Musical Fidelity M8x Vinyl phono stage
The M8x Vinyl is the new flagship phono preamplifier in the acclaimed Musical Fidelity M-range. Compared to its smaller brother, the M6x Vinyl, the M8 goes a step further in almost all aspects.
Fully balanced & fully discrete: The M6x
Vinyl was already fully discrete, but not fully balanced. 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 is almost 3x the size as before!
Improved gain stage design: the gain stage now consists of 3 stages, which are able to provide more gain than before and operate at lower noise and distortion. More gain options: 40, 43, 46, 60, 63, 69dB
New discrete input power filtering and DC blocking circuitry: Like the phono stage, also the power PCB is now 3x as big. It provides clean power to the fully balanced phono stage that is now twice as demanding.
The Super Silent Power Transformer is now encapsulated to further protect the very sensitive phono stage from external electro-magnetical radiation.
Decca and Columbia in addition to the standard RIAA EQ
Dual split-passive EQ stage
Two-step subsonic filter
More inputs and more load settings for ultra-precise cartridge tuning.
With beautifully designed and executed massive full-aluminium casework, the M8x Vinyl has the iconic M8 heroic build quality. Using the same size potentiometers, it achieves an esthetically mighty look, and is a perfect match to the acclaimed M8 amplifier series.
In Musical Fidelity tradition, it’s designed in such a way to ensure you cannot overload the input stage or encounter any practical limitations in the output driving capacity. Its purpose is singular, to be a conduit for music. It exists to faithfully convey the artist‘s intent, their emotions, the passion directly to your ears and heart.
Compared to its M6 counterpart, the M8x Vinyl now features fully balanced audio circuitry on the inside. This means there are twice as many discrete components on the inside, as each channel’s + and – signals get their own phono stage consisting of three gain stages powered by fully Class A discrete transistor circuitry.
The EQ stage doesn’t cut any corners either. Completely passive and in two separate stages (split-passive) – this is more costly to design and implement but ensures the most
accurate representation of the ideal EQ curve. Split passive equalization 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 Colombia curves as well. The clean PCB layout and purpose driven design guarantee lowest possible noise and distortion with low output impedance.
RCA and XLR outputs both have their own individual stages allowing you to use them simultaneously.
The M8x Vinyl (£3,599.00 UK, €3,999.00 EUR, $7,200 AUD SRP).