Originally Posted by Carrart
Would be good to understand your experience of sound quality of 218 with the 3200s.

I am considering buying one but am keen to understand:

1) sq on regular pcm compared with MS200 into 3200
2) sq on Mqa compared to direct tidal mqa to MS200 into 3200

If you have a perspective on this would be grateful to hear.
Not easy for me to unequivocally answer your question Tony.

I went from MS200 / DSP5200SL to 218 / DSP3200, so too much of a change there to make a sensible comparison. I can only say that I am happy with what I'm getting.

I haven't even run any MQA through the set up. I did originally do a first test of the 218 as a Roon end point via the analogue out in my analogue system, replacing an MS600 with analogue out. Again, no MQA involved at this stage, that is to come soon when I get some albums marked in the Tidal Desktop App so that they show up via Roon.

The best compliment I can give it is that I did not discern a difference from the MS600. I do have other plans to test 218 as a Roon end point / Preamp with a Quad 306 in an analogue stereo system in the future.

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