of disposable income and want a set and forget solution.

 

[elmoe420]

A five-figure price, but only three HDMI inputs?

To be clear, you're not actually going to pay five figures for an MP-40. Remember this is a dealer-only brand so take those prices with a big pinch of salt.

 

[elmoe420]

I know this review is primarily about audio, but three HDMI inputs on a flagship A/V pre/pro is simply unacceptable. Five seems to be the minimum with most having 6-7.

First off, I agree that only three HDMI inputs is too few. Four to me is a more comfortable number of video inputs to have these days and if you do a lot of console gaming you are going to need more.

However, the MP-40 is not the flagship the MP-60 is. Still a poor choice to use the number of HDMI inputs to differentiate the two models in my opinion though. They should have just stuck to number of independent channels to set them apart.

 

[PeterNL]

Seems that Room Perfect works much different than other room correction systems, is anybody able to explain how/why is so different than Dirac/Audyssey...?

Lyngdorf, RP & REW

ok, using RF -10cm, then -100cm....: OK. I assume you reset PC and 3cm did not work again. Now try -225cm. All these iterations does provide good data moving forward. Like. Your MLP is in Lyngdorf's Boundary area ... so chaos is present and things don't have to make sense ... they just...

www.avforums.com

I know from my friend that Lyngdorf and RP sound amazing, but trying to confirm how room correction does look like in REW measurements...it's beyond my knowledge (inverted impulse response, very high RT, extremely high IR filtered Curvature numbers, strange Phase and many more...)
I know that Peter Lyngdorf knows what he is doing and Room Perfect is one of the best automated room correction systems but...his principes are much different and difficult to understand.

Also recommended distance from the MLP must be measured from MLP to the corner or wall behind the subwoofer instead of Cone of the subwoofer speaker...why ? SVS, Arendal, Rel... recommended distance from the cone.

Here, few screenshots from mine Dirac vs RP of my friend:

4,9% is my Dirac and 465,8% is Room Perfect values of Marcin.

Please look at his thread:

Optimization of 2.2 system with REW measurements

Hi, Recently I bought a second subwoofer for my stereo setup and I want to ask you about proper measurement process to get things optimized. The setup consists of KEF R3 speakers and two Arendal 1961 1S subs crossed at 80 Hz. Amp is Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 with DSP room correction built in. The...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Sean_S]

I have to say, I think this device is overpriced.

 

[Fidji]

As a system designer in the CI world, I have not found the lack of HDMI inputs to be an issue. On most of our projects we use an outboard HDMI switch or matrix sending a parallel HDMI output to the AV processor exclusively for audio processing and avoid sending video to the processor entirely. This allows the audio portion of the system to remain installed and working for a number of years and allows the video portion to get updates as the technology evolves.

Not only do I personally have an MP-40 in my home theater, I have designed systems where we have installed a few MP-40s and quite a number of MP 50s and MP-60s. They have been providing excellent audio performance and reliable audio processing over the years. By using the outboard HDMI switch, we can replace a compact lower cost video device and not have to rebuild a rack with each video upgrade.

Sorry for a noob question - just curiious.

My integrator was rating Lyngdorf (I assume in its McIntosh iteration) as hardest and most time consuming to tune properly. As you have experiemce with multiple DRC systems (I assume) - what would be your opinion on ease of use, if you want to do real fine tuning?


Somehow paradoxically for him most comfortable to work with was Trinnov. I can understand where he is coming from - also for me now it is much easier to adjust Trinnov than Audyssey via the Multeq-x …,

 

[Mr. Widget]

My integrator was rating Lyngdorf (I assume in its McIntosh iteration) as hardest and most time consuming to tune properly. As you have experiemce with multiple DRC systems (I assume) - what would be your opinion on ease of use, if you want to do real fine tuning?


Somehow paradoxically for him most comfortable to work with was Trinnov. I can understand where he is coming from - also for me now it is much easier to adjust Trinnov than Audyssey via the Multeq-x …,

I would love to discuss this with him. I'd be curious how he has come to that conclusion.

I am not sure how running RoomPerfect in the McIntosh based equipment differs from using it in Steinway Lyngdorf or Lyngdorf gear, but it is surprisingly simple. It can take as little as 15 minutes or longer depending on the room. The procedure is to set the mic at the primary listening position for an initial reading and you run the program... it will play its test tones through each speaker and then you randomly move the mic around the room changing the height and angle each time you run the test tones again. You continue to repeat this until the system has satisfactorily mapped the room. Depending on the room, this can take as little as four measurements or perhaps 8-10 for some rooms.

You then save the correction file and that is it... certainly not complicated.

 

[AudioJester]

As a system designer in the CI world, I have not found the lack of HDMI inputs to be an issue. On most of our projects we use an outboard HDMI switch or matrix sending a parallel HDMI output to the AV processor exclusively for audio processing and avoid sending video to the processor entirely. This allows the audio portion of the system to remain installed and working for a number of years and allows the video portion to get updates as the technology evolves.

Not only do I personally have an MP-40 in my home theater, I have designed systems where we have installed a few MP-40s and quite a number of MP 50s and MP-60s. They have been providing excellent audio performance and reliable audio processing over the years. By using the outboard HDMI switch, we can replace a compact lower cost video device and not have to rebuild a rack with each video upgrade.

Curious as to what you do for video upgrades. Do you use a separate video processor like lumagen/MadVR?
Or can you provide examples where you have upgraded the video portion whole still using MP 40?

 

[DMill]

I hate making value judgements with audio gear but it seems to me the 1120 is the most interesting Lyngdorf model at a significantly lower cost. Although I’m certain I couldn’t hear it, the measured channel discrepancy would drive me crazy. Especially with an $11,000 AVP. Something Amir once mentioned about dirty spoons and soup comes to mind and makes me appreciate tidy measurements. But I do have a lot of respect for the company. They were one of the first to offer a 2 channel solution with HDMI and room correction. I have no doubt this is a great unit for many that can afford it. I voted Fine.

 

[elmoe420]

Curious as to what you do for video upgrades. Do you use a separate video processor like lumagen/MadVR?
Or can you provide examples where you have upgraded the video portion whole still using MP 40?

An HDMI matrix switch can be used instead and upgraded independently of the pre/pro as the HDMI feature set (and bandwidth requirements) changes with time. For example: https://avproedge.com/pages/matrix-switchers

 

[PHD]

As a system designer in the CI world, I have not found the lack of HDMI inputs to be an issue. On most of our projects we use an outboard HDMI switch or matrix sending a parallel HDMI output to the AV processor exclusively for audio processing and avoid sending video to the processor entirely. This allows the audio portion of the system to remain installed and working for a number of years and allows the video portion to get updates as the technology evolves.

Not only do I personally have an MP-40 in my home theater, I have designed systems where we have installed a few MP-40s and quite a number of MP 50s and MP-60s. They have been providing excellent audio performance and reliable audio processing over the years. By using the outboard HDMI switch, we can replace a compact lower cost video device and not have to rebuild a rack with each video upgrade.

Can you give an example of such a device (outboard HDMI switch)?

Thanks