What's wrong with Musical Fidelity?

[nordkapp]

Audio advisor and plenty others on Amazon. I am prerty sure they are just getting their feet wet w/the phones market.

 

[billybob_jcv]

The MF website lists 26 dealers in the USA. The USA is a fairly large land mass and 26 dealers isn't exactly going to make them a household name. Especially not when most of the dealers listed are small local audiophile shops that have no national recognition. My only exposure to Musical Fidelity is from seeing them on the Audio Advisor website.

Even some of the dealers they do show don't seem to care about Musical Fidelity. This dealer is linked to on the MF website, but MF isn't even in their list of brands:
http://www.soundandvisionohio.com/products.htm

They also list HeadRoom as a dealer, but none of the MF products are shown on the HeadRoom website.

There are tons of companies just like MF. Try to buy Tannoy audiophile (not studio) speakers in the USA...

 

[kramer5150]

Audio advisor and plenty others on Amazon. I am prerty sure they are just getting their feet wet w/the phones market.

One Amazon partner seller and a hand full of products is hardly is going to make an impact in the overall industry.  Amazon doesn;t even sell the two higher end headphones (MF200 / 500) the OP is talking about.

 

[nordkapp]

One Amazon partner seller and a hand full of products is hardly is going to make an impact in the overall industry.  Amazon doesn;t even sell the two higher end headphones (MF200 / 500) the OP is talking about.

Like I said, they are new to headphones. I've seen most of their 2 channel offerings over the last 20 years and the mid/upper end offerings are exceptional. Quite certain that slapping their name on a couple pairs of cans manufactured by a Chinese factory is not their long term business model. If anything it's marketing play to introduce their products to a different group of music listeners.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

What retailers carry their headphones?... The op was asking why their phones are not very popular. This could be one reason.

 

They have a lot of retailers, but they're almost all hi-fi stores, not any chain stores (Magnolia at best, if they do sell MF), so widespread, household name popularity level is shot. If it's just about popularity here on Head-Fi, it's becasue the V-Can might be cheap but then it was up against the Asgard and the NFB-12; fast forward to 2015, and would one spend $800 on the M1 HPA (which is a good product on its own) or on a Lyr+Bifrost for example?

 

Besides, one of the reasons why they can't get the same traction here on Head-Fi is the price, and one reason for that price is precisely because they have dealers. Competitors that easily gained traction here, like AudioGD and Schiit, for the most part eliminate the middleman save for some areas, but for N.America they sell direct. So while the British brands, particularly NAD, gained popularity decades ago by introducing a new business model that reduced the production overhead (factory in Japan and then the Philippines, now in China), you now have a new business model that cuts more of the costs.

 

[ianeith]

 
Not sure what's wrong with the company, but I can tell you what's right with these

 

[god-bluff]

New balanced amp/ headphone combo from MF
 
http://www.harrowaudiohifi.co.uk/musical-fidelity-v90-bha-mf200b-system

 

[ruffra]

Just to say Have purchased a new MX-HPA and just burning it in . Initial results indicate its probably going to be best Musical Fidelity Head amp so far and I've had them all !!!
 
Really good trade in deal from local supplier in UK ,Traded in Xcan v3 from 11 years ago and got my original purchase price off the amp. Times must still be bad LOL.
 
Let you know how it goes in a few weeks.
 
Testing with HD800's and PS1000's that should sort out the spectrum of compatible phones !!!

 

[god-bluff]

  Just to say Have purchased a new MX-HPA and just burning it in . Initial results indicate its probably going to be best Musical Fidelity Head amp so far and I've had them all !!!
 
Really good trade in deal from local supplier in UK ,Traded in Xcan v3 from 11 years ago and got my original purchase price off the amp. Times must still be bad LOL.
 
Let you know how it goes in a few weeks.
 
Testing with HD800's and PS1000's that should sort out the spectrum of compatible phones !!!

Look forward to your impressions. Sounds like a great deal. I'm afraid the MX-HPA is out of my budget for now.
 
I'm still making do with my humble V-can II, I imagine you've heard this one or the original V-Can maybe ?
 
I wondered how it really compared with some of the older X-Cans, M1 HPAP or the V90 for that matter. I use it with my 250ohm Beyers, It's a nice amp but only a subtle improvement over my Marantz micro system. Maybe a little better seperation and dynamics but a slightly narrower sound stage. 
 
Would I get a significant improvement changing/upgrading my amp ? Your opinion would be appreciated.

 

[god-bluff]

Just noticed you have the newer Marantz Melody systems. whats your feelings on the headphone outputs of those ?
 
Must say I've always been quite impressed with my CR502 at least with higher impedance phones, a bit noisy with more sensitive ones. Maybe it has a higher out impedance which sometimes seems to work well with Beyers. I have no means of measuring this to confirm
 
 Find I use it more than the V-Can is it's convenient.

 

[taffy2207]

Judging by the sound on my MF100's not a hell of a lot 

 

[god-bluff]

Judging by the sound on my MF100's not a hell of a lot 

Explain ?
Are you talking about a Marantz CR ?
If so they're pretty low impedance phones so maybe not a good example. The V can would be significantly better.

 

[taffy2207]

Explain ?
Are you talking about a Marantz CR ?
If so they're pretty low impedance phones so maybe not a good example. The V can would be significantly better.

  I was replying to the OP.  

 

 

[ruffra]

  Look forward to your impressions. Sounds like a great deal. I'm afraid the MX-HPA is out of my budget for now.
 
I'm still making do with my humble V-can II, I imagine you've heard this one or the original V-Can maybe ?
 
I wondered how it really compared with some of the older X-Cans, M1 HPAP or the V90 for that matter. I use it with my 250ohm Beyers, It's a nice amp but only a subtle improvement over my Marantz micro system. Maybe a little better seperation and dynamics but a slightly narrower sound stage. 
 
Would I get a significant improvement changing/upgrading my amp ? Your opinion would be appreciated.

Hi godbluff   Nice username lol

 
not sure of V cans per say as only heard them a few times and not owned them as  I started with the Xcan v1 range many moons ago.  Being a solid state device I expect it can be a bit bright depending on the rest of the system and cabling. Which 250ohm Beyers are you using?? Most have a reasonable frequency balance and can take a bit of brightness in the rest of the system.
 

The newer higher end designs from Musical fidelity can be a bit bright in the wrong system and sound fatiguing  It’s taken quite a lot of time and money to get the best out of them so I do understand you Dilemma .  For Me the Xcan V3 with Better Valves and ultimately the Rock Grotto mods is really excellent with many different phones and systems.  I have one on my Computer based system and it’s really rather good. As long as you’re not driving 600 ohm phones its loud enough with anything I’ve thrown at it   and a better than supplied wall wart power supply is really a big bonus.

 

Ebay is a good source for MF stuff and I picked up my Xcan v3 modded and a Little Pinkie power supply for around the £200 mark and that sounds Punchy Dynamic and no real hint of brightness.

 

So if you’re not up for new then 2^nd hand is a good way of going !!!  I do hope this helps.

 

PS  I have Marantz powered systems  for background music in a few rooms.  Its non fatiguing and serves its purpose . You got to love Richer Sounds Clearance Deals LOL

 

 

[god-bluff]

Ah sorry. I am the 'OP' I think. It was a rhetorical question that's got misunderstood There's definatly nothing wrong with MF. How can there be from a company that still sends me xmss cards. 25 years after buying a second hand A1 amp
They're great, a British hifi mainststay, but they're just ignored on here. Even the MF100 & EB50 get little coverage and the MF200 and other new products none at all. Just trying to raise their profile a bit I suppose