I agree it's a pity. It would have been great if it was perfect out of the box. There are users like us who will gladly pay for HDMI arc
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Matrix Audio mini-i 4 Streamer Review
- Thread starter amirm
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I love that unit but not the size. It's too close to full size. I should still give one a try to see if it's worth dealing with the space it takes up. How well does hdmi arc work? Does it switch over to hdmi when the tv commands a source change? Does it wake and sleep with the tv?
I love it . ARC works great for volume, it’s not CEC compliant, so “no“ to the other questions.
bk
Well hopefully with enough poking we can see this function in the future. This seems to be something all the bigger names have figured out already. They (nad, marantz, Yamaha, to name a few) have the convenience down but not necessarily the audio quality. Is it too much to ask to have both lol
Interestingly, it's not mentioned anywhere.
@MatrixAudio ?
@MatrixAudio ?
Tedaz
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mini-i pro 4 started from USB dac, and then added/attached streaming functions, and then reduced allocation of dac function, it's a shame.
Tedaz
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could help upload a snapshot, how mini pro4 shown in roon? thanks
Pro is still in the process of certification. Only non pro version is certified now
Attachments
why?
Tedaz
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there are majorly two types of all-in-one:
A - traditional USB DAC, added/attached medial player function, i.e mini-i (pro) 4, thus the medial player function has no UI control, no hardware remote control, fully depends on iPhone/android phone to operate the media player. in this case, the DAC is generally great on sound quality and normal DAC functions such as input switch.
B - medial player, added/attached DAC function, i.e. SMSL DP5, thus the medial player functions can be controlled by the unit more or less, as well as hardware remote controller; whereas the DAC function may buggy, i.e significant delay (>0.1 sec) and very complex to switch inputs.
Matrix mini series are traditional USB DAC, and as of Mini-i 3 Pro, it equips XMOS XU216 and femto-second clock – the famous Crystek CCHD-950. however, Mini-i 4 (pro) cut down all these hardware; and added the local file playback function as compensation.
I don't see why it is a shame. The device works well for its intended use as a multi media hub with great dac implementation. It's isn't sold solely as a dac.
Femto Seconds VS Pico Seconds.
The better Jitter clocks are now implementing femto seconds vs pico seconds. Have you found an audible difference in the change. Any graphs to show the difference.
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For those of you with the mini i-4/i-4 Pro, how functional is it using the remote and/or unit without the app? One of my chief concerns is if something with Matrix goes sideways and the app no longer works then it looks like the device could be quite cumbersome to use. I don’t need streaming so that isn’t a worry but navigating a large SSD-based music library without the app seems like it could be a chore or maybe even not possible. Any additional UI/UX thoughts would be appreciated be they for the unit, app or remote. I’m trying to get out of one product with a clunky interface and don’t want to dive into one with another.
On a side note, does anyone have any compatibility knowledge regarding SSDs? I have a couple Sandisk and Samsung 1 and 2 TB SSDs on hand.
Thank you.
On a side note, does anyone have any compatibility knowledge regarding SSDs? I have a couple Sandisk and Samsung 1 and 2 TB SSDs on hand.
Thank you.
PenguinMusic
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Hi Penguin,
I use a Cocktail X12 to hold my digital music files and run my turntable into, audio then goes via Toslink to JBL 4305P speakers. On paper the X12 is great though the interface is slow which is an annoyance more than anything. The big problem is loading new files, this is a real chore and becomes a headache if a mistake is made or a duplicate song/album is added.
I'm not connecting storage to my matrix i4 but using upnp to play music off a network storage and using the matrix as renderer.
I'm thinking that should address your concerns about matrix app support?
Bubblepnp does a fairly decent job at managing my library
Hello, sorry for the delayed response. Your answer somewhat helps but not entirely.
I was not familiar with UPnP so I had to look into it, I’m unsure how this would be different than if I were to stream off my NAS through its app. For some reason I’ve had problems streaming (either from the NAS or to Chromecast) and I believe it has to do with my building as all my hardware is fairly new. Even my phone reception is poor to non-existent depending on where I stand in my unit though the provider says there is a tower very close to me. As convenient as sending music wirelessly would be, I don’t have great confidence that it would work well where I live.
On top of that - and more importantly - my desire to run a hard drive off the back of the Matrix unit is for redundancy purposes. I have confidence in my NAS but want the added protection of files on an additional piece of hardware.
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