Matrix Audio Element X or Mini-i 3

Audio Gear Talk Matrix Audio
1

I’m thinking about another small Roon endpoint, which will used only with headphones.
From the specs and tests the Element X seems to be much better, but the Mini is the cheaper and newer device.
Had anyone compared the two devices?

2

I have both. The price differential sums it up. Both are worth it to me.

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3

I don’t have an element X but I do have the Element M and mini pro 3.

Element M feeds my main Hifi rig.

I use the Pro 3 in my home (non work / private) office. Used just with headphones at the moment and will add a pair of powered monitors in due course.

I think both matrix products are great build, sound and feature wise. Their customer support is also very good.

I do have a caveat though. For headphone use only I believe there’s better options that are also available at a fraction of the cost. The element M has no balanced headphone out and the pro 3 has a very high z value based on spec sheet. This is a mute point for driving planar cans but may affect dynamic cans.

For use to drive cans only, i would personally be looking at a pi based endpoint feeding a dedicated head amp (with onboard dac or dac hat on the pi).

There are a bunch of great chi-fi head amp / dac available for limited outlay these days.

All depends what you need the gear to do beyond headphones.

For the price of the Element X you could pick up a pi4, balanced head amp, great pair of cans and a decent aftermarket cable.

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4

So I’ve changed my mind and ordered a more mobile unit: Astell&Kern SP2000 (I’m already owing already some AKs and love them), which I can use directly as Roon endpoint and also as DAC for a RPi.

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5

Very nice.
What’s the battery life like on the AK players?

6

For the small SR25 it’s about 21h, for the bigger one SP2000 only about 8h, but you can let play while loading.

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7

Cheers, good to know.