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

[Bamyasi]

Not sure why you would insist you need 5GHz AC WiFi support. Maximum bandwidth of a 2-channel 24bit/192kHz uncompressed (!) PCM stream is below 9 Mbps (or 7 Mbps on average for the lossless FLAC) or 11-12 Mbps for native DSD256. Both 100BaseT Ethernet and 2.4GHz WiFi are quite capable of supporting such streams.

 

[neukrisz]

Not sure why you would insist you need 5GHz AC WiFi support. Maximum bandwidth of a 2-channel 24bit/192kHz uncompressed (!) PCM stream is below 9 Mbps (or 7 Mbps on average for the lossless FLAC) or 11-12 Mbps for native DSD256. Both 100BaseT Ethernet and 2.4GHz WiFi are quite capable of supporting such streams.

I know very well the theory of the calculation...
Again :
I don't use any 2.4GHz radios in my home long years ago...and the player has playing problems used the 5GHz N radio.
All of my devices in my home connected with 1Gbps Ethernet or AC WiFi.
I don't want to use any non-1Gbps Ethernet or non-AC network clients at all. (Based on my opinion this can ensures the highest performance of my full network)
Since the original MA specifications declared the Element X with AC radio stage - this was the main trigger force to I purchased this model...

 

[Arslan]

Anyone know why my Element X cannot find the new firmware?
Thanks

 

[neukrisz]

Anyone know why my Element X cannot find the new firmware?
Thanks

see this

 

[Arslan]

see this

Thanks but tryied many times but no works. Another iusse is that when i recognize the Element X, at the first chance MAremote recognize it how an Element M and not how an Element X. Anyone have the same bug?
Thanks

 

[Archsam]

Thanks but tryied many times but no works. Another iusse is that when i recognize the Element X, at the first chance MAremote recognize it how an Element M and not how an Element X. Anyone have the same bug?
Thanks

Me too - just uninstalled and reinstalled MA remote, and I'm still on FW B51501 and app said it's up to date.

 

[neukrisz]

Thanks but tryied many times but no works. Another iusse is that when i recognize the Element X, at the first chance MAremote recognize it how an Element M and not how an Element X. Anyone have the same bug?
Thanks

Did you try that from android or iOS/iPadOS platform? (I guess you have android OS...)

 

[Arslan]

Did you try that from android or iOS/iPadOS platform? (I guess you have android OS...)

I use Android. Like you can see, the same device is detected M & X

 

[neukrisz]

I use Android. Like you can see, the same device is detected M & X

Can you try it from iOS? I guess it will be OK.

 

[Arslan]

Can you try it from iOS? I guess it will be OK.

Need to find someone with IOS.

 

[neukrisz]

Need to find someone with IOS.

Exactly...

 

[Arslan]

Today finally i used the IOS App of MAremote and all worked perfect! No problem to recognize the Element X and the new firmware was installed at the first try. Very good. Hope the Matrix Audio can update the Android App.

 

[somy]

With the new version I can’t seem to play tracks under an artist in Tidal, anybody experienced same problem?

 

[raykkho]

to this day I still cannot update my FW using both Android or iOS.

 

[raykkho]

Me too - just uninstalled and reinstalled MA remote, and I'm still on FW B51501 and app said it's up to date.

Same here. @MatrixAudio can you comment on this please?

 

[raykkho]

As a test I found an old iPhone 6, running iOS 12, installed the app. Found the X and identified the FW upgrade needed, but promptly dropped connection after. Everytime is the same, nothing can be done.

Even with an iPhone X with latest iOS my X promptly lost connection after being discovered by the app. Normal operation using Android without any issue.

 

[somy]

Hi all, has anyone experienced issue with playback order? For some reason my Element M keeps shuffling the order of tracks when I stream an album or tracks under an artist from Tidal.

Edit: found the issue, the play all button doesn’t reset shuffle flag - I assume it’s a bug.

 

[Arslan]

Based on all your experiences, which is the best player to use? Internal Ma Player, Roon, Audirvana or others?
Thanks

 

[somy]

Based on all your experiences, which is the best player to use? Internal Ma Player, Roon, Audirvana or others?
Thanks

I haven't tried Roon but based on what I hear from others it's the best. Ma player and Audirvana I certainly recommend Audirvana as I don't feel MA player is matured enough, there are many small issues.

 

[raykkho]

Based on all your experiences, which is the best player to use? Internal Ma Player, Roon, Audirvana or others?
Thanks

I have used MA player, JRiver Media Player and I have lifetime subscription to Roon. Roon is more than just a player, it's more like a huge relational database where you can get information about artists, what they have done as a leader or sideman, if you like these information and like to explore new music or the music you already have, I cannot think of any other that comes close, but at a price of course. Roon also manages and connects your music to multiple compatible playing devices you have. If you just care about hitting play and be done with it, I don't think there is a bad player out there, considering many of them are free that comes with hardware, just perhaps more likely an issue of preference. YMMV.