Musical Fidelity MX DAC User Manual

REVIEWS

MUSICAL FIDELITY MXDAC
DIGITALTOANALOGUE CONVERTER £700

DIGITALTOANALOGUE CONVERTER £700

MUSICAL FIDELITY MXDAC

REVIEWS

DAC to
the future

David Price thinks Musical Fidelity’s new
reasonably priced MX-DAC will convert
many digiphiles to the brand

t’s funny how history
repeats itself. Just 15 years
ago, the world was getting

I

and Super Audio Compact Disc. These
two hi-res formats had been a long
time coming; nearly two decades, but
it felt longer. Suddenly, we had the
promise of digital music in far better
quality than CD.

The hi- world was rightly excited,

but sadly this didn’t translate to the
music buying public. Audio fans
might have got hot under the collar,
but music fans didn’t, and by 2007
DVD-A and SACD were nearly history.

Not so. Suddenly they have come
back – in spirit if not in body. Like a
kind of digital poltergeist, the soul of

excited about DVD-Audio

the beast has returned without a
physical form! The audio world is
going crazy for hi-res PCM (DVD-A’s
coding system), and latterly Direct
Stream Digital (ditto, for SACD).
Indeed, it’s available on Musical
Fidelity’s new MX-DAC with support
for ultra hi-res 32-bit/384kHz digital
PCM and DSD – it plays ‘double DSD’,
offering even better sound than
SACD ever did. In both cases this is
impressive stuff; the only downside
being that there is currently very little
material commercially available
in these formats. Still, it has real
appeal because it’s effectively more
futureproof than many of its rivals.

The manufacturer says this new

DAC’s technical performance is on

DE TAIL S

PRODUCT

Musical Fidelity
MXDAC

ORIGIN

EU

TYPE

32-bit/192kHz PCM

& DSD-capable DAC

WEIGHT

1.9kg

DIMENSIONS

(WxHxD)
220 x 53 x 215mm

FEATURES

l

2x coaxial; 2x
optical; 1x USB
digital inputs

l

RCA phono,
balanced XLR
audio outputs

l

2-position digital
ilter setting

DISTRIBUTOR

Musical Fidelity Ltd

TELEPHONE

0208 9002866

WEBSITE

musicalidelity.com

a par with any digital converter at any
price – an impressive claim. The

converter chip tted is the latest

Burr-Brown PCM1795 32-bit/192kHz
multi-bit Sigma-Delta design, made
by Texas Instruments. It works in
conjunction with a TI SRC439
sampling rate converter, and Musical
Fidelity claims the MX-DAC has a very

low jitter gure of just 12pps.

Considering its price, the casework
is a thing of beauty. Built in the
‘European Union’ (not Taiwan, as
is usual for this company), it was
designed in Britain and looks mighty
handsome. The front panel sports
LEDs showing source selected, format
and sampling frequency. It annoys me
that many DAC manufacturers seem
unable to have such comprehensive
displays, basically preferring that you
trust to luck and listen in ignorance
of what resolution your computer is

outputting. Two lter proles are

offered, switchable on the front
panel; they sound similar and it’s
really down to taste – and your
system – as to which is better.

Round the back the MX-DAC
sports two coaxial digital ins (up
to 24/192), twin Toslink optical
ins (ditto), plus asynchronous USB
(ditto) and DSD 64 and DSD 128.
Everything is processed in the DSD
domain, says the manufacturer.

Single-ended RCA and balanced
XLR outputs complete the picture,

along with a DC power input. Juice
comes from a small 5V, 2A ‘wall wart’
supply, suggesting that there’s room
for an upgraded power supply at
some future date? It’s easy enough to
set up; as ever Windows users need to
install the supplied USB Class 2 driver
while Mac owners don’t.

Sound quality

Despite having whiz-bang DSD
capability, most people will still spend
most of their time listening to this
new DAC at 16/44 CD resolution;
almost all music on sale comes in this
package and any type of hi-res is still
rare, let alone DSD. So I kick off with
an old favourite, The Style Council’s

CONNECTIONS

1

2

4

The LEDs
highlight the
format and
sampling
frequency of
what you play

3

Headstart For Happiness on CD – an
early eighties recording playing out
from a Cyrus CD Xt Signature (HFC

386) transport. The MX-DAC sounds
super clean and clear, with little sense

of its own personality. At rst, when

not properly warmed through, the
soundstage is a tad two-dimensional
but it soon widens and deepens, and
the music takes on a vibrant and
enjoyable feel. The song breezes
along, this DAC throwing oodles
of detail out at me, without ever
sounding too technical or analytical.
Indeed, it’s a lot more lively than
most at the price. By comparison the
acclaimed Audiolab M-DAC (HFC

368) I have to hand sounds a little
coarser, with a less sweet tonality but
a fraction more detail.

Moving to the lush strains of Isaac
Hayes’ Cafe Regios, and the Musical
Fidelity captures its warm and silky
feel effortlessly. It’s always a great test
to see how well a DAC signposts the
difference between recordings, and
this proves something of an open
window. It’s pleasingly delicate too,
with a genuine deftness of touch; it
doesn’t smash out the low-level detail
in a way that some digital converters
do, apparently trying to impress.
Instead, the unit serves up a wide and
spacious recorded acoustic, one that
hangs back admirably far. Within this,
instruments are tightly located, but
not suffocated. The piano sparkles
nicely, the electric guitar sounds
realistic and the backing strings soar.
I enjoy the beautifully resolved hi-hat
sound, and the maracas come over
believably. It’s a lovely few minutes
that shows how good music can be
from humble CD. Moving to a sterner
test of this product’s mettle, I hook
up the USB input and play REM’s
Texarkana. This 24/192 PCM

recording (which rst appeared on

DVD-Audio) can sound a little murky
if played on mediocre equipment, but
opens up with a decent DAC. The

Balanced XLR

1

outputs

Unbalanced

2

RCA outputs

Coaxial and optical

3

digital inputs

Asynchronous

4

USBB input

MX-DAC duly proves its ability, letting
me follow every strand of the
recording separately, yet strings
everything together very convincingly
too. It’s quite breathtaking just how
much detail this modestly priced DAC
is throwing out, and so smoothly too.

I begin to run the gamut of my

hi-res music collection, with a wide

range of les in WAV, FLAC and DSD

format. The MX-DAC continues to
show a sizeable advance on its
already redoubtable 16-bit abilities.

Piano sparkles,
electric guitars
sound realistic and
backing strings soar

Wings’ Band On The Run is delivered
in wonderfully sharp focus, showing
excellent image placement left to
right and front to back. DSD is a treat
too; Miles Davis’ So What from Kind
Of Blue is breathtaking in its space
and power, while Alex de Grassi’s The
Water Garden amazes with its vast
soundstage and superlative
instrumental timbre. In absolute
terms, it doesn’t quite match the
grace, space and pace of some of the
better, more expensive DACs, but it
does unexpectedly well all the same.

Conclusion

This new Musical Fidelity MX-DAC is
an excellent performer with useful
functionality, and it serves this up in
a compact but classy package that’s
affordable for many budget-conscious
audio fans. Its lively, musical and
glass-clear sound has great appeal
and only starts to fade when
compared with the top DACs at twice
the price. Whether you’re interested
in the brave new world of digital
audio, or just want to breathe new life
into a budget CD spinner, this DAC is
worth every penny

OUR VERDICT

SOUND QUALITY

VALUE FOR MONEY

BUILD QUA LITY

FE ATURE S

OVERALL

l

LIKE: Excellent build;
ultra-clear sound;
lexibility

DISLIKE: Nothing at
the price

WE SAY: Neat,
compact design and
high-quality sound
from an affordable DAC

REPRINTED FROM REPRINTED FROMwww.hiichoice.co.ukwww.hiichoice.co.uk