Musical Fidelity

MX-DAC

£629 RRP

It's funny how fashions change in hi-fi, and DACs are a perfect example. In the late nineteen eighties, manufacturers began fitting digital outputs to their CD players. By the decade's end, there were countless 'digital-to-analogue convertors' on sale – Arcam's 1989-launched Delta Black Box 1 being a perfect example. This new breed went from being all the rage to an afterthought, and fifteen years later, very few such products were sold.

Then came the advent of computer audio circa 2008, and suddenly there was a strong demand for standalone DACs again, only this time with USB connectivity. The scene exploded again, and by 2015 you couldn't move for new products. The MX-DAC you see here is surely one of the first of these truly modern designs, with a variety of inputs and up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM decoding plus DSD up to double speed. It has been on sale for several years now and doesn't win the specs war anymore – but it still does everything that almost all of us need. In practice, the ultra-high sampling rates of some rivals are pie-in-the-sky – for now and many years to come.

How could anyone usefully improve on the MX-DAC, considering that so much of it was right the first time? The Burr-Brown PCM1795 Sigma-Delta design, made by Texas Instruments, isn't the flavour of the month anymore, but that means nothing – it was and is a fine-sounding slice of silicon, and so much of the overall sound is down to the proper implementation of the DAC chip and analogue output stage, anyway. It works in conjunction with a TI SRC439 sampling rate converter, and the circuitry has been fettled to get jitter down to the very low figure of 12pps, says the manufacturer - and all this comes in a small and elegant European-made package.

Musical Fidelity says its technical performance is on par with any digital converter at any price. I can't confirm that, but I've not seen any similarly priced products that are as nice to look at. Vital statistics are 220x53x215mm and 1.9kg, so its compactness makes it easy to place where other full-size DACs cannot go. The front panel sports tiny and slightly dim LEDs showing source, format and sampling frequency. Due to the MX-DAC's dinky dimensions, they're not particularly easy to read, but it's better than having no information at all, like some of its rivals. The input selector button is so small that it's fiddly to use, but that's less of a letdown than the lack of volume control – analogue or digital – so you can't run it straight into a power amplifier.

The connectivity is decent, considering its price. There are two coaxial digital ins (up to 24/192), twin TOSLINK optical ins (ditto), plus asynchronous USB (ditto). Single-ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs complete the picture, along with a DC power input. Build and finish really are excellent, and as good as you'll get from anything at or near the price. It's a fine visual match for the rest of Musical Fidelity's 'mini affordable high-end' separates range, of course. This includes the MX-VYNL phono stage, MX-HPA headphone amp and MX-Stream streamer. Look out for a review of the latter, soon…

THE LISTENING

This is a clean, open and musical-sounding performer with no obvious weaknesses for a product at or near its price – indeed, it's hard to beat. It combines transparency with an ever so slightly warm patina to the sound; this isn't a DAC that artificially 'colours' a recording, but nor does it strip the tonal richness out like some products I've heard over the years. In this respect, it – unsurprisingly – resembles Musical Fidelity's latest CD players.

Two filter profiles are offered, switchable on the front panel; they sound pretty similar, so it's really down to taste, your system and the type of music you're playing as to which is better. I was happy with either because the MX-DAC's amenable and good-natured character always shines through. Via a Cyrus CD Xt Signature transport, the MX-DAC did a great job of Marillion's Kayleigh – delivering a crisp, punchy and tightly syncopated sound that belied its modest price. The recorded acoustic was well proportioned, clearly delineated and bristling with information; textural detailing was good, too, with a real vibrancy to lead vocals. The keyboard work was a joy to hear, too – snappy and commanding, pushing along the song and padding out the spaces between the notes with backing fills.

Kayleigh is a good recording by classic rock standards, but The Crystal Ship by The Doors is not. Decent by the standards of the day, it can nevertheless sound brittle and brightly lit in the upper midband, spoiling an otherwise beautiful song. So it was a fine test of the MX-DAC's mettle, and one that the Musical Fidelity passed with flying colours. Instead, I found myself focusing on the atmospheric feel of the recording and Jim Morrisson's sumptuous, velvety vocals. This DAC hit the spot here and showed just how good it is with rhythms…

It has the ability to hide its relatively humble origins – in price terms – and whisk the listener away into the music. Roxy Music's More Than This, via the USB input from my Apple MacBook Pro, was a case in point. It's a magnificent song if heard on decent replay equipment, but it can sound bland through so-so stuff. Yet the MX-DAC got into the groove nicely and delivered snappy rhythms and good dynamics that really pushed the song along. The result was very musically enjoyable without being tonally forward or artificially brash. Svelte and sophisticated yet rhythmically deft and fleet of foot, it performed much better than it should, considering its price.

THE VERDICT

Musical Fidelity's MX-DAC works so well and looks so good for little money. If you're in the market for a cheap, entry-level DAC, I would save up a little extra cash and get this – because it's your ticket out of budget DACs, and into properly decent digital sound. In fact, you need to spend roughly twice its price to get appreciably better performance on the market right now – which is really saying something. In this brave new world of hi-res, USB-connected digital-to-analogue converters, products like this give the breed a good name.

For more information visit Musical Fidelity