A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[Confused]

I was afraid you were going to report positive experience with Habst :-)
Hypothetically, if AIR is 80, Mutec with Pasternack is 85-87, where would you place Mutec with Habst?

Aha!  The dreaded out of 100 scale!  Always tricky when you think you have found perfection, get near to 100, and then find a big improvement.

That said, I have actually been wondering myself where the Habst puts things versus AIR.  Last weekend I did not do a direct A/B switch comparison with AIR, it was a simple case of install the Habst and have a listen.  It was a good listen though, the big thing was bass power and overall dynamics, a genuine step up.  Also, I think with the SOtM kit out of the way and the mR in play, a comparison to AIR becomes easier, because AIR and the mR sound tonally similar, whereas the SOtM kit irritated me in some areas, perhaps masking it's capabilities elsewhere.

So to answer your question as best I can, I think I will do another AIR versus Mutec MC3+USB/REF10 comparison.  With such a comparison you can actually play two zones in Roon and directly switch from one to the other via iPad, sat in the listening position, which makes for a good test.  It would be very interesting to repeat this test with the Habst in place.  Last time I tried this the SOtM / Mutec kit was best, but not by much.  Will the difference with the Habst in place be easier to discern?  I will give this a try at the weekend and report back, I am interested myself how this one might turn out!