That has more to do with the fact tubes donāt allow for much current to flow, which is fine as there is loads of voltage.
I always wonder where blanket statements like this come from. Because to say anything about how an amp on some headphone behaves, you either need to have heared that combo, or take an in depth look at the circuit.
That has more to do with the fact tubes donāt allow for much current to flow, which is fine as there is loads of voltage.
Ahhh, ok.
I always wonder where blanket statements like this come from.
No idea, i guess its a kind of āappeal to authorityā to see a bunch of forum people or random bloggers talk about it long enough. Might be a non-issue i guess, from my (admittedly not exactly professional) ear, i canāt hear anything.
Is this unit good enough for higher end headphones? Iām upgrading from an old Audioengine D1 because i recently ordered a hifiman arya as my first āniceā headphone. But iāve heard those are hard to drive so im looking at other amps/dacs. It seems like it has enough power, but maybe theres something iām missing?
So I actually have this and the Arya and I think it sounds great on this thing. Iāve been A/B testing the amp in this against my V280 and with the Arya I really canāt tell much of a difference on a lot of my music. Other headphones, like HD600, I can immediately tell if Iām using the V280 or the mini because the bass hits are a bit meatier and the soundstage is noticeably improved with slightly better imaging. But with the Arya Iāve been trying to find those same differences and they just arenāt apparent to me on the majority of the music Iāve tried. I actually just tried my HE6se with the mini-i 3 pro tonight and I like it much better than on the V280, surprisingly. Almost as much as I liked it with my Marantz MM7025 power ampā¦
I really like this dac/amp/streamer, I think itās pretty amazing.
Yeah I would imagine so. Iām driving 5XX (a bit more eff. than the Aryas at 93dB compared to their 90) off the 4.4mm balanced output. Listening at my ānormalā volume iām at about -12dB, and -7.5 if iām really blasting it.
I ordered a pair of LCD 2Cs to try on it, so weāll see how it does with higher impedance planars (70ohm), but the efficiency is higher on those (104 i think) so iām figuring it will power those fine.
I noticed that many people mention purchasing the Mini i3 from Apos or ShenzhenAudio, but I donāt see much about purchasing directly from Matrix Audio. Any reason for this?
I believe Apos provides free shipping within the US and ShenzhenAudio and Matrix Audio provide free worldwide shipping, both the Pro and non-Pro units have the same price across each site.
I currently reside in Japan so I was going to purchase directly from Matrix Audio but curious if I am missing somethingā¦possibly the reward points from Shenzhen?
Not sure, I got mine from Apos because Iām in the US and iād bought from them before, so I knew about what to expect for shipping time, customer support, etc. To be honest I canāt imagine it makes a ton of difference.
I have this unit and the matrix element M also.
Both happily drive the HiFiman Ananda.
On the pro 3 i have the volume pot at - 10 bB on SE and around - 16 dB on balanced.
On the element M i run them at around - 20 dB. No balanced on that unit.
No negative changes to sound signature between the 2 units. They sound very good on both, they sound like Ananda.
I was worried about the high Z-out when I got the pro 3 and would be happy to hear other peoples experience of using different cans on the unit, both planar and dynamic drivers.
I watched the Z review and he sounded happy with the performance driving 3 cans with very different specs. Not yet seen a review where anybody else has tested it with different cans.
So people, what cans you pushing from the pro 3 and are you happy?
Iām tried it with a pair of Elex, DT1990s, LCD 2C, campfire cascades, M570, and 5XX. No issues, they all sounded great, clear, detailed, fast. Iām starting to wonder if theyāve over rated the output impedance 
.
I concur and Iām starting to think the same as you.
I borrowed a pair of Aeon 2 closed. At 13 ohm and 92dB they actually sound OK with the pro 3 driving them. The rule of 8 definitely doesnāt fit the low Impedance of those.
I know thereās a whole debate on Impedance and planar but still think the pro 3 is out of spec on paper v performance.
Yeah at this point iām kind of waiting for someone with testing equipment to give it a go. Seems wild that the measurement would be off but iāve seen other units that were way over rated by the manufacturer on output impedance.
I guess the other explanation is simply that iām no good at hearing all the distortion this thing is chucking out, in which case time to get some money back on all this audio stuff and get some cheapo gear 
I saw above you also own a focal clear, how did that pair? This unit looks quite promising but I am also worried about the rule of 8 since I have clear mg (55 ohms).
I used to use Focal Elex on mine and it sounded phenomenal.
(for clarity the āused toā is bc I sold the Elex, not the mini 3)
Awesome, I am kind of holding back because of the rule of 8 and mixing reviews on the amp stage of the mini. Focal elex has 80 ohms while clear MG is only 55 ohm thoughā¦ But after visiting a boutique the other day I found out I really need to listen to more stuff.
Some of the stuff raved online didnāt sound all that special to me, while some tubes were really good with my clear MGs.
I am going to see if I can listen to the matrix audio somewhere close 
Any comments on how this works as a preamp? I think this might be a nice option for a desktop feeding powered monitors. How about Roon and Airplay?
Hello, new to this community and relatively new to the hobby. I have a Matrix Mini-i 3 and I am extremely pleased with it so far. The one lacking feature for my use case was EQ. I play music and game through the Matrix and for gaming I tune the bass down when playing FPS games. I know this is not directly an audio problem but I would really like to hear feedback on either software EQ options or something external (e.g. Schiit Loki). If I used software I would really like the ability to switch back and forth between profiles quickly.
I know this is probably a basic question for many of you but I would really appreciate feedback to really understand what my best option is here. Thanks, to any that take the time.
Here is a video I put together on the Matrix products I enjoy and how they compare!
hey, some guy here is selling his mini-i pro 3 and I also use an smsl m500. I donāt think I would use the headphone amp section since I have an SP400.
have you compared them soundwise, especially dac section?
Iām also curious about the mini-i 3ās streaming capabilities. I am an android used but I use apple music. Cheapaudiman Randy says in his review it is not really a streamer because it doesnāt have an app, the only way to stream through it is either using apple airplay or roon. If the DAC section only is a good upgrade that would make up for it but somehow what I took from the reviews is DAC is just OK, but not a 1000$ sound.