[davidcotton]

Has anyone tried that x-10d thing from Musical Fidelity?? I wasn't going to bother with it but after having to take my hp amp back to the shop (boo) I noticed one of them sitting there reduced from over £100 to £80.00

So being a naturally curious Hifi person (oh god why me??!

)
I am now considering buying or at least getting it on audition to see what the difference is with it.

As I understand it you choose where to put it and it introduces a tube like sound (probably not unlike the x-cans v2 come to think of it!) so for example you could to choose to put it directly in the path between the cd player and amp :- so it would look like cd x-10d - amp.

Or you could hook it up to the tape out and switch it in when required!

If anyone on here (jude, perhaps we all know what HE's like with tweaks!) has any experience please let us know!

Many thanks

 

[Braver]

it introduces a tube-like sound? so you could, say, make an OBH11 sound like a tube amp? does it use tubes then or something?

I'm a little confused here

 

[Hamsta]

Hi David

Firstly, for Braver, the X-10D is a "tube CD output buffer". Pure class-A valve design. The theory is that it sends a more stable signal to your amplifier, improving the sound of budget CDPs. The subjective difference is that it apparently smooths out the sound a lot, which may be a good or a bad thing....... I have NOT heard it myself, but it gets VERY mixed reviews, which implies it may be rather system-, and listener-, dependant.

I looked at getting one about 2 years back. Many of the original reviews on the X-10D which were particularly "glowing" were done with the Marantz CD-63 (which I have). The cost over here was ridiculously inflated (as with all MF's components), but I thought an audition wouldn't go amiss. Anyway, when I asked the local retailer he said his honest opinion was that it DID make an improvement, but that he felt the money could be better spent. For about one-fifth the price he replaced the 3-amp mains cables on my Marantz and my old SONY amp with butty 10-amp jobs. He even said I could have my money back if I didn't notice a worthwhile improvement. Needless to say he kept the cash.

Anyway, David, given that the price you're talking about (much less than half what I was looking at) and that you have an X-PSU (so connecting more Xponents should apparently also improve the sound of your Xcans) it's probably AT LEAST worth a home demo! I'd be very interested in your results. I do wonder if with the improved DAC output stages in the KI-sig over the standard 63 you may not get as much benefit.

As an old Cheesels ad here used to say "Well, it's worth a crack, Nigel".

Cheers
Hamsta

 

[Braver]

ah, thanks Hamstra!

 

[Hamsta]

A pleasure, Braver.

 

[davidcotton]

Cheers Hamsta!

However, whilst I was in the HIfi shop (never go into a hifi shop with a credit card

) I did notice that they were having a sale on. If I am right (I may phone tomorrow to find out!) then they have a musical fidelity x-pre and x-a50 monoblocs on sale for £420 (english money!!) down from £700.!!!!

So at that price I am more than tempted to go and have an audition and see how it compares to my marantz KI Signature amp.(Which at the moment is blasting out a little known band called Jadis (prog rock) so the mf will have to go some to beat that

 

[darrylnz]

Hi DavidCotton,

Yeah, finally got around to registering myself in this site.

FWIW, the X10D works reasonably well in lower end systems, and yes, it does add some euphonic coloration to digital sources, which can be beneficial if the components are of the lower end budget type. In layman language, the X10D also helps source components to better "drive" their signal transfer into the inputs on preamps or integrated amps. In a higher resolution system, the the X10D does not actually improves things and most likely would introduce adverse imbalances to the overall sonics and curtail transparancy too. It also unfortunately introduces distortions into the signal chain.

Here's a thread that I have picked up that would give you more insight what the X10D does, and when it is not a panacea in all systems ;
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/twe...ages/6952.html

I know of a friend owning such a unit and no longer uses it as his system improved with resolution. I have tried his X10D unit in my audio system and results are inconsistent, very much source dependent. It seemed to pair complimentary with my hifi VCR but not good results when used with my Meridian cdp, ie. subjectively, transparency and dynamics suffered.

As you can appreciate, your mileage will vary with this X10D. Hence, listen before buying


All the best,