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

[enricoclaudio]

I have Roon Lifetime subscription so for me Roon Ready is a must have. The miniDSP SHD is under Roon certification right now and it measured really well. I also have an ARCAM ST60 Streamer which is Roon Ready and also DLNA capable.

 

[cmarsili]

I have Roon Lifetime subscription so for my Roon is a must have. the miniDSP SHD is under Roon certification right now and it measured really well. I also have an ARCAM ST60 Streamer which is Roon Ready and also DLNA capable.

Oh yeah, I forgot you mentioned about having the ARCAM ST60. How does it compare to the Matrix Mini as far as DAC sound quality goes? cheers

 

[enricoclaudio]

Oh yeah, I forgot you mentioned about having the ARCAM ST60. How does it compare to the Matrix Mini as far as DAC sound quality goes? cheers

To be honest, I did a side by side comparison, and to my ears, they sound identical. Both, the mini-i Pro 3 and ARCAM ST60 have the same DAC. The ARCAM ST60 is in my living room setup.

 

[cmarsili]

To be honest, I did a side by side comparison, and to my ears, they sound identical. Both, the mini-i Pro 3 and ARCAM ST60 have the same DAC. The ARCAM ST60 is in my living room setup.

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Great setup!!!!! Ok, thanks for all the feedback, I guess I have homework to do and will choose between those two for my setup.!! Happy listening!!

 

[enricoclaudio]

\Great setup!!!!! Ok, thanks for all the feedback, I guess I have homework to do and will choose between those two for my setup.!! Happy listening!!

This photo looks better

 

[cmarsili]

This photo looks better

View attachment 164546

Yeah!! I like the way the Arcam looks too!!! I will check out roon again, maybe one day they will have a discount on the lifetime sub!!

 

[inseconds99]

Would the 22ohm balanced out impedance be an issue with the Sony Z1R as it is only a 64ohm headphone? Seems as the biggest thing keeping me from this all in one is the output impedance.

Any similar (power, features, etc) all in ones with lower impedance out there? DX7 pro, Monolith THX, RME ADI or something else?

 

[enricoclaudio]

Would the 22ohm balanced out impedance be an issue with the Sony Z1R as it is only a 64ohm headphone? Seems as the biggest thing keeping me from this all in one is the output impedance.

Any similar (power, features, etc) all in ones with lower impedance out there? DX7 pro, Monolith THX, RME ADI or something else?

I have no issues driving my DCA AEON 2 Noire's up to ear bleeding levels. The Noire's are rated 12ohms.

 

[inseconds99]

I have no issues driving my DCA AEON 2 Noire's up to ear bleeding levels. The Noire's are rated 12ohms.

Driving the headphones shouldn’t be an issue as there is plenty of power out of this amp. From what I have read, the FR of the headphone will be negatively effected due to the high impedance output from the amp. Usually the impedance needs to be 8-10x lower the the headphones impedance. At 22ohm out of the 4.4, it’s only about 3x.

 

[MarcosCh]

this has the perfect functionality/price for me (line in is rare) but having to stick a raspberry to the back to be able to play dnla......

 

[j^j=e^-pi/2]

I telnet connected to my mini ipro 3. Anyone know login/password?

 

[xaviescacs]

There is a bit of channel imbalance in the level dependency plot. Between 1 db and 2 db difference. To me, as an ignorant in this matters, that seems unacceptable. If channels are not perfectly balanced, who cares for anything else?, I tell myself in my ignorance. I guess though it's not big deal. Can someone tell me which degree of channel imbalance would be an issue? Thanks!

 

[MaadScience]

I just want to share my recent experience for the record. I primarily use Roon, but I noticed a couple of weeks ago that for some reason AirPlay had stopped working - the Mini-i Pro 3 simply stopped appearing on the AirPlay list. I posted the issue on the Matrix Audio forum, and "Chief Fun Officer" Cao Wei (the owner?) responded promptly. Via WhatsApp and TeamViewer we had a remote session where he entered some code to the unit and that resolved the issue. It took about 30 minutes, and I'm impressed by that level of support from a small company. I still really like the Mini-i!

 

[VintageFlanker]

Hey @MatrixAudio,

I've been using the Mini-i Pro 3 for the last seven months now. So far: very happy with it, overall. Still, there is a lot of room for improvements I expected to come with some firmware updates (to date, the last one is from... May). Two major expectations:

- You really do need to introduce some volume acceleration. This is the biggest downside of this unit to me. Volume adjustment is waaaay too slow, for whatever preamp or headamp usages. Could this be done by firmware, or are we talking about unsolvable hardware limitation?

- Some feature that has been requested on Matrix Digi forum: there is only two brightness levels for the (great) screen. I think many are looking for a third one that would dim the screen completely.

Cheers.

 

[xaviescacs]

There is a way to mute the line output but not the Headphone output? Thanks!

 

[enricoclaudio]

As soon you plug a headphone in any of the two headphones outs, both, XLR and RCA outputs turn OFF.

 

[capitanharlock]

Yeah!! I like the way the Arcam looks too!!! I will check out roon again, maybe one day they will have a discount on the lifetime sub!!

I don’t think so, they are pushing the subscription model.

 

[capitanharlock]

Hey @MatrixAudio,

I've been using the Mini-i Pro 3 for the last seven months now. So far: very happy with it, overall. Still, there is a lot of room for improvements I expected to come with some firmware updates (to date, the last one is from... May). Two major expectations:

- You really do need to introduce some volume acceleration. This is the biggest downside of this unit to me. Volume adjustment is waaaay too slow, for whatever preamp or headamp usages. Could this be done by firmware, or are we talking about unsolvable hardware limitation?

- Some feature that has been requested on Matrix Digi forum: there is only two brightness levels for the (great) screen. I think many are looking for a third one that would dim the screen completely.

At the moment you can accelerate the volume using Roon. I understand that it could be done differently in the unit.
I don’t feel the urge for a different brightness level, but it could be useful.
Minor annoyances anyway.
My biggest complaint is the terrible wifi reception.
I had to use powerlan where any other device nearby functions perfectly.

 

[JHC]

Hey @MatrixAudio,

I've been using the Mini-i Pro 3 for the last seven months now. So far: very happy with it, overall. Still, there is a lot of room for improvements I expected to come with some firmware updates (to date, the last one is from... May). Two major expectations:

- You really do need to introduce some volume acceleration. This is the biggest downside of this unit to me. Volume adjustment is waaaay too slow, for whatever preamp or headamp usages. Could this be done by firmware, or are we talking about unsolvable hardware limitation?

- Some feature that has been requested on Matrix Digi forum: there is only two brightness levels for the (great) screen. I think many are looking for a third one that would dim the screen completely.

Cheers.

+1 on the screen brightness control

 

[xaviescacs]

Has anybody experienced problems with the Toslink input when connecting devices like a TV or a CD player?