No lock-ups or problems of any kind with mine.
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Been so tempted to get one.
It would replace a raspberry pi > Matrix X-SPDIF 2 > TEAC UD-501 DAC.
I have another use for the Pi, and since they seem to be scarcer than hen’s teeth these days, I might just.
I went with it mainly to reduce boxes.
It’s streaming ( Roon Ready to boot!) , DAC and headphone amp ( even though I have not tried that yet…lol)
Picked up an open box item on fleabay at a good saving so it was a no brainer.
It’s very well made and has a nice understated look and it just works.
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I use mine primarily to drive headphones (Audeze LCD-X) and I really like it. I tried it with my Sennheiser HD800S and it worked ok, I just felt like they needed a bit more oomph. I use it primarily with Roon, but also as a pc DAC from time to time.
I’ve had a couple of random freeze on mine.
Last one was right after the latest firmware update.
Hard reboot always brings it back.
Never any issues or lock up ever in the year + I’ve had mine. Rock solid.
I just received my Mini-i Pro 3 late last week and so far I’m very impressed with it. I was looking for something that simplified my desktop setup and this device has delivered! The Roon integration is terrific and the sound quality both from the headphone output and to my headphone amp and speakers is very good.
I originally tried an RME ADI 2 DAC (it was easy to get from Amazon here in Mexico to try out) and while I was very impressed with it, I found the lack of Roon integration was a drawback and the built in DSP was too fiddly for me. I much prefer using the DSP settings in Roon and for Apple Music and other apps on my Mac I installed Soundcloud to deal with EQ settings etc.
So far I’m very happy with my purchase.
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How do you find the sound quality compared to RME?
I haven’t tried a factory reset but I did upgrade the firmware yesterday. We’ll see how it goes. I’m hesitant to reset it. Entering the Wi-Fi password was pretty painful.
Well I think Ogden’s mentioned that his crashed after the update (so that looks like 2 of you at least)
So I only run mine on Ethernet but I did try WiFi for a day or two when I first had it but not long enough for a serious test.
Never tried WiFi as had Ethernet cable there and my password uses a lot of odd symbols so would be a royal pita to enter.
Hard wired is really the only way to go with anything Roon related wherever possible IMHO.
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I didn’t have the RME when I got the Mini so I wasn’t able to compare them directly. My very subjective take on the mini is that it’s a slightly more “relaxed” sound which is preferable to me. The headphone output on the RME is a little more robust than the Mini driving my HifiMan Edition XS headphones in that it had more headroom available. I use an external amp most of the time so it’s not really a key factor. One thing I did really like about the RME was the loudness function for low volumes. I’ve tried to mimic that with EQ in the Roon by boosting the bass and treble and I’m quite happy with the results. Overall I prefer the Mini as it just works great with Roon.
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well, i just nabbed one off USAM, should have it this weekend, and it will be interesting to see how it compares to my current streaming path.
The one wildcard in there is that I use HQPlayer’s filtering/upsampling, which is one of those tweaks/upgrades that actually made a difference!
Chris if you add a Pi running Native NAA then you can get DSD512 over the USB port. I have one plugged in for the times I think I might be focused enough to hear the difference… Nope I never can, but it’s there for those with better ear’s than mine
Hopefully you will enjoy the device
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thanks, also looks like the manual shows it can be connected to the X-SPDIF 2 via I2S. I’ll have to figure out if that’s going to be relevant (or life-changing!)
Got to say that the i2S passed me by as I have nothing that can use it.
The XLR an RCA out both work great and I feed a Chromecast Audio into the Toslink, so overall it’s very flexible.
Looking forward to hearing your take on it
I had a mini-i Pro 3 for more than a year and it never froze on me. Very reliable and good sounding. I sold it just 2 months ago because after getting the Matrix Audio X-SABRE 3 + Topping A90 Combo, it was getting dust sitting on my desk. But as one box solution, your would be hard pressed to find something with this caliber unless you get the new Matrix Audio Element i2. However, even that new i2 has awesome new features like TIDAL and Spotify Connect, DLNA, Matrix Audio app and others, the mini-i Pro 3 still has a more powerful headphone amp. So if your use is going to be driving hard to drive cans, then the mini-i Pro 3 is still the way to go.
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I’ve had my mini-i Pro 3 for a couple of weeks now and am thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve been listening mostly to HifiMan Edition XS headphones (Sensitivity 92db and 18 ohm impedance) and find myself needing to crank it to -10 to 0 db for mid level listening volumes due to using DSP in Roon. I’m wondering if an external headphone amp would improve my things by increasing available headroom. I’ve been looking at the Topping A30 Pro and SMSL products. I love getting new gear but don’t want to spend money unnecessarily. Thoughts please. Thank you.
Never heard that here before.
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If you need a little more power then yes, I had some other headphones that needed to go to -10 and that was a worry as it didn’t leave any headroom, but now I keep mine down to around -21 with my Hifiman Anandas and that’s pretty loud.
Generally I output as DSD128 and find that sounds the best to my ears.
I did try my Fiio K5 Pro as that has a lot of additional amplification power, but after changing the headphones all was good.
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