Responsible manufacturer--A short story about Matrix Mini-i Pro 3

[WolfX-700]

Last Saturday, I posted an article on my website about several bugs found during the measurement of Matrix Mini-i Pro 3.

In fact, I was very entangled in posting that article, because Matrix is a very good manufacturer, and we have good communication. But anyway, the bug does exist on the device I measured.

Overall, I found three bugs:

1.The noise gate setting is incorrect, and the signal below -70dbFS is directly muted.(SPDIF&USBin)

2.Serious Jitter in Roon client mode, looks like "HiFi Crown"

3.Bluetooth mode output frequency drift


Evidence obtained by measurement:
The noise gate setting is incorrect, and the signal below -70dbFS is directly muted.(SPDIF&USBin)

2.Serious Jitter in Roon client mode, looks like "HiFi Crown"

SPDIF input under different PLL settings:

The situation in Roon client mode (also happens with USB input):

3.Bluetooth mode output frequency drift

Obviously, these bugs scared me .So I posted a "Consumption Warning" on my own website.

But when I was about to release it to ASR, Matrix Audio said that they have reproduced Bugs 1 and 2. They will release the updated firmware immediately. So I chose to wait a few days to allow them time to solve the problem.
And Bug3 finally proved to be a problem with the Bluetooth protocol.

Finally they released the bug description and new firmware:
https://www.matrix-digi.com/cn/news/20201120505.html

I will continue to follow the bug fixes and release the measurements after the firmware update.

 

[GDK]

Thank you @WolfX-700 for doing that. I am awaiting Roon certification for this product before purchasing and I certainly appreciate your identifying these issues. I never would have expected that, given the performance of their Element line. Good on Matrix for responding quickly for addressing these issues, but one wonders how they were not identified prior to release...

 

[Music1969]

Finally they released the bug description and new firmware:
https://www.matrix-digi.com/cn/news/20201120505.html

I will continue to follow the bug fixes and release the measurements after the firmware update.

Great work by you and Matrix Audio engineers to quickly rectify the issues

 

[Mnyb]

Shows why third party measurement is needed , good

 

[Veri]

I laughed at the "HiFi Crown" jitter, not gonna lie

 

[wwenze]

Hmm so they say the -70dB mute is only for analogue... I'm not sure whether I want that either. Can it be disabled.

而在中国烧友群中，他有着一个更为贴地气的名字—— “狼教授”

Hi professor wolf

 

[deafenears]

@MatrixAudio nice work guys!

 

[Tanner]

any update with the full measurements?

 

[PortableMusic]

@WolfX-700: thank you kindly for your thread and posts. very helpful!

ditto what @Tanner wrote above, may we ask if there are updates please?

thank you.

 

[Vini darko]

I laughed at the "HiFi Crown" jitter, not gonna lie

I laughed too. Tears and money

 

[Tanner]

@WolfX-700 now with the new firmware, as stated previously, is there a possibility to have the full measurements any time soon? i am about to buy it...

 

[somy]

I just hope that they can respond to the issue with wrong wireless card in element M/X. I’ve been waiting for a solution for several weeks now.

 

[Grotti]

Well, any news on this topic?

 

[Tanner]

Well, any news on this topic?

well i suppose something fishy is going on, an nobody says anything,even a reply saying "wait", maybe they found something and they want to affect the sales of the product. maybe yes,maybe no. who knows...

 

[somy]

Funny enough, the “responsible manufacturer” ignored many software issues reported by the users, and their MA player is barely usable for streaming services. When some discovered in Element X/M the wireless card only supports 802.11N not AC as advertised , they silently changed the spec on their website without providing a resolution to the users.

 

[Grotti]

Silence everywhere....!

And this is the sort of silence, which makes me suspicious......

I am sure, that everything can be explained and that it all works out well.... But I was looking for a DAC and perhaps an amplifier for headphones and I needed some help to make up my mind. I found ASR on my way and it was an eye opener....

I read and learned a lot and at some point I had to make a decision... The last two names on my list were Matrix Audio and RME. Don't get me wrong: i won't condemn Matrix Audio since I have no experience with this brand and it might be possible, that they fix the problems. But I have decided to spend a lot of money (at least for me it is) and I will play it safe: I traded in the last few dB of SINAD and ordered a RME ADI-2 Pro FS BE yesterday.

Nevertheless I would appreciate, that someone breaks the silence...

 

[Tanner]

@Grotti the thing i could tell you is that i received the unit yesterday and it is buggy as hell. static pops and crackles when changing inputs and well beyong 5+ seconds when input is selected,rca input is worse, and on top of that with that gimmick auto-mute is unbearable. volume control is laggy either with knob or remote.

 

[somy]

Silence everywhere....!

And this is the sort of silence, which makes me suspicious......

I am sure, that everything can be explained and that it all works out well.... But I was looking for a DAC and perhaps an amplifier for headphones and I needed some help to make up my mind. I found ASR on my way and it was an eye opener....

I read and learned a lot and at some point I had to make a decision... The last two names on my list were Matrix Audio and RME. Don't get me wrong: i won't condemn Matrix Audio since I have no experience with this brand and it might be possible, that they fix the problems. But I have decided to spend a lot of money (at least for me it is) and I will play it safe: I traded in the last few dB of SINAD and ordered a RME ADI-2 Pro FS BE yesterday.

Nevertheless I would appreciate, that someone breaks the silence...

For DAC I thin RME is a solid choice, not tried myself but heard lots of good things. If I could return my MA I would probably get RME this time. I can only use MA streamers as DAC anyways, why should I pay premium for streaming functionality that simply doesn’t work?

 

[capitanharlock]

@Grotti the thing i could tell you is that i received the unit yesterday and it is buggy as hell. static pops and crackles when changing inputs and well beyong 5+ seconds when input is selected,rca input is worse, and on top of that with that gimmick auto-mute is unbearable. volume control is laggy either with knob or remote.

Seems unacceptable for a 1k $ object.
I was tempted, but I guess I will wait until all these issue will be solved.

 

[Tks]

For DAC I thin RME is a solid choice, not tried myself but heard lots of good things. If I could return my MA I would probably get RME this time. I can only use MA streamers as DAC anyways, why should I pay premium for streaming functionality that simply doesn’t work?

END is solid with zero issues aside from 'em coders that quickly start skipping steps in both directions. RME will replace them if you run into the issue. Aside from that, the device is functionally perfect (though I wish they would use heat sinks as the unit can get warm to the touch even with no direct contact to heat producing chips on the board).