Musical Fidelity’s M6x Vinyl phono preamp now has a younger, larger and fully balanced sibling – the M8x Vinyl.
The new flagship of the M range “goes a step further in almost all aspects”, the manufacturer said.
How so?
MF concedes that while the M6x Vinyl “was already fully discrete”, it wasn’t fully balanced. That has changed.
“In the M8x Vinyl, each channel’s + and – signal get their own amplifier stage. This means there are more than twice as many discrete components that make up the phono stage and the PCB [Printed Circuit Board] is almost 3x the size as before.”
Musical Fidelity’s M8X Viny (white).
There are now three gain stages, which Musical Fidelity said means upsized gain with less noise and distortion.
The preamp is “designed in such a way to ensure you cannot overload the input stage or encounter any practical limitations in the output driving capacity” MF said. “Its purpose is singular, to be a conduit for music. It exists to faithfully convey the artist‘s intent, their emotions …”
Encased fully in aluminium, the new preamp has “new discrete input power filtering and DC blocking circuitry”. The power PCB is also 3x as big as the M6x, which means “clean power to the fully balanced phono stage”.
Under the hood: Musical Fidelity’s M8X Vinyl.
There is a dual split-passive EQ stage, two-step subsonic filter, and more inputs and load settings for “ultra-precise cartridge tuning”.
The EQ stage is completely passive and in two separate stages (split-passive), which MF said was “more costly to design and implement but ensures the most accurate representation of the ideal EQ curve”.
“Split passive equalisation allows for better impedance matching and lower deviation from the ideal EQ. In addition to the standard RIAA curve, we have implemented the two less common Decca and Columbia curves as well.”
Utilising three curves allows audiophiles to switch depending on the type of vinyl they are playing.
The new phono preamp is being sold for $7,200, about $3,000 more than the M6x.
