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new Meitner MA3 hit the rack today

Letting it warm up and run some playlists on repeat through it.  Gonna give it a few hundred hours of break-in before the first critical session.  Nice unit.  Roon 1.8 picked it up, but didn’t let me configure as an output since the certification is delayed by a few weeks.  Wasn’t really planning on switching the digital front end, as it’s more of a secondary source during the day, but I just couldn’t take the Aurender UI/UX anymore.  “A far more intuitive interface, Roon is” said Yoda.  The A10 sound was very livable long term but just got tired of that darn UI.  Roon could stream to it, but only over airplay, so what’s the point there.  Anyway, I’ll post up some thoughts when I get rolling with it for real.
73cuttysupreme
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 

@ghasley Thanks for the reply. The rca outputs of the DAC are connected to my TV to serve as an output load for now.

I appreciate your guidance on the internal streamer. I am surprised that the half dozen or so reviews I could find on the MA3 never discussed listening impressions through the internal streamer and I can’t really find anything useful on the web re: listening impressions for the EMMlabs NS1 streamer (similar to the internal streamer in the MA3) either. This feature is, to me, a big selling point for the MA3, providing that it sounds comparable to a good external streaming device.

 

david_ten
5,480 posts
 

@dlcockrum   Welcome back!  : )

I expect most are, if using the internal streamer:

 

I am wondering if anyone is using the MA3’s internal network streamer directly via Ethernet from your router/switch

wig's avatar
wig
1,286 posts
 

@dlcockrum 

Awesome find on the MA3, it's a highly praised DAC...

Wig 👍

ghasley
2,507 posts
 

It sounds better to my ears through its internal streamer vs spdif/aes/usb. With that said, its likely all the cable/device variables have been removed from the chain. Enjoy, its a great dac, especially since you were luck to shag one preowned.

73cuttysupreme OP
29 posts
 

Agreed above.  I run roon, and it is perfect in every way.  Use both Tidal and Qobuz, but TBH, while MQA is kinda neat and can have a small measurable difference, still prefer the higher bitrate flat files from qobuz, plus the Tidal API times out from time to time.

 

What streaming platforms are you guys running?

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