Musical Fidelity MX-DAC Review (Balanced DAC)

[617]

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???

The distortion products of this DAC are not audible. The most prominent harmonic is the third, and it is at -100db.

Imagine someone speaking to you from 1 meter away. Now imagine they walk away from you so that they are around 60 miles away. Can you hear them speaking? That's how quiet -100db is.

The great deception of DAC manufacturers is that due to some mystical expertise, their dacs are somehow better than other dacs. ASR has done an admirable job dispelling this mysticism. The great deception of the ASR dac reviews is that the difference between the DACs is actually audible. You will notice that almost none of the DAC reviews on this website have listening impressions, unlike tests for amplifiers, headphones and speakers.

 

[pma]

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.

You (and many others) do not know what you speak about. Distortion profile of this DAC with H3 about -100dBr and >H5 below -120dBr is inaudible under any circumstances. This SINAD cult spread into layman audience is incredible.

 

[Gorgonzola]

The distortion products of this DAC are not audible. The most prominent harmonic is the third, and it is at -100db.

Imagine someone speaking to you from 1 meter away. Now imagine they walk away from you so that they are around 60 miles away. Can you hear them speaking? That's how quiet -100db is.

The great deception of DAC manufacturers is that due to some mystical expertise, their dacs are somehow better than other dacs. ASR has done an admirable job dispelling this mysticism. The great deception of the ASR dac reviews is that the difference between the DACs is actually audible. You will notice that almost none of the DAC reviews on this website have listening impressions, unlike tests for amplifiers, headphones and speakers.

This does raise a couple of points for me.

First, I'm not so sure science as definitively proven at what level distortion affects the listening experience. As I understand, some experiments have demonstrated that, say, 2nd order HD is "inaudible" at -100 dB or even much higher. I'm not exactly questioning this, but I am convinced that listeners don't experience moderate levels of 2nd and/or 3rd order as distortion per se, but what to many of them is an agreeable quality of the music.

Secondly, I do agree that difference between moderate performing DACs are generally inaudible. What this does is made ASR's obsession with perfect measurements ironic and contradictory.

 

[tanglewire]

It makes me wonder: These professional "subjective" reviewers, influencers or whatever they call themself, make actual money out of these poetry. What a world we are living..ignorance is bliss!!

 

[sarumbear]

Secondly, I do agree that difference between moderate performing DACs are generally inaudible. What this does is made ASR's obsession with perfect measurements ironic and contradictory.

Do you understand the term 'State of the Art' (SOTA)? ASR is about finding that.

 

[nagster]

Musical Fidelity | MX-DAC DAC

MX-DAC | DAC The MX-DAC is a DAC out audiophile performance but in easily accommodated size. Find a...

www.musicalfidelity.com

---
offers truly outstanding value for money.
These technical figures are state-of-the-art and show that our implementation is almost perfect, to ensure completely neutral and accurate digital-to-analogue conversion of any digital input.
・Very low noise
・Extremely low distortion
・Outstanding linearity
---

If amirm's measurements are true, then the ad is a scam.

 

[tanglewire]

I don't thins ASR persue SOTA, eventhough amir finds one of those products once in a while. Amir's own words is just open the hood and see what is really inside and if it is in coincidence with marketing promise of the manufacturer. This is beyond if you still want/like the product or not

 

[respice finem]

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...

Sometimes I think in similar cases, the able people have left, but a new product had to be issued... and money made...

 

[respice finem]

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

Good one

 

[Lupin]

For $1000USD it is, absolutely. Cost of the product is taken into account in these reviews.

If that is the case the Tambaqui is broken as broken can be.
Yet it is not stated as broken in the review, it is even recommended.

So where is the consistency in the reviews if cost is taken into account..

 

[Sheriff1972]

@amirm I think you should at least start your review with the year in which the product was first available - in this case 2015..... Its like reviewing an old CRT up against an OLED screen..... (well maybe not that extreme, but the advances in conversion technology have come a long way in six years...)

 

[AudioSceptic]

View attachment 155109

CONgnac? Those guys also distort the text of a review.

I was curious about the misspelling of "cognac" so I checked the HFN original <https://www.hifinews.com/content/musical-fidelity-mx-dac-usb-dac-page-2> (Nov 2020). It says

The Very Thought Of You' is one of my all-time references, thanks to moody saxes, tinkly piano stage right, late-night drumming and King in full-on crooner mode. It's mellow, seductive and soothing – cognac for the ears. The MX-DAC did not disturb that mood.

So, it is spelled correctly, and the sentence refers more to the music that the DAC. The UK price is given as £499, which doesn't seem as bad as $999.

That's the end of the good news, however. We have the typical nonsense spewed out by subjective reviewers. I'll start with

...as well as pocket-money USB DACs such as AudioQuest's DragonFly Cobalt [HFN Oct '19], which exceed any expectations relative to their price brackets. What the MX-DAC offers the music lover with a limited budget is a full complement of inputs, sufficient features, luxurious styling and feel... but above all, genuinely astonishing sound.

The Cobalt is not pocket money; it is overpriced and it is junk; and how can the MX-DAC be "astonishing" with subpar performance?
Next, how about this

Using the Blu-ray audio disc from the anniversary box set of The Band's eponymous second album [Capitol 00602577842832], selecting the stereo 96kHz/24-bit PCM version, I was hit with one of those instant audio epiphanies. So natural, so ripe was the sound of the bass, so satin-y the upper frequencies, and so warm were the vocals that I knew I had hit on a track which could sell the MX-DAC even to the most inveterate of hi-fi snobs.

How on earth do we get hi-res from a recording released in 1969, and how can a device which barely makes the CD standard play it properly anyway?

I'll stop now, or I'll be quoting the rest of that c**p!

I feel ashamed that I used to think HFN was trustworthy!

 

[sarumbear]

I don't thins ASR persue SOTA, eventhough amir finds one of those products once in a while. Amir's own words is just open the hood and see what is really inside and if it is in coincidence with marketing promise of the manufacturer. This is beyond if you still want/like the product or not

I disagree and you are wrong on what @amirm does. Almost always he doesn't "open the hood"?

 

[Billy Budapest]

I seem to remember the old MuFi X-DACv3 possessing SOTA measurements for the time. I wonder what has happened to MuFi’s engineering chops since?

 

[Victor BR]

Thanks Amir for a great work revealing these marketing false info. Really eye opening scientific analysis!
This so called High End is full of BS based only on pretending audio specialists with no other background than audiophile ears.
It is not a matter of specifications war but a good audio and video product is based on confirmed good measured specs.
It`s very sad to see so much garbage disguised audio and video products on the market branded as HIGH END.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

 

[AudioSceptic]

UK price is £549 and to be honest, I'm stunned it's still available after SIX YEARS in a fast moving market.

I'd still say it's transparent enough sonically, but the price isn't good. Haven't they changed hands during this product's life?

One final thing as regards price I think you've all missed. It's sold via retailers!!! All 'our' favourites here come direct I think, so the thick end of the selling price of this unit would go to he dealer and US distributor. Sold direct from the factory or a high sales volume supplier as per Topping or Schiit for instance, it'd be a quarter to a third of the retail price and that would make it fair value for a 2014 design I reckon.

Yes, they are now part of the Pro-Ject empire.

 

[sonci99]

Musical Fidelity has still a good resale value. I also think the headless panther is out of place..

 

[rdenney]

I bought a MuFi V90 a couple of years ago, because it was well-reviewed and because it had reasonable measurements shown here. Most importantly, it had the connections I wanted, including a (rare) physical input switch. I am happy that it does NOT have a screen or a bunch of LEDs all over it.

I don't follow expensive DACs, but I wonder what DACs out there provide the same features Amir commented on (physical switches, abundance of connections, conservative styling, balanced inputs, etc.) for less money than this one under test. I'm sure there are many, but I don't know. Sure, it's more expensive than a dongle but it fulfills lots of requirements a dongle does not.

By the way, I also own a Topping E30, a HiDisz S8, and a few more DACs besides those. I tend to buy them wherever I need them so that I don't have to do a lot of switching of my old-school components. The MuFi was the first in my main system, and had to fulfill a specific set of requirements. The E30 is great but it doesn't have all the same physical features.

Rick "requirements-driven" Denney

 

[DSJR]

Their little small box dacs and phono stages were well liked universally I seem to remember and I was very fond of some of the old cylindrical and wider rounded-edge X series products, designed by Tim de Paravicini I think. Ken Kessler waxed lyrical about the Nu-Vista preamp in this form and some months later, an identically 'sounding' and far simpler internally I think solid state version appeared at half the price...

 

[respice finem]

Their little small box dacs and phono stages were well liked universally I seem to remember and I was very fond of some of the old cylindrical and wider rounded-edge X series products, designed by Tim de Paravicini I think. Ken Kessler waxed lyrical about the Nu-Vista preamp in this form and some months later, an identically 'sounding' and far simpler internally I think solid state version appeared at half the price...

The "piglet" series was a design extravagance, maybe an attempt to attract buyers by different design (a piglet farm instead of a row of boxes)

musical fidelity x-series - Google Search