Boxing Clever - Musical Fidelity's Compact MX DAC & MX Stream DAC/streamer Combination

This episode sees Mike and David being more than a little impressed by Musical Fidelity's latest affordable, half-width DAC and streamer combo...
It was tough for Chord-loving Mike to admit, but the MX DAC is a seriously strong budget digital converter - while the no-frills MX Stream reminds David of the dCS Network Bridge.
High praise indeed, then! Overall, the guys really rate this diminutive duo - and reckon the Musical Fidelity product range is as strong as ever.
Each episode of Hi-Fi Riff features Mike and David's unedited, unexpurgated views about all manner of weird and wonderful hi-fi designs.
Business executive Mike has a wealth of knowledge from previous hi-fi retail experience, and David has written about hi-fi for thirty years. Now Editor-in-Chief of StereoNET, he's picked up a few things along the way.
So relax and enjoy some one-take hi-fi riffing - and please leave your comments below. And don’t forget to hit the Subscribe button, this one goes up to eleven!
The eighties-tastic title tune is called ‘UFO/Mike’s Jumper’, and used with the express permission of our old pal and rights holder Simon Lythe.
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Watch the Musical Fidelity A1 waffle maker video here • Musical Fidelity A1 Cl...

[@alanjacobs9216]

I can affirm the quality of the MX-DAC as I have one in my system. It even upgrades the sound from my M3scd player. It has detail in spades but never sounds harsh or - forgive me - digital. In the same series, the MX-VYNL is a stunning phono amp. All these MX boxes are minimalist. They don't have screens, remotes or fancy lights. Build quality is solid and they just deliver a great musical experience. (SBooster power supplies make them sing even more beautifully!) All I need now is the MX-Stream and that is on my shopping list for this year. Thanks for the reassurance, guys.

[@roryyoung6192]

Love this Riff. i've been a massive MF fan for years and I never understand why they get such a hard time in the press. I always find them excellent value for money and cracking sounding.

[@titntin5178]

Thanks guys. I've very much into Musical Fidelity and spent many years with several MF components, so this is a nice view of components I might choose. Whilst Im happy with my auralic g1, Id like to hear this set up too! Always enjoy your chats! Have a great week guys..

[@shaunprice3219]

Been offered MX dac brand new from dealership £479 so snapped their hands off.

[@elkartian]

Im still happy with my Musical Fidelity Digilog

[@riggysretro9485]

Many thanks as always for the review. I have the m-scalar chord dave combo and currently with bluesound node with lps. Was thinking of a auralic aries g1 streamer (2nd hand), but this could be an option. How do you think it compares?

[@razisn]

Of course the streamer will work with Mojo and Mojo2, since those have a usb input on top of the mentioned coaxial and optical.

[@mikeyevs]

Yes, of course, I completely forgot about that. You would need a straightforward usb to usb micro lead and it should connect seamlessly. I have returned the mx stream now so can't try it out... sorry, my bad. Mike

[@razisn]

@@mikeyevs The Mojo2 also has usb-c input

[@LeoRousseau]

Smash that like button folks! 👊

[@MrVinylista]

Cheque's in the post!

[@nickevans3190]

Love your review lads just noticed dave's mic was lower than dave's and slightly out of focus at 3mins

[@GerardoLopez-ki4cu]

Can the MX Steamer be directly connected to the USB B on the back of the Musical Fidelity M5si integrated amp or do you need a DAC too?

[@MrJonnyboy43]

Hi - where can I find the Cambridge audio mxn10 review ? I was thinking of pairing one with a chord 2qute dac. Would you say the Cambridge as a transport only would compete with the MF streamer ? Thanks in advance

[@mikeyevs]

Sorry, we ran before we walked. The Cambridge review is recorded but not released yet (we recorded it just prior to the mf riff, but thought we would get the mf out there first). IMHO, the mf stream is excellent and much better than the Cambridge internal streamer, but it's more than twice the price as the Cambridge has a dac too. The problem is that you would be spending cash on owning two dacs, one of which you won't use which doesn't quite seem to be quite right. Double check the connection options from the mf to the chord before pulling the trigger though 👍 Mike

[@lxduc]

Exposure has a DAC Board for the 3510 that connected to the MX Streamer should make a cracking sound...

[@adrianmorris3772]

Any comments on the audiolab m dac plus.? Best regards.🤗😺

[@MrVinylista]

When I reviewed it, I think for HFC a few years back, I found it to be very good for the money, but not the stellar value of the original M DAC (which was a fair bit cheaper, too). Very much Audiolab house sound - think 8200CD minus the disc transport. So a wide soundstage, solid bottom end but a slightly thinner tonality and less rhythmic sound compared to a Chord Qutest, which admittedly has gone up in price of late. Personally I'd save up for the extra.

[@christopherfox735]

How did the MX Dac fare with DSD?

[@nickevans3190]

Chord would say that wouldn't they? I've got the old Naim DAC unfortunately long discontinued 😢 I added their XPS (DR) PSU and it made a noticeable difference and it wasn't a ohhh that's abit better and yes the XPS was actually more expensive than the DAC but well well worth it but as dave say the off board psu has to be high quality and I bet a high quality psu would make a worth while improvement to the sound quality of a Chord dac maybe something you could do for a future riff

[@razisn]

Any particular reason you have tagged your latest Falcon speaker video as made for kids resulting in comments being disabled?

[@MrVinylista]

A mistake. First time for everything! 🙂 Now sorted.

[@dean6816]

Wiim mini into my Rega DAC R 🤔Do I need an upgrade?

[@razisn]

Not on the streamer side imo

[@dean6816]

@@razisn Cheers👍 I know my Rega Dac R is getting on a bit, but the Wiim mini is only a £99 device and does not output coax or have an Ethernet connection?? What DAC would you recommend sub £900 ??

[@razisn]

@@dean6816 A Chi-fi DAC if you don't mind it being Chi-fi. Something from SMSL or Topping. Having said that I own a Chord Mojo2 as my second dac and I would highly recommend it if you don't mind its queer user interface, portable looks and no remote control. It gives my 2000 pound Musical Fidelity dac a run for its money sound wise and offers additional functionality like dsp implemented tone controls. With regards to the streamer, look there's not much that they need to do so as long as their usb interface is electrically half decent a 100 quid streamer should sound the same as a 5K one, regardless what the reviewers and salesmen want you to believe.

[@dean6816]

@@razisn Cheers for the advice, will definitely be making a purchase soon.

[@kjbunnyboiler]

Who designed the dac for M/F?

[@razisn]

Old Pro-Ject OEM, from before Pro-Ject's owner bought MF.

[@klaushollinetz7494]

Internally it looks very much like the Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra, designed by John Westlake - just with better power input filtering.

[@razisn]

Indeed it is as you suggested. I wonder if the improved power filtering is worth the price difference from that already pretty expensive, for what it does, streamer.

[@klaushollinetz7494]

@@razisn It is based on the same industry Raspberry Pi CM3. The power input filter looks like a plain double mains power filter, and I also doubt that it will have that much of an impact on the 5V supply. My stream box s2 ultra is smaller than the MF one, and uses 18V DC, for which I use a dedicated linear diy power supply.

[@razisn]

@@klaushollinetz7494 it is the same design, designed and manufactured by the same people. Pro-Ject was the first customer of that Pi/Volumio OED endeavour and MF belongs to the same holding company.

[@razisn]

@@klaushollinetz7494 MX-Stream uses 18V DC too, not 5V.

[@klaushollinetz7494]

@@razisn Yes, you are right. So the main difference to the stream box s2 ultra is the ps input filter. Not too much, I guess.

[@menfallinloveandwomenmakeplans]

I am not techy and so I need you to be patient. I have a DAC so it makes sense to buy this MF streamer as it is streamer only. Currently my laptop is my streamer. If I buy this MF streamer I still need to connect it to my laptop? So what have I gained buying the MF streamer? Possible slight improvement in sound quality?

[@MrVinylista]

This is a standalone streamer that doesn't need a computer to work, just its control app plus a broadband Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. It connects directly to a DAC via USB A. It should sound noticeably better than your existing set-up, not least because computers are highly electrically noisy environments with massive amounts of Radio Frequency Interference buzzing around - and the MX Stream is designed to minimise this.

[@razisn]

Not everybody is using Roon, so one would expect when you chaps talk about a streamer, you would mention the software it uses. For your audience sake, this streamer uses the Volumio software and apps. In my view, its price compared to something like the Bluesound Node (which also incudes a dac btw) is ridiculous. I would compare its price to something like the functionally equivalent Wii products but that would make it sound like Heinz is robbing us. There is so much a pretty case should worth to buyers. I don't question the quality of the components and John Westlake's design but for Pete's sake 850 quid for a Volumio streamer box? PS. I forgot to add that this is just a slightly improved internally version of the Pro-Ject S2 Ultra streamer with a prettier case. Also, I might be deaf but I have repeatedly failed to discern a difference in audio quality of such streamers when connected to the same good quality dac. Unless something is really broken, like the streamer being extremely noisy electrically like a generic PC would, I really doubt Michael on this but, as I said, I might be stone deaf..

[@MrVinylista]

Some good points, thanks. The MX Stream has top notch DNA and is very nicely built and finished - and matches hand in glove with the MX DAC, visually. Our review was as a one-make pair, which is strong at the price taken together - not least because the MX DAC is so good for the money; that was our main takeaway from our time with this combo. The MX DAC isn't as good as the Chord Qutest but way less expensive and still very enjoyable. Also, it's better than the only slightly cheaper CA DACMagic 200, to my ears at least. And it's made in Europe not China, which is important to some. So you pays your money and takes your choice!

[@razisn]

@@MrVinylista Sorry, but it seems to me you have your dacs and your streamers confused in the above reply. My point was about the Streamer. I comment on the dac in another comment. Do not get me wrong I am a long time MF fan, most of my current system is MF (including M6xDAC, M8sPRE, M6sPRX and M3sCD) but I have to tell things as I see them. Neither of the two devices reviewed are worth their asking price, in my view, each for different reasons (the streamer is well designed but too expensive for what it is and the dac is outdated, reportedly with very mediocre measurements for 2023 and totally uncompetitive both technically and price wise compared to excellent modern designs coming from the Far East but also from the West).

[@MrVinylista]

@@razisn No, I wasn't confused - but was saying we were reviewing the two and assessing its value for money as a combination - and while the MX Stream is maybe a tad on the steep side, the MX DAC is a tad on the cheap side for how it sounds, at least in my opinion. So taken together, this pair is decent value. Interesting system by the way. Loved the M3sCD when I reviewed it in a HFC group test a few years back!

[@razisn]

@@MrVinylista My system, which also includes Bluesound Node streamer, ProAc D2R speakers, REL T9/i subs and various head-fi including the Mojo2, sounds good to my ears and price wise is at the limits of what I can afford lol. 'The MX Stream isn't as good as the Chord Qutest' IS confusing things.. Regardless, I will go further and say the MX-DAC is much worse, on all accounts, than the Mojo2.. I own the Mojo2 and have compared it directly to the MX (I did not bother with the Stream since I'm fine with my Node). The Mojo2 is as good in terms of sound quality as my 2K pounds M6xDAC btw, at least to my ears and in my system. Believe me, you don't want me to put current ChiFi dacs into the equation. In any case marketing a dac designed in the early 2010s and asking 650 quid (admittedly down from 800 or so which they were asking when it was introduced) is inexcusable in my book. They just have stock of it and they won't replace it until they get rid of it is my explanation. If they sold it for 300 it would still be technically uncompetitive (just look at the ASR measurements) but it would go down better just because of the chassis and the brand.

[@MrVinylista]

@@razisn Ah, sorry, my bad - that's me typing too fast! I meant "the MX DAC isn't as good as the Chord Qutest", obviously. My wider point was that taken as a pair, the MFs are decent value - not least because the MX DAC is good for the money. The Mojo2 isn't a direct competitor, as it's a portable. Also, I think its analogue output stage is less good than the MX DAC, certainly through my system. It sounds more anaemic in the bass. This isn't the case with the Qutest or the Hugo 2. By the way, it would be impossible to make anything with the MX DAC's build quality and finish, for £300 in Europe. Nor is 'ChiFi' a direct comparison - where is the UK dealer support for these, and would they be serviceable in a few years time for the average buyer? Answer, not really.

[@amazinganimallearningandfu3842]

boxing clever - yuk, how many times have hi-fi magazines used this dreadful cliche phrase!! However, love the channel fellas.

[@Hi-FiRiff]

We're consummate professionals when it comes to the Hi-Fi Cliche. Years of practice! Mike

[@MODAC]

Does David suffer from dry mouth or dehydration? Very often either sipping from a mug or guzzling from a bottle. Please stop David.

[@MrVinylista]

I had a serious, near-fatal car crash last year and have been on painkillers ever since, and these tend to dry my mouth out. That's also why I can be seen holding my neck at times, as I get very uncomfortable sitting down for any length of time. Sorry if this annoys you.

[@JordanPhegley]

"Please stop David" If it bothers you, the elegantly simple thing would be to not watch. Rude as hell, man. What gives you the right to tell a grown man what to do.

[@MODAC]

@@JordanPhegley ummm…it’s the internet.