Meitner MA-3 DAC

Mike said:
It’s identical color! Identical.

I’m using the Taiko Extreme to break in the MA3 since the Roon certification is still a “few weeks away”.

First impressions, a VERY VERY different sound for EMM/Meitner. This has all the detail you would expect and want, but it’s smooooooth on top. Dynamic. Punchy. Bass is excellent. I hate to call it a home run so early, but daaaaaaamn! I look forward to putting some hours on this baby and hearing it open up.

I’m using the Boulder 1110 preamp, so not testing the VC of the MA3.


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Do you think it sounds better than the DA2? I'd be hard pressed to believe it sounds better than the emm stack I have. ... I hope


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Can the VC control be disabled? For those that wish to use their own external premap.

I don't think this can match the or supposed to compete with DA2+NS1 combo.

EMM labs uses ceramic boards in their line compared to Metiner. Less Distortion = higher resolving.

What will be interesting to me at least. Will there be an EMM Labs version of the MA-3? Let's say, for 20k MSRP.

A one box solution to compare to the Esoteric N01XD.

The new entry point to EMM Labs is 35K for the DA/DV2 plus the NS1.

So, perhaps there is room for something underneath that price bracket.
 
Phishphan said:
Do you think it sounds better than the DA2? I'd be hard pressed to believe it sounds better than the emm stack I have. ... I hope


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Totally different.


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mdp632 said:
Can the VC control be disabled? For those that wish to use their own external premap.

I don't think this can match the or supposed to compete with DA2+NS1 combo.

EMM labs uses ceramic boards in their line compared to Metiner. Less Distortion = higher resolving.

What will be interesting to me at least. Will there be an EMM Labs version of the MA-3? Let's say, for 20k MSRP.

A one box solution to compare to the Esoteric N01XD.

The new entry point to EMM Labs is 35K for the DA/DV2 plus the NS1.

So, perhaps there is room for something underneath that price bracket.
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Just turn it up full and it then goes to disable mode, one past 100.

I don’t see anything like that coming. The MA3 is it.


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Hi Mike,
How does it compare to MSB Discrete? Same range but addition of Roon endpoint integrated + Ethernet and USB inputs come installed in MA3.
 
kzhtoo said:
Hi Mike,
How does it compare to MSB Discrete? Same range but addition of Roon endpoint integrated + Ethernet and USB inputs come installed in MA3.
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You’ll have to come and listen. [emoji6]

It doesn’t have the meaty analogness of the MSB. But it’s smooth, detailed and very musical. I think it’s a home run.


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It's a great small dac. Beats my mobo dac in every way. For some it's a start but for me it's the end of the journey in searching audio equipment. Probably not going to buy anything better than this in a very long time.
 
just heard there will be long waiting time up to 6 month in europe and price might go from 9900 up to 10900euros.
however, i should get a black one in a couple of days.
 
I love EMM. Such a great company. I've gotten to be friends with Amadeus over the last couple years, and had the pleasure of chatting with Ed on the phone a few months back.

I hope they come out with a lower priced line of amps. 100k for mono blocks is hard to justify. If I did that, I feel like I'd need another 100k for speakers. Which would lead to another 100k for a divorce lawyer.


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u-sound said:
anymore soundimpression from this baby? how is the burn in doing?
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Yes. It’s been playing non-stop. Opening up nicely. It has a meaty full sound with a detailed, but smooooooth top end. Tried it with pre and without. I may like it direct better.

Definitely a really good DAC with great features for $9995.


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So, you have Heisenbergs, and are planning to skip the pre... WTF?

Seriously??


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i dont know meitner and have no clue what will work well together.
ma3 should be here in a couple of hours. my first streamer.....
once i will have learnt the functions and the unit is burnt in, yes, sure i m going to try how it sounds without a pre.
and if it is close enough, well, i might skip it.
currently the internal pre of the humboldt drives the heisenbergs. sound is a pure dream. however, if the humboldt can be taken out of that system without a big loss and be used elsewhere....open story
 
Mike said:
You’ll have to come and listen. [emoji6]
It doesn’t have the meaty analogness of the MSB. But it’s smooth, detailed and very musical. I think it’s a home run.
Click to expand...

New MA3 combo looks promising! Amazing product from the first point of view.
Do you think it's better than Aqua's separate combo like Linq streamer + La Scala DAC (or Formula xHD)?
If better / worse is not applicable how can you describe the overall difference in sound between them?
 
NightTiger said:
New MA3 combo looks promising! Amazing product from the first point of view.
Do you think it's better than Aqua's separate combo like Linq streamer + La Scala DAC (or Formula xHD)?
If better / worse is not applicable how can you describe the overall difference in sound between them?
Click to expand...

It all depends on whether you want Roon or not. The LinQ doesn’t do Roon, only HQ Player.

I frankly think the Aqua La Scala v2 is incredibly engaging and musical. The MA3 sounds smooth and musical, takes longer than most DAC’s to break in and open up.


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Mike said:
It all depends on whether you want Roon or not. The LinQ doesn’t do Roon, only HQ Player.
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Yes and no )) As I know the LinQ native Roon-module unable to play Roon anymore, while HQP module can be managed by Roon.
And Aqua recently introduced the new HQPlayer Core (Server) module for the LinQ, therefore it becomes easier to use Roon with LinQ with new HPQ module.
It's not direct way, of course, but doable.

Mike said:
I frankly think the Aqua La Scala v2 is incredibly engaging and musical. The MA3 sounds smooth and musical, takes longer than most DAC’s to break in and open up.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Mike, got it!
 
NightTiger said:
Yes and no )) As I know the LinQ native Roon-module unable to play Roon anymore, while HQP module can be managed by Roon.
And Aqua recently introduced the new HQPlayer Core (Server) module for the LinQ, therefore it becomes easier to use Roon with LinQ with new HPQ module.
It's not direct way, of course, but doable.



Thank you, Mike, got it!
Click to expand...

True. A little bit of a work around, but doable.


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