It's surprising that it's been 3 years since the Element X became a staple on my desk. It was back in the spring of 2019 that our founder and CEO Drew Baird flew to Singapore can jam and first saw the new Element series from Matrix Audio. He was so impressed with the innovations in music streaming and the sound quality that he just had to bring them back to Moon Audio. It's my go-to, number one testing box due to the fact that it's incredibly balanced when it comes to A/B testing other products. From the multiple headphone jacks (both balanced and unbalanced), great selection of I/O in the rear, streaming compatibility, MA Remote functionality, clock, preamp, excellent ES9038PRO DAC, and more, it's a hard product to beat for the functionality and price point. The Element X did so many things right, it's challenging to think about what they could even improve on.
Once you have the audiophile-grade sound down, everything else should be easy, right? The hardest part of the equation in this hobby should be making sure that the product sounds good, then you can move on to worrying about making it look good too. Well, again, Matrix Audio already made a favorite in the industry with the original Element X, so coming out with a new and improved model should have some pretty big updates, right? Let's find out...