Streaming music. We all do it.
But what if I told you there was a better way?
When most people stream music, you're thinking they cue up
Spotify or Apple Music on their phone and jam away, right?
Sure. There's a place for that, I suppose.
But if you're wanting better sound quality from your streaming experience,
it might be time to upgrade to a standalone music streamer.
We say time and time again, you'll find better quality
when you start dividing up individual tasks for individual
standalone devices, standalone DACs, streamers, amplifiers, etc..
Matrix Audio makes some of the best music streamers on the market.
Fight me, I'll stand by their products any day of the week.
They have an entire lineup they call the Element series, offering
top tier performance and sound in some sleek looking boxes.
They're on their second generation of products
now and it's hard for me to say anything bad about them.
That's why I had an element X or an X2 on my desk as my testing
baseline unit until Chris stole it and I haven't seen it since.
The new Element S is the first standalone
music streamer from Matrix Audio with USB DAC outputs.
That is, it doesn't have a DAC or integrated amplifier.
It enables streaming audio functionality for your current audio system.
The Element S is one of the easiest devices
to incorporate streaming into your current system.
Simply plug it into your DAC and the rest of your audio chain
and you're good to go.
That's right.
I'll mention the fact
that there is no DAC in the streamer, But we'll get to more about why in a bit.
Let's check out what makes the Element S
one of the top music streamers under $2,000 at $1,499.
The Element S takes its
design cues from the rest of the Element Series 2 lineup of music streamers.
A simplistic and minimalist aluminum silver box, it's sleek and modern looking
while the contrasting black fins on the sides acts as a juxtaposed texture.
But more importantly, heatsinks with effective heat dissipation
given the design.
The front of the Element S sports the great new touchscreen
featured on the Series 2.
The Element S skips all the other knobs and buttons on the front,
like the flagship Element X2, which has a volume control
knob, power button and headphone output jacks.
It's just a long touchscreen on the front with a pressure sensitive power button
integrated into the black glass panel on the left and the play/pause
button, track skip and settings button to the right of the screen.
It's incredibly sexy
looking and I really like the aesthetic that the Element series players provide.
On the top you'll find the mirrored MA logo on the lower left hand side corner.
That's it as far as branding and any stylings you'll find on the Element S.
The really important stuff is on the back with the inputs and outputs.
I2S-LVDS, AES/EBU, Coax/RCA, Optical.
USB: USB DAC type A,
USB audio, USB powered type C.
LAN, and then power.
It's a universal design
that is meant to blend in with whatever gear you already have
and the Element S is just as unassuming on the outside to get away with it.
For our testing setup of the Matrix Audio Element S,
we connected the music streamer
to the Chord Hugo TT 2 with Silver Dragon Digital cables.
We compared USB to Coax to Toslink, which the Hugo TT 2
offered as inputs as a way to see what we preferred.
More on this later.
I like that the TT 2 is roughly the same size and dimensions
of the Element S, though that is hardly why I chose to pair the two.
The Hugo TT 2 is one of the best desktop DACs on the market.
And for those who love a hyper detailed and resolute listening
experience, it's hard to recommend anything else at this price point.
Connected to the Chord Hugo TT 2, I paired the HiFiMan HE 1000
V2 Stealth Magnets and a Black Dragon Premium cable.
The Element S is a streamer only,
which means that you won't find the internals of a DAC or amplifier.
That being said, you won't find any sound impressions for the Element
S streamer on its own.
That is, aside from which digital output provides the best audio data stream.
This can have some influence on the sound,
but not as much as the analog output stage of a DAC, for example.
You'll need to connect the streamer to an existing system
that can handle headphones or speaker output in this case.
That is the Hugo TT 2 for my setup.
The Element S is my source, providing all the music
I need from either an attached external storage drive
or from the streaming integration itself through the MA Remote app.
I'm controlling the app through my phone right now,
and that's how I'm selecting the music I'm listening to.
This is normally where I talk about my sound impressions.
But as I said before, given the nature of the device, there aren't proper
sound impressions of the Element S since its job is to stream the music
and send it in all its purest form to whatever I'm connecting it to.
I can only attest that the signal data is clean.
I have it running to the Chord Hugo TT 2 via coax.
That being said, the Element S doesn't have a signature.
It just does.
And what it does, it does extremely well.
Bit perfect data transfers, no altering of the data whatsoever.
So if you're in the market for a standalone music streamer, then great.
The Element S is one of our top choices.
But how does it stack up to some others out there?
Let's consider two streamers in particular here.
The obvious first
comparison to consider here is the Element i2 from Matrix Audio.
What's the difference between the two, you ask?
The Element i2 is priced just above the Element S.
And right off the bat, you'll notice a few additional buttons, knobs and whatnot.
The i2 is a music streamer just like the S, but it comes equipped
with an internal DAC and a fully balanced headphone amplifier.
That being said, the i2 can be used as a complete system.
Just plug in your headphones and you're good to go.
The Element S, on the other hand, is just the streaming functionality of the i2.
No headphone jacks, no amplifier, no DAC.
You'll need to connect the Element S to a standalone DAC
or DAC-AMP combo in order to output audio.
The ES9038Q2M DAC chip in the Element i2 is a superb sounding chipset.
And combined with the fully balanced headphone amplifier,
if you're looking for a standalone unit with streaming capability,
then the price increase (not even $200 more) very much
justifies a strong recommendation from us for the Element i2.
The decision comes down to what you need in your system.
If you already love your DAC and amplifier
and just want to add streaming, then by all means go for the Element S.
can't lose.
The Node from Bluesound is another alternative to consider
when looking at music streamers,
but it's aimed at more of the entry level music enthusiast.
Bluesound has their own proprietary streaming app called BluOS
that works realistically in much the same way as MA Remote.
You have access to your streaming services integrated into the app
and anything that's plugged into the Node via external local storage.
The Node, however, is limited when compared to the extensive selection
of digital outputs that the Element S has.
The Node does have an internal DAC and analog outs, which the Element
S lacks, meaning you could connect it to a pair of active bookshelf speakers
for loudspeaker integration if you wanted.
That combined with the headphone jacks on the front of the Node streamer
means that there's also an integrated amplifier,
another thing that the Element S does not have.
The Node like the Element i2 is a complete system in this regard,
but the Node is more aimed
at basic streaming for the beginner, whereas the Element i2
is more of the enthusiast streamer with better quality specs and sound.
Bluesound has also released an anniversary edition of the Node
called the Node X, so be sure to check out our review on that.
If you're wanting basic streaming with a headphone jack,
then you can't get mad at the Node for what it offers for the price.
It's a great product and value.
If you want better quality streaming with higher end specs
and you don't need an amp or DAC, then by all means, go for the Element S.
One of the true
highlights of the Matrix Element S streamer is the plethora of digital output
options, everyone at Moon Audio, especially Drew, is excited
about the I-squared-S or I2S as digital audio connection.
I2S is a native data stream format.
It provides a signal without any sort of outside influence.
The easiest way to explain this digital stream is to think about a CD player.
The data that is pulled off the CD disk and is sent into
the decoding DAC chip is in the format of I2S.
There is no conversion or changes made to this data format.
With a CD player that has numerous digital outputs such as a S/PDIF, either
Coax or Toslink, all of these formats require a conversion from I2S.
This standard was created back in 1986 when CD players became all the rage,
but until recently it was only seen as a digital transfer
format on the highest priced CD transports and DACs.
This never made sense to Drew due to the fact that no conversion was necessary.
However, Drew also found if the cabling was not correctly done,
Then it could cause serious
consequences between the clock versus data stream between the devices.
Clocking circuits and cabling have made great strides
since the eighties, and now utilizing this format is much easier.
The connection of choice, thanks in part to PS
Audio, has become the HDMI connection.
While I2S signals at the start only require four data paths,
the HDMI connection adds additional connection points to provide
for additional circuits
to make sure the raw data of I2S is protected and delivered properly.
The only negative to I2S is that not all manufacturers have adopted
the same pin out configuration for HDMI connection
and there are no HDMI cable converters to make the switch between brands.
We're glad Matrix has chosen the pin out that PS Audio
chose to use when bringing this format back to the mainstream.
The I2S format has separate clocks and data and lower
jitter and better performance if handled properly.
The AES and S/PDIF Coax RCA connections are either converted
from I2S to their associated formats or in most applications,
these are pulled from the DAC chip.
The DAC chip usually offers not just analog output conversion
but can also provide digital outputs that have been re-clocked and are either
in the output impedance format of 110
ohms for AES or 75 ohms for Coax RCA.
The way you convert one of these formats to
the other is by the use of a small impedance transformer.
If given, either format, typically AES, is almost always going to sound better,
especially if it was the format that did not have the transformer in the
A Toslink S/PDIF connection is going to require
a conversion from an electrical signal to a light signal stream.
The best thing about Toslink is that it totally truncates
the electrical connection between devices, therefore taking any sort
of potential noise 100% out of the equation.
The negative to Toslink is
there have been no strides in chip technology to really make them sound good.
And of the four formats talked about so far,
it's our least favorite in terms of performance.
The last digital connection is USB out Of the other four
connections, the USB connection is the most flexible.
Whether you want to pass PCM or DSD, native DSD or DOP DSD,
and just about every bit of depth and resolution, the USB connection can do them all.
However, whether the USB connection sounds as good or worse
than any of the other formats we've talked about really comes down to the USB
conversion circuit and path utilized in the upstream and downstream devices.
There is so much more that can go wrong here
in terms of sound quality that it takes a little more A/B testing on your part
to determine whether this format sounds better to your ears.
We can assure you that the USB digital output on the Element
S is first rate and you will be happy with it.
But our recommendation is to utilize the I2S connection,
if you have a DAC that will support it, for optimal sound quality.
The Element S for Matrix Audio
fills in an interesting gap in the Element lineup of products.
Equipped with a premium selection of digital outputs, this streamer is
unlike the rest in that it prioritizes the digital connection
to the DAC rather than adding the DAC and AMP circuit into the design.
It's meant to deliver pristine
and uber clean digital data to your DAC or connected device.
For purists or those who just want a high end music streamer to integrate
into their current system, then there's no better streamer out there at this price.
Look, if you like your existing DAC’s sound amplifier, etcetera,
and you're the type of audiophile who likes to piece their system together
based on the signature of individual components,
then the Element S will fill in that hole for those
looking for a quality music streamer at the under $2,000 price point.
If you want a more integrated unit, then consider the Element i2
since it has an internal DAC and headphone amplifier built in.
All you need to do is just plug in some headphones and you're good to go.
The Element S also brings the outstanding MA
Remote control app and interface to any system.
It's incredibly easy and intuitive to use and integrates your existing streaming
services, connected external local storage into one clean
interactive experience on your favorite Android or iOS device.
If you're considering one of the best standalone streamers out there
with control app integration and digital output, then look no further.
The Element S will give you just about everything you need.
We'll link the full review in the description below.
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And as always, thanks for watching.