Micromega M100 Streamer/DAC Amplifier Review

[DanielT]

Yes it was the Benchmark AHB2 that was so highly recommended by a fellow Avantgarde owner, that I bought unheard and unseen before any worthwhile reviews were available. Sadly, although it measures well (the AG owner turned out to be obsessed with noise), I found it to be drearily dull after earlier SET amps and several subsequent ss amps. It was an amp that delivered music in a Muzak fashion, where the temptation was to turn down the volume. I like amps where the temptation is to turn up the volume and wallow in the experience of the performance.

Here we go again..

Besides that note, thanks for the test Amir.

 

[daniboun]

Yes it was the Benchmark AHB2 that was so highly recommended by a fellow Avantgarde owner, that I bought unheard and unseen before any worthwhile reviews were available. Sadly, although it measures well (the AG owner turned out to be obsessed with noise), I found it to be drearily dull after earlier SET amps and several subsequent ss amps. It was an amp that delivered music in a Muzak fashion, where the temptation was to turn down the volume. I like amps where the temptation is to turn up the volume and wallow in the experience of the performance

You say you appreciate the M33, yet its amplification stage performs worse in every respect than the AHB2.
Scientifically, I have a lot of trouble following you. But I can't judge what you perceive. The important thing is that you're satisfied.))))

 

[daniboun]

Might be related to the fact it is one

Right ))) I thought it was a Class D amp
My bad lol

 

[wineds]

Tear down see attached files

If I'm not mistaken, Micromega is a French brand... I've never liked this brand, and I'm French.)
We can see that the amplifier section is a dual-mono configuration with one PSU per channel.

Oh dear a SBC with microSD card as boot. What could possibly go wrong. Also seems to be a chip amp.

 

[Hear Here]

You say you appreciate the M33, yet its amplification stage performs worse in every respect than the AHB2.
Scientifically, I have a lot of trouble following you. But I can't judge what you perceive. The important thing is that you're satisfied.))))

The M33 may "perform worse" than the AHB2 according to the microphone and PC, but it certainly sounds better to human ears. It was chosen as Stereophile's Amplifier of the Year, Component of the Year and Editors' Choice. They wouldn't have showered it with those accolades if it sounded worse than other amps. It's surely the sound that matters as delivered via the speakers to our ears, more than what instruments may lead you to think that really matters. Measurements are important in an academic way, but if you are spending your money on hi-fi, surely it is how much pleasure the music delivers that really matters.

Here we go again..

Yes, and if you had compared the two amps in question by actually listening to them side-by-side, I believe you'd agree 100%. Have you?

We should perhaps cease this conversation as it is veering too far from the original subject - that of the Micromega review. Continue by PM if you wish..

 

[Michou]

Oh dear a SBC with microSD card as boot. What could possibly go wrong. Also seems to be a chip amp.

Old-fashioned, well-designed linear Class AB chip amps like the LM3886 can deliver serious performance, with limited output power being the main trade-off rather than sound quality. Measurements have shown that the LM3886 is not particularly comfortable with sustained low-impedance loads, and 4 ohm speakers can stress it.

Even a single, non-paralleled LM3886 can require a fan when size or BOM constraints, especially the cost of large heatsinks, limit passive cooling.

The tiny MyAmp from Micromega, released in 2014, along with the M100 under review, uses a switching power supply and a temperature-controlled, variable-speed, almost inaudible fan to manage thermal loads in its small chassis. A genuinely excellent, well specified, lifestyle pint-sized amplifier that was versatile and well ahead of its time.

The LM3886 itself was widely used by established manufacturers such as Cambridge Audio, Audio Analogue, and Arcam, as well as Leak, Peachtree, and Quad, and found its way into countless Gainclone DIY amps, which speaks to how seriously this chip was taken when properly implemented.

I suspect the M100 may employ paralleled chip amps, possibly LM3886s, similar to some high-end Jeff Rowland designs of the past.

Chip amps tend to get dismissed far too easily, but when properly implemented they can offer impressive results in a very small package.

Micromega MyAmp: Qobuzism for this compact and charming amplifier with impressive sound performance. | Qobuz MAGAZINE

The French manufacturer Micromega is continuing their development of their ‘My’ range, which was launched with the MyDAC digital analog convertor more than two years ago, with the new MyAmp amplifier. Its very compact and attractive design integrates a DAC USB and S/PDIF as well as an aptX...

www.qobuz.com

 

[40th Anniversary]

These are heavily discounted in Canada as I also understand the Streamer is not part of the bargain; at least they claim they can sell you an amplifier with no streaming capabilities for about $1000 U.S.A. equivalent dollars. Never heard one.

 

[DanielT]

Yes, and if you had compared the two amps in question by actually listening to them side-by-side, I believe you'd agree 100%. Have you?

We should perhaps cease this conversation as it is veering too far from the original subject - that of the Micromega review. Continue by PM if you wish..

What I meant is that it can start discussions if you hear differences or imagine you hear them. That in itself is OT for this thread.

However, I think you can hear differences, provided that there is a difference in linearity and or large differences in distortion.
For example this:

Dayton Audio HTA20 Hybrid Tube Amp Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Dayton Audio HTA20 Hybrid stereo tube amplifier with included DAC and Bluetooth. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $185. This is a cute looking tube amp! It even has the obligatory enclosure for a transformer (don't know if there is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

...vs the aforementioned Benchmark AHB2, I think it is possible to hear differences.

A small class d amp with large load dependence and speakers with difficult load vs ....Very possible that it is possible to hear a difference.

Low powerd amp driven into clipping vs high power one.

Vintage amps, receivers with wobbly tone controls can affect FR and thus create audible differences...and so on.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Thanks for the test Amir,

Serious question, why would you buy this in preference to the Wiim Amp Ultra, with similar power output but much better performance, at less than 10% of the price?

That was my first thought, too.

 

[DanielT]

Serious question, why would you buy this in preference to the Wiim Amp Ultra, with similar power output but much better performance, at less than 10% of the price?

But how old is this Micromega M100 design? Around ten years?
Was US $5,800 for that performance and those features a reasonable price ten years ago?

 

[Ajax]

But how old is this Micromega M100 design? Around ten years?
Was US $5,800 for that performance and those features a reasonable price ten years ago?

IMO that gets to the heart of what has happened to our hobby in the last 10 years. Performance has improved inversely to price.

I well remember the original DACs produced by the likes of Weiss, Chord and Auralic that cost between $5k - $10k plus poweramps such as Classe, McIntosh and Music Fidelity for a similar amount of money (some much more). It was the norm to spend around $10k for a front end without any dsp functions, room correction etc.

A near SOTA front end has fallen to 10% of the price you would have had to pay 10 years ago, well at least what we were made to believe by the hifi magazines and some audio forums that had members with golden ears.

The work of Amir has been instrumental in breaking the myth of paying huge $ for performance.

 

[daniboun]

The LM3886 itself was widely used by established manufacturers such as Cambridge Audio, Audio Analogue, and Arcam, as well as Leak, Peachtree, and Quad, and found its way into countless Gainclone DIY amps, which speaks to how seriously this chip was taken when properly implemented.

I suspect the M100 may employ paralleled chip amps, possibly LM3886s, similar to some high-end Jeff Rowland designs of the past.

Chip amps tend to get dismissed far too easily, but when properly implemented they can offer impressive results in a very small package.

Right. I would say that the best implementations of the LM3886 to date are executed by Neurochrome.

The Micromega MyAmp is really mediocre... and if I can give you some advice (I don't know if you're French) but Qobuz is really a pointless site that doesn't give any measurements and is full of purely performative speeches.

You can check the Neurochrome APX555 measurements here :

Modulus-686

Audiophile composite amplifier based on the LM3886. Just as the BPA200, it uses six LM3886 in bridge/parallel. It uses error correction to ensure the lowest distortion possible.

neurochrome.com

 

[DSJR]

Still have that CD player, which I bought used for its good looks - working fine last time I checked (not my unit) :

​

I borrowed one at the time. It took 45 minutes to 'warm up' I remember and at home, it definitely sounded 'different' to the Mission DAD 7000 (a riff on the Philips 104) and the rather lovely B&O CDX. The Micromega had a brass weight to be placed on the CD (good job the sturdy Pro mech was used) and the 'sound' to me was 'over-analogue' with squidgy bass and 'slugged-oversweet' highs...

They made a 'Stage' series of 'upgradeable' CD players and all of these - when they worked - were excellent and properly neutral in 'tone' I remember. Sadly, there was a UK distribution issue and it took six months to get one (expensively) fixed. The brand all but disappeared over these parts and I honestly thought they'd packed it in many years ago...

 

[LuckyNat]

The labels are actually underneath the box! I really don't know what they were thinking.

Maybe "Someone paying for this will have someone else install it! " .. Perhaps dealers offered room correction setup.

 

[LuckyNat]

Seeing the name Micromega brings back a memory for me. More than, ooh, 30 years ago, I went in to a local hifi shop to hear this new Micromega player that the press were raving about. I think it was called a Logic? (It was, in fact, just a Phillips player that, in What HiFi parlance, had been "tuned" for audiophile ears.) Anyway, wisely, I took my own budget Phillips CD player with me to compare. They weren't too happy about that. It was on that day I realised I couldn't be bought by the hifi marketing men: it sounded exactly the same as my Phillips, and most memorably, while handling the Micromega, I got some kind of electrical shock!

Likely just a voltage difference between mains ground and how you were grounded. I bet the shop had some kind of mains conditioning involved ... Or you'd generated a static charge, err tapping your toes to your Philips machine?

 

[Fledermaus]

the 'sound' to me was 'over-analogue' with squidgy bass and 'slugged-oversweet' highs...

They made a 'Stage' series of 'upgradeable' CD players and all of these - when they worked - were excellent and properly neutral in 'tone' I remember.

Now you piqued my curiosity with this tonality thing, I'll have to plug it back in and make serious triple blind, double controlled listening tests against my (also mothballed) Studer A730...
Indeed the following "Logic" series seems to have been quite nightmarish, reliability-wise.
Looks like company overall had smart design ideas, as in not seen everywhere else, but often failed to materialize and bring them to market successfully...

 

[DSJR]

Now you piqued my curiosity with this tonality thing, I'll have to plug it back in and make serious triple blind, double controlled listening tests against my (also mothballed) Studer A730...
Indeed the following "Logic" series seems to have been quite nightmarish, reliability-wise.
Looks like company overall had smart design ideas, as in not seen everywhere else, but often failed to materialize and bring them to market successfully...

Please - don't bother

 

[Bob101]

For me any fan in a Hifi product = HARD pass, at any price. Not that fans are bad, but if you produce a device intended for a small/medium space, fans are the devil

 

[respice finem]

For me any fan in a Hifi product = HARD pass, at any price. Not that fans are bad, but if you produce a device intended for a small/medium space, fans are the devil

Maybe with the exception for on-demand fans like those in some potent AV amps, or PA amps. When these fans start, triggered by heat, it's a) necessary and b) unlikely to be heard. May save some party folks amps. Of course that Micromega isn't in this "game", really.

 

[dansan69]

(looks like a bathroom scale )