Matrix X-SPDIF 2

A trial is a good idea. Everyone is free to decide. And, as this is often the case, the last percentage of improvement may be the most expensive one. Sadly enough. For me the WW Ultraviolet made my day and I would consider it as affordable.

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I agree - I’ve heard their less expensive cables are very good also. A guy at cable company talked me into trying the Silver. They have a lending program that’s kind of neat. Don’t have much experience with HDMI cables so I wanted to try. I figured it would be a little better - didn’t expect the level of improvement it provided. It was worth the cost for me - who would of thought the I2S tweaking (Matrix\I2S\Wireworld) could provide this much improvement in sonics. USB\coax don’t come close.

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Are there any Ethernet-to-I2S adapters similar to the Matrix USB-to-I2S ?

Yes, e.g. https://www.magnahifi.com/en/webshop/product/mano-ultra

That’s a little rich for my blood.

Hi Narbooty, just checking you thought the monster is the best you’ve tried (less bright) Which particular one is it please?

Hey Chris,

I want to be clear that I have only tried the BJC BJC Series-FE Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cable and what I believe is the Monster Gold Advanced High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet. Only these 2. The blue jeans cable was broken in for at least a week of extended listening and showed no signs of cooling off. I put the monster cable back on and melted back into the music. My girlfriend was able to describe the same differences I heard without coaching(she used to sing, has a pretty good ear).

I make no claims that this monster cable is the best, simply that it was significantly different than the BJC and in my system was significantly more enjoyable. To be honest, I am still amazed at the difference. I have been something of a cable skeptic(most so with HDMI), and this is both incredible and frustrating. Now I have to worry about cables! I’m most amazed at the difference because we are not talking about a cheap cable vs a very expensive cable. We are talking about acheap cable vs an only slightly more expensive cable.

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I was surprised also. I was kind of hoping HDMI cables were all the same as many claim. Made a bigger difference than an interconnect cable upgrade in my system. Oh well…

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Hi @tedsmith

Does the TOSLink output support DoP64 and PCM192kHz for you into the DS?

They say it does on the product page but just wondering if you tested.

I would guess it would be one of the first things you tested, so my guess is it does everything it says on the box?

Cheers

Someone linked to these a while back. I’ve got two of them, one powering my NUC and one powering my external SSD dock. They are very nice, dead silent LPS’s

Hi folks

I’ve purchased a second hand Matrix X-SPDIF 2 for my DSJ.

There is weird thing happened, I connected Macbook Pro-> Matrix X-SPDIF 2 -> DSJ ,no signal is locked by DSJ through I2s nor Toshlink.

DSJ seems to have diffculty lockedup the signal from X-SPDIF 2. After balancing output ,the locked up star* show up on DSJ screen for like 0.5 second then gone.

Does anyone here ever encountered this kind of problem?

Thanks

Maybe a silly question: When connected via USB to the Mac, is the LED on the Matrix illuminated in light green/yellow, independent of the connection to the DAC? Should be indicating the idle state of the Matrix (green or blue when processing audio to any output, PCM or DSD).
And did the Mac detect the Matrix as a USB-Device correctly?
Maybe try another USB cable?
Have an external power supply plugged into the Matrix? Try it without it (so power it via USB).
And the dip switches on the bottom should be set to OFF for I2S.

Sorry, I didn’t give enough information.

When X-SPDIF2 connected to MacBook Pro ,it was found as a output device and with green light on.

I also set everything off on the back switches and tried different combinations.

I replaced a couple of USB cables from 2.0 to 3.0. Even tried different HDMI cables still nothing happened

Sorry to hear that. I´m at the edge of my technical knowledge… :thinking:

I like the DoP to Native dip switch set to ON, although that is not going to help Keith, I don’t think.

Are you using an external PSU with the Matrix? I am wondering if it is not getting sufficient USB power from your MacBook Pro…

hi bootzilla

I did doubt that if it wasn’t enough power to drive X-Spdif2 ,so I add a external PSU still not sending anything to DSJ

BTW,do I need to setup anything in my MacBook except making sure it’s the output device?

Is the Mac sending to the Jr. on USB directly (without the Matrix in between) and working? If yes, all you have to do is change the output device, i would assume.

What software are you using to play? Have you selected the Matrix in that software (if applicable to that software)? For example, I set up a “player” for the Matrix in JRiver Media Center and select it when playing to it and also select the Matrix in the Qobuz app when using that.

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Yes, if your former setup was MBP>DSJ and your software is set to the DSJ as the playback device, you would need to change the playback device in that software to the Matrix.