Aloha fellas... well for a couple years now I've had a setup I ended upon that was a blissful experience. I had no thoughts of changing anything after I went thru a merry-go-round of DACs and ended on the Audio Mirror Tubadour III SE. I combined that with a Lumin U1 Mini, which I eventually added a Linear Power Supply mod to it with the sbooster. For two years that system was an easy win in my book.
So I had to look to change something that wasn't broke right? This is audiophile world isn't it?
I toyed with the idea of simplifying things. What if I could cram the lumin and the AMT into one unit? Combine 3 boxes into 1, and still be satisfied. One thing I loved about the AMT DAC was the fact it was a R2R NOS design. During my DAC journey, I tested around 7 DACs and chose the AMT. During that process the R2R/discrete DACs always sounded better to me than the ESS/AKM/DeltaSigma style DACs.
While researching 'all-in-one' units, it was next to impossible to find one that wasn't a ESS/DS style DAC inside. I contemplated auditioning those, like Rose 150B, Cary DMS-600, Lumin T2, Auralic Vega 2.1, etc. I had set a imaginary budget of around $5k. Then I decided to look into the next upper category to $10k thinking I could look for a used unit. This opened me up to devices that did use discrete or proprietary DAC designs. Some on that list were Bricasti M3, Linn Akurate DSM, Meitner MA-3, T+A MP 2000 R MK II.
After using some more criteria like where it's made (or company is from), how features stack up (I want a Roon Ready device), upgradeable, and let's be honest, looks (I want to enjoy looking at in, I know I'm shallow), and can I find one used? I narrowed it down to:
Bricasti M3
Metiner MA-3
The T+A MP 2000 R MK II is almost impossible to find used. I found a couple Bricasti M3's and was fully set on springing for that one to try out... when my last minute search pulled up a killer deal on a Meitner MA3, caveat being no remote or original box (thought I could buy remote later), I snagged it.
Well the Meitner has been nothing short of awesome. It's in mint condition and was in the rarer matte black finish, which I preferred. It's a gorgeous piece in my opinion. I use Roon so ethernet into MA3, shows up right away, all is good. Have my CD transport connected to it via COAX (currently looking to upgrade my CD player/transport), and MA3 also has a AES input. I've covered input wise. Can connect USB drive to play tunes directly if needed, but I'm 99% Roon. It's ethernet board is Conversdigital, so Mconnect supports it. Also it has a lossless volume control (with high quality knob), which EMM marketing speak calls it Vcontrol, blah, blah...
Interesting technology. Ed Meitner of EMM Labs custom designs the chips that go into the MA3, including the DAC. the MA3 converts all sample formats to DSD1024 1-bit DSD.
So how does it sound. Obviously it's dead quiet, even hooked up to my Sayes 421a tube amp. The first thing I noticed, which is the main reason I'm choosing it over the AMT, is the soundstage is huge! Vocals and instruments sound bigger if that makes sense. The AMT was detailed and pinpointed, take that add even more hidden tiny details and make everything 'bigger' and that's what the MA3 does. I'm not comparing fullness or lushness, it's like think of a female vocal taking up 1' x 1' square looking at the stage on the AMT, the MA3 makes it 2' x 2'. Best way to describe it, it's more lifelike, like the person is there in the room. I've read that super high end DACs do that, but never experienced it before. It's as smooth as R2R, but detail pulling monster.
I would love to still try the Bricasti M3, and will probably spring for it once I sell some more stuff. That will be a great compare, since the M3 gets rave reviews everywhere. We will see.
So I had to look to change something that wasn't broke right? This is audiophile world isn't it?
I toyed with the idea of simplifying things. What if I could cram the lumin and the AMT into one unit? Combine 3 boxes into 1, and still be satisfied. One thing I loved about the AMT DAC was the fact it was a R2R NOS design. During my DAC journey, I tested around 7 DACs and chose the AMT. During that process the R2R/discrete DACs always sounded better to me than the ESS/AKM/DeltaSigma style DACs.
While researching 'all-in-one' units, it was next to impossible to find one that wasn't a ESS/DS style DAC inside. I contemplated auditioning those, like Rose 150B, Cary DMS-600, Lumin T2, Auralic Vega 2.1, etc. I had set a imaginary budget of around $5k. Then I decided to look into the next upper category to $10k thinking I could look for a used unit. This opened me up to devices that did use discrete or proprietary DAC designs. Some on that list were Bricasti M3, Linn Akurate DSM, Meitner MA-3, T+A MP 2000 R MK II.
After using some more criteria like where it's made (or company is from), how features stack up (I want a Roon Ready device), upgradeable, and let's be honest, looks (I want to enjoy looking at in, I know I'm shallow), and can I find one used? I narrowed it down to:
Bricasti M3
Metiner MA-3
The T+A MP 2000 R MK II is almost impossible to find used. I found a couple Bricasti M3's and was fully set on springing for that one to try out... when my last minute search pulled up a killer deal on a Meitner MA3, caveat being no remote or original box (thought I could buy remote later), I snagged it.
Well the Meitner has been nothing short of awesome. It's in mint condition and was in the rarer matte black finish, which I preferred. It's a gorgeous piece in my opinion. I use Roon so ethernet into MA3, shows up right away, all is good. Have my CD transport connected to it via COAX (currently looking to upgrade my CD player/transport), and MA3 also has a AES input. I've covered input wise. Can connect USB drive to play tunes directly if needed, but I'm 99% Roon. It's ethernet board is Conversdigital, so Mconnect supports it. Also it has a lossless volume control (with high quality knob), which EMM marketing speak calls it Vcontrol, blah, blah...
Interesting technology. Ed Meitner of EMM Labs custom designs the chips that go into the MA3, including the DAC. the MA3 converts all sample formats to DSD1024 1-bit DSD.
So how does it sound. Obviously it's dead quiet, even hooked up to my Sayes 421a tube amp. The first thing I noticed, which is the main reason I'm choosing it over the AMT, is the soundstage is huge! Vocals and instruments sound bigger if that makes sense. The AMT was detailed and pinpointed, take that add even more hidden tiny details and make everything 'bigger' and that's what the MA3 does. I'm not comparing fullness or lushness, it's like think of a female vocal taking up 1' x 1' square looking at the stage on the AMT, the MA3 makes it 2' x 2'. Best way to describe it, it's more lifelike, like the person is there in the room. I've read that super high end DACs do that, but never experienced it before. It's as smooth as R2R, but detail pulling monster.
I would love to still try the Bricasti M3, and will probably spring for it once I sell some more stuff. That will be a great compare, since the M3 gets rave reviews everywhere. We will see.
