Matrix Element X2 Streamer Review

[Ajax]

Thanks for the review Amir, I find myself hanging out for each one.

Your work is unbiased and first class, and very much needed by our hobby.

I like the extra the functuality of this unit and hope other manufacturers will follow suit, albeit at a more affordable price. Once upon a time when everything was analogue multi purpose units were frowned upon but with the advent of maturing digital interfaces I like the idea of an all in one front end that acts as a high quality pre amp with say a streamer, DAC, DSP or active cross over, multiple digital and analogue inputs, hdmi, volume control etc. feeding into stand alone a power amp.

All the best.

Ajax

 

[Tks]

Meh, many things have taken a nosedive. Price too high, remote for that price is just weird, performance while good, not good enough (regressions tbh), 4-pin XLR headphone out missing, actual case design seems like a haphazard recycle with slight cost-cutting (compared to their standalone DAC, the internals aren't as impressive as they used to be.

I'm a Matrix fanboy (take them to be the premier Chinese audio device manufacturer). But this is just ehh. Without some of those nice I/O addtitions, this would be quite disappointing.

 

[ebslo]

I don't know with Roon Ready device, but with a non-Roon Ready device and Roon, I didn't find such a feature, and the closest thing I found was to use a device with two independent headphones output, and in this case, Roon can apply for each output a different EQ (and other settings) and stream the same track to both outputs by creating a group with the two outputs (you can also do it with two different devices, or twice the same device that would have only one headphones output).
So your two headphones stays plugged in and each have their own EQ, you just have to swap between both on your head, nothing more

Yes, I guess the device could show up as two different devices to Roon, one for each output, so headphones would always use different eq than preamp out. This seems the ideal way, I wonder if it does that?

 

[ebslo]

This device really highlights what a poor choice the HDMI connector is for IIS/LVDS.

 

[theREALdotnet]

I used the Roon player on my desktop workstation to stream my reference tracks to the X2.

You still had to use your PC and Roon? Probably showing my ignorance here, but I thought the point of streamers was to eliminate the need for a separate computer, so that people with no IT inclination wouldn’t have to deal with that added complexity? I suppose you used Roon for practical reasons as readily available source.

Regardless, the price you pay for the added convenience seems high. Even if you went all out and got a $1000 Mac mini plus a $1300 RME DAC – a combination that does everything the Matrix does and much, much more – you’d still be far off the price of the Matrix.

 

[EJ3]

p/s: I agree with the last part. I myself don't know what is the main attraction of a "streaming device" in a signal chain, while it's easier to use a laptop or ipad or whatever.

I don't yet have a use case for streaming at all (maybe one day), so...

 

[amirm]

remote for that price is just weird

??? The remote is very nice. It feels good in hand, and has single button access to many features like which input you want without cycling through them. It is also metal so feels substantial. Zero complaints from me on that.

 

[amirm]

You still had to use your PC and Roon? Probably showing my ignorance here, but I thought the point of streamers was to eliminate the need for a separate computer, so that people with no IT inclination wouldn’t have to deal with that added complexity? I suppose you used Roon for practical reasons as readily available source.

You don't have to. As I explained, the unit supports both modes. You can use its UI/app to pull content from your local storage or a few services like Tidal and Spotify. Or, in my case, be an end-point for Roon. The benefit of the Roon architecture is that everything is centrally managed and I can apply EQ to any playback device. I can be controlling my ADI-Pro on my desk using local Roon player while also controlling the remote player like X2 in my main system. All without learning a new system. Again, this is just one mode of operation.

 

[PeteL]

This device really highlights what a poor choice the HDMI connector is for IIS/LVDS.

Where do you assess that? I don’t find this interface measurments?

 

[PeteL]

I'm convinced that Topping or someone else can do something similar at 1/10 the price.

Why don’t they?

 

[ebslo]

Where do you assess that?

The picture of the back panel

 

[EJ3]

The picture of the back panel

I have thought that it wasn't "all that" but I would like for you (or someone) to elaborate why it isn't all that (or, alternatively) why it is "all that".
Perhaps another thread is needed for that discussion.

 

[Grooved]

Yes, I guess the device could show up as two different devices to Roon, one for each output, so headphones would always use different eq than preamp out. This seems the ideal way, I wonder if it does that?

You can even adjust the preamp level in Roon presets in order to get both headphones outputs with volume matching.
The easiest way is to use an pro audio interface with two independent outputs, or if it can be seen as 4 stereo output by Roon, a DAC like the Topping DM7 would great, you just plug two (up to 4) headphones preamps on it, and each would receive an signal EQed for each headphones

 

[ebslo]

I have thought that it wasn't "all that" but I would like for you (or someone) to elaborate why it isn't all that (or, alternatively) why it is "all that".
Perhaps another thread is needed for that discussion.

I wasn't saying anything about IIS in general, just the bad ergonomics of having two identical connectors right next to each other for different connection types.

 

[GDK]

Even worse than Matrix Revolutions…

 

[Billy Budapest]

I see here only 107 dB

I was puzzled by rather high level of attenuation. I have let the company know and they are investigating. This impacts wideband THD+N measurements as it doesn't get rid of the extra "images" of the fundamental tone as well as it should be:

The graph above shows a 107dB THD+Noise ratio. The 155-160dB noise floor is visible on Amir’s first set of graphs.

 

[Billy Budapest]

See the 155-160dB noise floor in the graph above?

 

[Mnyb]

At this price, I would expect a Quality Control standard that would have identified the bug and performance ambiguities that @amirm found just by standard testing. For the price that is 4 times the comparable market premium of other like products, how is this retail price justifiable? Reputation, product support or real cost consideration?

Yes the filter bugs and strange ESS hump in one channel is not acceptable for this price . I’m going to change my vote from fine to not terrible if it where 300$ it would have gotten a fine vote with bugs and all

But this is premium product pricing and you expect more than just the raw performance. Exceptional QC and good service and warranty. The raw performance is actually more than good enough but that alone does not make a product.

 

[Tangband]

New volume test is super nice!
The device itself not so much in some aspects.

Thanks Amir!

Yes - very informative .
Thanks !

 

[Tangband]

The Matrix streamer price is to high .

The competition is second hand streamers from Linn products ( Linn Akurate DSM ) with app support in 15 years and very good sound and reability. This unit is made in china and is unlikely to work with support in 15 years .

I guess I want to be proven wrong on this .

This is what a good digital filter should look like :