The Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl MM/MC phono stage is a first for Musical Fidelity in more than one way. First, it’s the first phono stage in the company’s M3 Series, which Musical Fidelity promotes using the catch-phrase “Great-looking, superb-sounding hi-fi doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Our M3 range offers an elegance of design, quality of build and standard of finish you’d associate with products costing twice as much.”
The M3x Vinyl is also the first Musical Fidelity component to be built entirely in countries in the European Union. This is a significant switch that requires some explanation. When he started the company back in 1982, Anthony Michaelson built Musical Fidelity products exclusively in the United Kingdom. He later switched production of most of his products to Taiwan. However, in 2018 Michaelson sold Musical Fidelity to his good friend Heinz Lichtenegger, the owner of Pro-Ject, who with his wife Jozefína (who owns European Audio Team, also known as E.A.T.), have between them multiple high tech manufacturing facilities in the EU.
The M3x Vinyl is the first Musical Fidelity product to be built in one of these facilities. It remains to be seen whether Lichtenegger will start manufacturing other Musical Fidelity components in the EU.
The M3x Vinyl is also almost the first phono stage Musical Fidelity has manufactured that does not use op-amps (operational amplifiers), instead using discrete components (separate resistors, capacitors, transistors and so on in the place of opamps. This is rather the opposite of what’s happening in other hi-fi components, so we asked Musical Fidelity the reason. The answer, according to the company? “Countless hours of listening tests have shown us that even the very best op-amps do not tend to be so neutral, natural, dynamic or vivid — all of which are characteristics of the Musical Fidelity sound. For that reason, we’re rediscovering our passion for traditional, discrete designs.”
Musical Fidelity is not the first company to eliminate op-amps from its circuits. Marantz famously uses op-amp replacements it calls HDAMs and here in Australia, local high-end manufacturer Burson Audio builds what it calls ‘Supreme Sound’ op-amp replacements that it sells to other manufacturers as well as to DIY upgraders. Burson Audio’s Supreme Sound ‘op-amps’ are comprised entirely of discrete devices. Each one is about 40
