Musical Fidelity MX-DAC Review (Balanced DAC)

[restorer-john]

You do realise that the panther rank is subjective, don't you?

The 'subjective' Panther rank is rooted in objective observations and measurements, subjective opinions and comparisons. It comes after the measurements and, as such, take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Helicopter]

Wisconsin cheddar is good? Mmm, cheese.

I like it, but it is what my momma gave me growing up. It should not be expensive though. It is produced to a specific commodity standard so it can be priced on the Chicago exchange.

 

[KSTR]

Amir says the frequency used is 200Hz and his testing is consistent across all his DACs.

Whatever happened to the opposite- dithered tone, fade to noise test? Was it flawed in any way? And what about the staircase linearity test- LSB to 10 bits higher?

Yes, Amir's linearity measurements are consistent by now, after some issues in the early days.

The AP test is a dithered tone with stepped levels, and the "linearity" plot is obtained indirectly by post-processing (at least with System Two era units like mine). Various setup parameters can have a huge impact, as noted.

The mentioned precision test I did was a true staircase test (exiting "exact" bit levels), similar in design to this.

My main point was that whenever we see "strange" results normal engineering/scientific practice is to double-check if the results are stable and consistent when the experiment is repeated with some changes in the setup. At the moment we don't know...

 

[MediumRare]

You do realise that the panther rank is subjective, don't you? In an objective world you decide what you think about a device by reading the measurements. The panthers are @amirm's jolly subjective opinion; the human element. You are not expected to agree.

ASR has grown to be one of the largest influencers in the entire audio industry. @amirm can update us on his competitive traffic analysis. On that basis we have a responsibility to be fair and transparent. Most of the panthers are fun frivolity. The headless one and the stealing money ones are not. They are labels that shout "do not buy this!" In some countries legal action can result from unfair or malicious reviews, not the US. Nevertheless, the reliability of the reviews here depends on some clarity and consistency.

 

[MediumRare]

The dongle is 1% of the price.

What about D90SE? That is cheaper too.

So do you use that dongle on your main system?

 

[CedarX]

Headless panther? I think it deserves it… not because it is completely broken (it is not), but because of what the manufacturer claims—from their website: a “tremendous performer… on par with any other DAC at any price”. It is not! If they were claiming some euphonic-type characteristics, I’ll have zero problem with any of the measurements and price… even the typo’s could be considered as the written equivalent of an euphonic effect . BUT that’s not how they present this DAC and I would feel cheated as a customer. So headless panther it shall be.

 

[rdenney]

The V90 reviewed also here performs better by third the price... that may be an indicator that they don't care how their products really perform. Scam...

Or that once they consider it to be transparent, they don't chase specs beyond that, purple prose ad hype notwithstanding.

But it is indeed 10 dB worse than their budget model, which is just as old in the product line (maybe a bit older, actually). The more expensive model has many more connectivity features, however.

Edit: If we believe that blind testing cannot distinguish between 16/44 Redbook CD and 24/96, then once the DAC has 96 dB SINAD as this one does, it achieves everything we say we can hear. If we say the threshold of distortion hearing is more like 115 dB (which Amir maintains, given his particular training), then we have trouble defending the notion that 24/96 isn't an audible improvement over 16/44. As for me, I can't hear the difference.

Rick "agreeing that calling it broken is going too far" Denney

 

[Gorgonzola]

It need to be impressed on ASR readers, (once again), that many reviewers and many audiophile listeners LIKE 2nd and 3rd order distortion -- they like components like the Musical Fidelity not despite but because of their relatively high distortion.

Personally I am not such a listener, but -- I wonder -- whether the type as well as magnitude of distortions ought to be taken into account with deference to the above category of listeners?

My mind wanders back once in a while to Amir's review of the Audio Research D300 power amp which had quite high 2nd order, (especially), and 3rd order distortion yet relatively little higher order distortions. Does ARC know something we don't or won't acknowledge???

 

[xaviortom]

wow. I just bought this . Should have done a bit more research.

 

[restorer-john]

ASR has grown to be one of the largest influencers in the entire audio industry.

According to who? Influencers. Mmm. Let's define the whole "influencer" scene shall we? Who are they and how do they actually add value?

Sony wouldn't remotely give a chit.
Yamaha wouldn't care one iota. Tell me, what brand is bigger? Oh, Panasonic, and do they give a chit about this business?

And then we have the 'roll-ups' as I call them. The corporate umbrellas that have vacuumed-up previously iconic, loved, and respected brands. We can rattle them off but you get the picture.

ASR is wonderful, but without incontrovertible, extensive testing of gear, it will simply be another internet noise maker.

 

[KxDx]

I'd like to see this compared to the new DacMagic 200 which is half the price, but seems to offer a bit more:

Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M Digital to Analogue Converter and Headphone Amplifier

Dual ESS SABRE ES9028Q2M Reference DACs – one per channel, handles digital audio up-to 24-bit/768kHz or DSD512Digital Inputs: 2 pairs of optical & coaxial terminals, plus USB Audio – for audio sources incl. CD & Blu-ray players, laptops, games consoles etc.Analogue Outputs: ¼” headphone, XLR &...

www.cambridgeaudio.com

 

[SKBubba]

The Musical Fidelity DAC doesn't appear to have a blue MQA light. For $999 you should at least get a blue MQA light.

 

[xaviescacs]

Or that once they consider it to be transparent, they don't chase specs beyond that, purple prose ad hype notwithstanding.

But it is indeed 10 dB worse than their budget model, which is just as old in the product line (maybe a bit older, actually). I has many more connectivity features, however.

Rick "agreeing that calling it broken is going too far" Denney

But this DAC first converts PCM signals to DSD and then uses the dac chip only in DSD mode, at least that's what they advertise. And I wonder, all of this, for what?

 

[xaviescacs]

wow. I just bought this . Should have done a bit more research.

what a miss... I could have selled mine for half the price...

 

[Helicopter]

So do you use that dongle on your main system?

I use the following DACs:

Dac built into Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Schiit Modius
Schiit Modi 3
DAC built into Harman Kardon HK3770
DAC built into Samsung Galaxy S9
Nothing - one system only plays cassettes, 8-tracks, and radio
DAC in the BT of Bose QC35ii
Whatever is built into the Amazon smart speaker

I would get the Topping D90se if I thought it made sense to spend more money on something better measuring than Modius, but I don't think that. I would use an Apple dongle if I thought my phone wasn't cutting it, but I don't think that either.

 

[douce]

This could be a product of hifinews using lesser test equipment but I wonder if Amir's is a bad sample? could that be out of the realm of possibility?

Musical Fidelity MX-DAC USB DAC Lab Report

Lab Report It's not uncommon for brands to claim their products are compatible with ultra high-resolution LPCM and DSD streams when the internal DAC only operates to 96kHz or 192kHz. In practice this means that, for example, DXD or DSD256 inputs are accepted but subsequently downsampled... So...

www.hifinews.com

 

[sarumbear]

ASR has grown to be one of the largest influencers in the entire audio industry. @amirm can update us on his competitive traffic analysis. On that basis we have a responsibility to be fair and transparent. Most of the panthers are fun frivolity. The headless one and the stealing money ones are not. They are labels that shout "do not buy this!" In some countries legal action can result from unfair or malicious reviews, not the US. Nevertheless, the reliability of the reviews here depends on some clarity and consistency.

ASR's growth is for a reason. Everything measured is objective, and hence repeatable. Objectivity is what makes ASR different. If we are bothered with the subjective, fun elements we are doing a disservice to our forum. Our stance should be: read the measurements and you decide.

 

[sarumbear]

This could be a product of hifinews using lesser test equipment but I wonder if Amir's is a bad sample? could that be out of the realm of possibility?

Musical Fidelity MX-DAC USB DAC Lab Report

Lab Report It's not uncommon for brands to claim their products are compatible with ultra high-resolution LPCM and DSD streams when the internal DAC only operates to 96kHz or 192kHz. In practice this means that, for example, DXD or DSD256 inputs are accepted but subsequently downsampled... So...

www.hifinews.com

Here we go again. I was wondering how long it would take for the suggestion of the faulty unit excuse will surface.

 

[sarumbear]

But this DAC first converts PCM signals to DSD and then uses the dac chip only in DSD mode, at least that's what they advertise. And I wonder, all of this, for what?

Why would they then need a brick-wall filter at 20kHz?

 

[KeithPhantom]

This could be a product of hifinews using lesser test equipment but I wonder if Amir's is a bad sample? could that be out of the realm of possibility?

Musical Fidelity MX-DAC USB DAC Lab Report

Lab Report It's not uncommon for brands to claim their products are compatible with ultra high-resolution LPCM and DSD streams when the internal DAC only operates to 96kHz or 192kHz. In practice this means that, for example, DXD or DSD256 inputs are accepted but subsequently downsampled... So...

www.hifinews.com

I don't think so. I think this is an implementation issue. The chips themselves can do 106.02 dB SINAD. It isn't like this chip is even state-of-the-art. SNR is at around 123 dB. Not horrendous, but as previously said, this is an old product when measurements for this kind of equipment were not common.