• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Review and Measurements of Matrix Audio Element X DAC/Streamer/Amp

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
Thanks just tried some tidal playlists/albums looks like they fixed the duplicate so the numbers match now. However the order is still wrong
Edit: Just to add another annoying issue: for artist in Tidal the popular tracks only show 10 - basically I can only see top 10 tracks for any artists.
Thanks for the confirmation.
We are analyzing the issue (about adding Tidal playlist) you reported.
 

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
Just made a video to illustrate the problems:

1) The Tidal playlist has 55 tracks, when adding the the queue it becomes 58 tracks
2) The order of tracks are totally screwed up
3) It stops playing after 1st song and makes some random skips (looks like)

Edit: just want to add (1) and (3) is also broken with albums - so basically not useable for anything with Tidal
Hi somy,
This issue is solved by the latest app update, now you can update it from App Store.
The tracks in the playlists created by Tidal have different copyright license in different countries. The quantity of the tracks in the playlist is the total number, due to the listener's location, the quantity of playable tracks is less than the total number. When you add the entire playlist to the play queue, the old version MA app added all the tracks to the play queue, so you saw it skipps many tracks until the track is playable.
In the latest version app, the unplayable tracks will be displayed gray, and cannot be added to the play queue.
This is the changelogs of new firmware and apps.
https://www.matrix-digi.com/en/news/20210204528.html
 

chi2

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 13, 2018
Messages
157
Likes
165
Location
Switzerland
Hello "MatrixAudio",
Thanks for this explanation and for the new version of the MA Remote app, that hopefully solves this issue.
May I ask you when we can expect a solution for the non-continuous playback issue, that is for the problem in albums and playlists that playback stops after one directly chosen track?
 

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
Hello "MatrixAudio",
Thanks for this explanation and for the new version of the MA Remote app, that hopefully solves this issue.
May I ask you when we can expect a solution for the non-continuous playback issue, that is for the problem in albums and playlists that playback stops after one directly chosen track?
Hi Chi2,
Yes Aikeb also mentioned that he met the similiar issue as you. He also indicated the issue is similiar as somy.
But actually at least the issue is different with the one which somy reported.
It seems the issue you met is more or less similiar with Aibek's issue. But still not sure.
Do you meant that tap 1 track in an album or a music folder? How does it work if you tap "Play all" in an album or a folder?
By the way, which controller device are you using? Android device or iPhone? Did you tried with an iPhone or iPad? the same action?
 

chi2

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 13, 2018
Messages
157
Likes
165
Location
Switzerland
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. When tapping one track in a Tidal album or a Tidal playlist, only that track is played. Afterwards the playback stops. The "next track" button doesn't work either, playback just stops. When tapping "play all" or "play now" (as it seems to be called in the more recent revisions) the album or playlist is played from the start and the tracks are played one after the other. Yet, it is still not possible to choose/tap a title directly as this, again, will lead to the playback being stopped after that one title.
I'm using the Android and the iOS app version and the issue is the same. That is, under Android Tidal playlists didn't work at all with the two or three app revisions before the latest one - which I couldn't test yet.

Edit: What the app should do, and as yet misses to do, is to add all the tracks of an album or a playlist following the tapped one to the queue.
 
Last edited:

somy

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
398
Likes
92
Hi somy,
This issue is solved by the latest app update, now you can update it from App Store.
The tracks in the playlists created by Tidal have different copyright license in different countries. The quantity of the tracks in the playlist is the total number, due to the listener's location, the quantity of playable tracks is less than the total number. When you add the entire playlist to the play queue, the old version MA app added all the tracks to the play queue, so you saw it skipps many tracks until the track is playable.
In the latest version app, the unplayable tracks will be displayed gray, and cannot be added to the play queue.
This is the changelogs of new firmware and apps.
https://www.matrix-digi.com/en/news/20210204528.html
Hi, just did a quick try it works better now:
1) The number of tracks matches the playlist
2) The order is also good

So one remaining issue:
1) Under artist it only display 10 tracks (there are many more for most artists)

Also Tidal connect will be highly welcomed! Thanks
 

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
Hi, just did a quick try it works better now:
1) The number of tracks matches the playlist
2) The order is also good

So one remaining issue:
1) Under artist it only display 10 tracks (there are many more for most artists)

Also Tidal connect will be highly welcomed! Thanks
Hi,
In the Artist view in Tidal, it's impossible to display all the tracks of this artist. Because this is a page to display a brief introduction of an artist. Here we listed his/her 10 tracks and 10 albums, if you cannot find the tracks you wanted, you can tap on "more" at right of the Album list, then you can browse his/her every tracks by albums.
 

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
Hi,
Thanks for your reply. When tapping one track in a Tidal album or a Tidal playlist, only that track is played. Afterwards the playback stops. The "next track" button doesn't work either, playback just stops. When tapping "play all" or "play now" (as it seems to be called in the more recent revisions) the album or playlist is played from the start and the tracks are played one after the other. Yet, it is still not possible to choose/tap a title directly as this, again, will lead to the playback being stopped after that one title.
I'm using the Android and the iOS app version and the issue is the same. That is, under Android Tidal playlists didn't work at all with the two or three app revisions before the latest one - which I couldn't test yet.

Edit: What the app should do, and as yet misses to do, is to add all the tracks of an album or a playlist following the tapped one to the queue.
Yes. That's the current working logic.
If you need to play a single track, simply tap on a track title.
If you need to play the entire album, tap on "Play now" button.
:D
 

chi2

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 13, 2018
Messages
157
Likes
165
Location
Switzerland
So this is deliberate? Can you name me any other player doing it that way? I can't. Honestly, I don't want to always listen to an Album from the start. And with playlists even more so. Imagine one with 200 entries.
So, could you please suggest to the developer to include, at least as an option in the preferences, the addition of all tracks of an album or playlist, following the one tapped on, to the queue.
 

somy

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
398
Likes
92
Hi,
In the Artist view in Tidal, it's impossible to display all the tracks of this artist. Because this is a page to display a brief introduction of an artist. Here we listed his/her 10 tracks and 10 albums, if you cannot find the tracks you wanted, you can tap on "more" at right of the Album list, then you can browse his/her every tracks by albums.
Hi, I think it is possible as Audirvana can list all popular tracks. Possible to ask your dev team to double check?
Anyways, all the issues with Tidal can best be solved when you added Tidal connect, so maybe that's something you can prioritise?
 

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
So this is deliberate? Can you name me any other player doing it that way? I can't. Honestly, I don't want to always listen to an Album from the start. And with playlists even more so. Imagine one with 200 entries.
So, could you please suggest to the developer to include, at least as an option in the preferences, the addition of all tracks of an album or playlist, following the one tapped on, to the queue.
Hi, chi2, got your mind. I have forwarded your suggestion to the dev team.
 

MatrixAudio

Active Member
Audio Company
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
215
Likes
428
Location
Xi'an China
Hi, I think it is possible as Audirvana can list all popular tracks. Possible to ask your dev team to double check?
Anyways, all the issues with Tidal can best be solved when you added Tidal connect, so maybe that's something you can prioritise?
Display more tracks is possible, it's not a technical problem. the more tracks displayed, the more space of the screen occupied. Can you imagine in an Artist's page, you should view 100 tracks before you can find some albums?
We have not get detailed technical specs about Tidal connect, I'm not sure if it could be added to current element devices.
 

Archsam

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
326
Likes
513
Location
London, UK
I got the MA Remote 2.2.7 update plus the B91901 FW a few days ago. I am overjoyed to see the internet radio function added under streaming, I will be using this feature a lot.

However the NAS connection now has 2 issues:
  1. my NAS drive is now permanently displayed as 'Disconnected' when in fact it is connected.
  2. The 'rescan' function has been removed - this is annoying because when I add new music to my NAS I cannot rescan to incorporate the new files. I can see the app is now scanning in the background, but I really appreciate the ability to rescan myself. How often does the app update the database? If I add new music to the NAS how do I add it to the library and how soon?
@MatrixAudio can you please advise on the NSA library issue?

Edit: one more thing - ALL my album art don't show up when playing songs from my NAS library - they used to work (mostly) in the older versions of MA remote?
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 20875

Guest
I got the MA Remote 2.2.7 update plus the B91901 FW a few days ago. I am overjoyed to see the internet radio function added under streaming, I will be using this feature a lot.

However the NAS connection now has 2 issues:
  1. my NAS drive is now permanently displayed as 'Disconnected' when in fact it is connected.
  2. The 'rescan' function has been removed - this is annoying because when I add new music to my NAS I cannot rescan to incorporate the new files. I can see the app is now scanning in the background, but I really appreciate the ability to rescan myself. How often does the app update the database? If I add new music to the NAS how do I add it to the library and how soon?
@MatrixAudio can you please advise on the NSA library issue?

Edit: one more thing - ALL my album art don't show up when playing songs from my NAS library - they used to work (mostly) in the older versions of MA remote?

I think we all have to agree at some point, that what is brought to you by the garbage makers will always remain as such. I have MA Element X, it was advertised as the most universal, the best streamer/player there is. And what do I get? - 4tb external hard drive can not be scanned in one go. In fact it may take a week to finally see all the titles. Same goes for the NAS; it either does not show all the titles there are; stops on rescan, or drops it altogether. Playing DSD files is out of question, there is always this loud click between the titles. I asked them, they said it would be addressed in the next update, and that never came. I am not holding my breath. Playing hi-res files from NAS is also problematic, oftentimes the stream will come as if it is from a very dirty LP. Unlistenable. The remote must have been written by who knows who - it is an absolute, horrible junk! And on and on and on .. I mean, seriously, is not there something about made in China? So there you have it, enjoy! As for me, never again!
 

Vladimir_Kl

Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
19
Likes
6
Understand your frustration, but why you waiting so much until Matrix resolve these issues? Matrix devices work almost perfectly with Roon, so you can setup Roon server on chip PC, plug your external hard drive and connect NAS. DSD will also work flawlessly. I never trust to any audio manufacturer in software development. So I use Roon for several years without any major issues.
 
Last edited:

Arslan

Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2020
Messages
23
Likes
9
I think we all have to agree at some point, that what is brought to you by the garbage makers will always remain as such. I have MA Element X, it was advertised as the most universal, the best streamer/player there is. And what do I get? - 4tb external hard drive can not be scanned in one go. In fact it may take a week to finally see all the titles. Same goes for the NAS; it either does not show all the titles there are; stops on rescan, or drops it altogether. Playing DSD files is out of question, there is always this loud click between the titles. I asked them, they said it would be addressed in the next update, and that never came. I am not holding my breath. Playing hi-res files from NAS is also problematic, oftentimes the stream will come as if it is from a very dirty LP. Unlistenable. The remote must have been written by who knows who - it is an absolute, horrible junk! And on and on and on .. I mean, seriously, is not there something about made in China? So there you have it, enjoy! As for me, never again!
To me, on the other hand, everything works very well. 4tb HD is displayed in less than a minute, with all files and directories. The remote app with new update work with no iusses. Very strange
 

francisg

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
18
Likes
3
Hi Element X users and @MatrixAudio ....
After reading 37 pages, I still have a couple of questions that I hope some of you can help with:

1) is there a measured sound quality difference between the Element X and the Element M (or even the Element I)? I get the Element X is more future proofed and has balanced headphone out and the better chips/processors etc. But what is the SQ difference if any?

2) is there resolution for using the Element X connected directly to an Amp (in my case a tube amp)? this would be a deal-breaker for me if it doesn't work with it's full audio quality.

3) are the newer Element X being shipped with the AC WiFi card?

4) how would you connect a subwoofer to this?

thanks!
 
Last edited:

Arslan

Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2020
Messages
23
Likes
9
Hi Element X users and @MatrixAudio ....
After reading 37 pages, I still have a couple of questions that I hope some of you can help with:

1) is there a measured sound quality difference between the Element X and the Element M (or even the Element I)? I get the Element X is more future proofed and has balanced headphone out and the better chips/processors etc. But what is the SQ difference if any?

2) is there resolution for using the Element X connected directly to an Amp (in my case a tube amp)? this would be a deal-breaker for me if it doesn't work with it's full audio quality.

3) are the newer Element X being shipped with the AC WiFi card?

4) how would you connect a subwoofer to this?

thanks!
For point one:
I tried Element X and M with headphones and I don't remember a clear difference and maybe element M impressed me the most. But I bought Element X to have balanced input for the headphones
 
Top Bottom