MUSICAL FIDELITY M6X VINYL
Musical Fidelity’s new M6x Vinyl MM/MC phono stage is a gamechanger for many reasons. It’s one of the few phono stages to feature balanced inputs. It’s one of the few that offers multiple phono inputs — three to be precise. It’s one of the very few phono stages with multiple inputs that allows you to have different loadings for each of its three inputs. Finally, it’s one of the very, very few that applies those different loadings automatically whenever a particular input is selected.
DESIGN AND BUILD
The M6xVinyl is unusual for a phono stage because it does not use op-amps (operational amplifiers) in the signal path, but instead uses discrete components (individual resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc). This transition to using discrete components is rather the opposite of what’s happening in hi-fi components from most other manufacturers, who use integrated circuits and op-amps in their phono stages, so we asked Musical Fidelity the reason. The answer, according to Lichtenegger — “Countless hours of listening tests have shown us that even the very best opamps do not tend to be so neutral, natural, dynamic or vivid — all of which are characteristics of the Musical Fidelity sound.”
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 boutique high-end hi-fi manufacturer Burson Audio builds what it calls ‘Supreme Sound’ op-amp replacements that it sells to other manufacturers as well as to DIY upgraders.
The M6x Vinyl is also unusual because whereas most phono amplifiers offer only unbalanced inputs, the M6x Vinyl offers both balanced and unbalanced inputs. This review is not the place for a full explanation of the differences between unbalanced and balanced operation or the advantages and disadvantages of each mode, but in fact an explanation is unnecessary because the M6x Vinyl has both options available, so you can try both and use the one that works best in your system.
FEATURES AND FACILITIES
The front panel of the M6x Vinyl is
