MATRIX AUDIO ELEMENT X2 STREAMER/DAC/PREAMPLIFIER REVIEW

In his first review for HiFi PiG, Oscar Stewart takes a listen to the Matrix Audio Element X2 Streamer/DAC/Preamp.

Matrix Audio has been around for 10 years now, and they have a long history of making well-built headphone amplifiers and DACs. In more recent years, they’ve begun to produce more home regular HiFi products, without forgetting about the headphone community. They’re a brand that stands out by having very clean aesthetics and well-thought-out designs, with solid technology backing up its products.

The Element series is now in its second generation, starting with the Element i2 and going up to the newly released Element X2 Pure. I will be covering the Element X2 and, having previously used the original Element M I have high hopes for this product.

A clean and well laid out front panel will fit in with most homes.

ELEMENT X2 BUILD AND FEATURES

Now, where do we start? Matrix Audio pitch the Element X2 as a full-featured stand-alone source device for your system, and that really does sum it up pretty well.

Let’s start with it being a DAC first. The DAC part of the X2 comes with your standard optical, coaxial and USB inputs, but add in IIS-LVDS along with HDMI ARC support and you have most bases covered. HDMI ARC input is not all that common in HiFi currently, but I am glad to see it here as it really helps with those who use their TV with their 2ch HiFi set up. The Element X2 allows you to plug in pretty much any current digital source and it will decode the digital audio with its ESS Sabre ES9038 DAC Chip and Crystek CCHD-950 clock.

The DAC has multiple user-selectable filters, with being quite common in higher-end DACs and it is great to see it implemented here. There are also 12v trigger inputs and outputs, allowing you to turn on/off other components that support this in your system – a cool feature that will be useful to some.

Then you have the streamer side of things. With a gigabit ethernet port on the back and an integrated dual-band Wi-Fi card, you can easily hook it up to your network and stream high-res audio without a hitch (up to 22.4MHz DSD). It supports most of the common streaming services (Tidal, Spotify Connect, DLNA/UPnp etc…) along with being Roon Ready certified for seamless integration with Roon.

Have a NAS drive, or music on a USB drive? Do not worry, the Element X2 has you covered. Using the MA Remote App, you can playback locally stored files along with pointing it towards a NAS location to playback the files from that.

Did somebody mention vinyl? Well, the Element X2 does not have a built-in phono stage, but it does have a single pair of RCA analogue inputs. This means you can hook up an analogue source and use the Element X2 as a pre-amp or hub. I will highlight one downside to the analogue input though, and for those listening to vinyl this may be problematic. Due to the way volume is handled, the analogue input is converted to digital and then back to analogue. I guess this does somewhat defeat the process of listening to vinyl, but it is nice to have the analogue inputs. however, it is a useful feature for those wanting to add a record player (with a phonostage), CD player or other line-level source.

The Element X2 has a built-in headphone amplifier with 4.4mm balanced and 6.3mm outputs along with high and low gain settings. The headphone amp is not some afterthought though, outputting 1600mW unbalanced at 33Ohm or 2600mW balanced at 33Ohm. Given the company’s background, I’d expect headphones to be well-catered for.

There is a pair of RCA outputs on the back along with a pair of XLR balanced outputs and in the MA Remote App these can be configured to 0dB fixed outputs, 0dB Variable or +10dB Variable so you can use it as a pure DAC into an integrated amp, or pre-amp into a power amp.This adaptability is a useful feature in my opinion.

Around the back showing the wide range of inputs on the X2

Build quality is excellent and Matrix Audio has really nailed it with the Element series. The Element X2 has an elegant and smooth silver aluminium outer shell, with black anodised aluminium main chassis that has channels on the side to help with heat dissipation. The unit weighs 4kg and feels solid with the front touchscreen having various brightness settings and is responsive in use. In the app, you can set the front display to turn off after a certain period, handy for those who use it near a TV or to listen without it being a distraction.

The main volume knob and all the sockets on the front and back are all extremely high quality and not one single part of the Element X2 feels cheap. I am aware that this attention to detail comes at a cost, but at least you do not feel short-changed when you take it out of the box.

MA REMOTE

The MA remote app is versatile and it gives you access to most of the usual remote functions such as changing inputs, volume control and DAC Filter settings. However, dig into the configuration settings and there are a whole host of options you can change. DPLL bandwidth can be important when using this with a TV via optical – certain LG and Samsung models are prone to dropping out with ESS DAC chips due to jitter and changing the DPLL bandwidth usually solves this.

The Element X2 comes with a useful remote

There is a handy shortcuts screen on the touch screen where you can swipe to the right to access this so that you can assign inputs and outputs to this screen.

If you add your physical library to the Element X2 via USB or NAS, it is easy to browse through and play your music without any hassle. Personally, I have mostly been using a mini-PC running Roon Rock OS and using the Element X2 as a Roon endpoint, it perfectly displays what I am playing and I have not experienced any issues with this setup.

SOUND OF THE MATRIX ELEMENT X2

I used the Matrix Element X2 in various configurations within my current system and will try to cover most of them. I use my 2ch HiFi setup for TV audio, so having HDMI Arc input was handy and this input is immune to the optical dropouts my LG TV is known for. Whilst this is not a critical test, using the Element X2 with HDMI Arc was convenient and provided a crystal-clear sound that basically allowed it to disappear within my system.

As a Streamer/DAC with fixed outputs into a separate amp it simply integrates within the system without any fuss and without drawing any kind of attention to itself. The best DACs out there, in my opinion, are the ones that do not sound like they are influencing the overall signature of the system. This is true here and the sound is audibly perfect to my ears and X2 never sounds like it is trying to colour the sound. There is no “ESS Glare” that people used to love to bring up when discussing DACs with this chip. The implementation is key and Matrix Audio has done a superb job at creating a DAC that has such an effortless and clean sound. It doesn’t really matter what input you use; streaming, USB, Coaxial – it all sounds detailed and open with what I would describe as accurate tonality.

The Element X2 from Matrix in use

Next up I decided to try using it with variable volume into a power amplifier, and it is much the same story. Due to the implementation of the volume control, there is no channel imbalance at any level and you hear the internal relays click when adjusting the volume. I did use the analogue inputs when listening to vinyl, and as much as I do not like the fact that it converts the signal to digital and then back to analogue, I will say that the sound did not change much. I agree this is not ideal, and, personally, I like to keep analogue as analogue, however, I am impressed at how faithful the A/D – D/A conversion is on the Element X2. The preamp stage is very good and it works extremely well with power amplifiers driving passive speakers, as well as being ideal for active speakers. As the circuit is separate from the DAC stage, there is no worry about losing bits either – bit perfect sound at any volume.

For the headphone side of things, I often use the DT880 600Ohm as my reference point as they are quite a transparent headphone making it easy to pick up on differences between amps. The headphone amp in the Element X2 is impressive to say the least and even on low gain you easily get deafeningly loud levels out of the DT880 and I found myself listening to it at about 50 on the volume display. It is a transparent amp too, delivering audio in a crisp way that avoids being bright or lean. There is a solid foundation for the bass, but it is precise and controlled and it does not round the edges of notes but also is not overly analytical in its presentation. This is a high current solid state headphone amp and works wonders with hard-to-drive planar magnetic models, even better when using the 4.4mm output. This would make an excellent desktop DAC/Amp/Streamer for headphone users as it is all incorporated into a single device and it will drive most headphones out there (yes, I am looking at you HiFiMAN).

The display is clear and easy to navigate

It really does not matter what music you throw at the Element X2 – it will always deliver a transparent and detailed sound that few will be able to fault. It does what any good DAC should do, converts digital audio into an analogue signal without messing with it, along with having an extremely high-quality built-in streaming platform and easy-to-use app.

CONCLUSION

Matrix Audio has been producing great quality products for a while now and the latest Element series really is their most refined to date.

The app is stable and reliable, the products are attractive and extremely well-built, and the overall functionality is rock solid.

The Element X2 is such a feature-packed all-in-one source device, yet it manages to master each function incredibly well.

Being Roon Ready, it is as simple as it could be to set up, but if you use other streaming services or want to play locally stored music it will do that with ease too.

The DAC section is clean and detailed yet does not have any hint of glare or sharpness to it, the preamp stage works a treat, and to top it all off it has a superb sounding and powerful built-in headphone amplifier. If only that analogue input was true analogue from end to end it would be pretty much flawless at what it sets out to achieve.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:

Solid aluminium that is both attractive and helps with shielding the Element X2

Sound Quality:

Clean, open, and detailed

Transparent and tonally accurate

Value For Money:

It’s not cheap, but you don’t feel short-changed given the number of features and the quality of each of them

We Loved:

Design, ease of use, and versatile functionality

Sound quality

We Didn’t Love So Much:

The analogue input isn’t true analogue from end to end

Price:  £4399, $4399

Elevator Pitch Review: Do you stream music, use your TV through your HiFi, need a preamp, and listen to headphones? Well, the Matrix Element X2 will do all of this and more, it really is a jack of all trades, however, it masters each one too.

Oscar Stewart