[god-bluff]

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




 

Thanks for the reply. I use DT150s which are fantastically well balanced ant 990s which are on the brighter side but not as much as some people make out. Both sound very good with the vcan but surely can sound better still. Was expecting a little more organic warmth actually as I had heard it described as a little valve like ! I think my GS voyager portable sounds better some times

I've long considered an X can, have bid on a few over the years but valves make me a little nervous. Might keep an eye out for one.

 

[ruffra]

Thanks for the reply. I use DT150s which are fantastically well balanced ant 990s which are on the brighter side but not as much as some people make out. Both sound very good with the vcan but surely can sound better still. Was expecting a little more organic warmth actually as I had heard it described as a little valve like ! I think my GS voyager portable sounds better some times

I've long considered an X can, have bid on a few over the years but valves make me a little nervous. Might keep an eye out for one.

 
Your Welcome.  You should never be nervous of valves as they are mostly as bullet proof as transistors once installed and not shook up during transport.I have had valve based headphone amps since early 2000 and only one amp has failed due to a capacitor and then transistor failure.  Yes they have there own characteristics and issues but generally are robust. Its quite fun to swap them out to hear differences in the sound signature.  For me the military spec Russian valves are the best compromise in the Xcan range, being robust sweet sounding and with a good bass and mid range without much microphonics. They are also cheaper than most of the equivalent tubes for similar performance.   I still have a pair of Beyer 990's in my loft which must be 20+ years old LOL. The pads are shot but I tried them a few years ago and yes they are a bit bright by some standards.  If I'm correct the DT150's are a closed back phone ??   For me most open back phones have a better clarity and imaging but obviously are somewhat leaky for noise.  Rather than change amp have you considered other phones.  At a reasonable price I believe the Phillips X2's to be excellent value and give 90% of a high end view on recordings.  I had the X1's and they were very good until they broke !!! Lol
 
 
Musical Fidelity is a good company I believe , however not sure of their world wide marketing policy and for headphone amps exposure is not so great certainly on this forum.   I had the Xcan v3 and Sennheisser HD650's for years and was really happy with the results . Then I started to dabble and now I have 8 Head amps and 7 sets of headphones with only one head and a pair of ears. Bugger !!!
 
Nice chatting to you

 

[frankrondaniel]

  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 !!!

 
Definitely interested in your impressions - especially with regards to the HD800's!

 

[NeilPeart]

I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised by the MX-HPA.  I have heard several of the past Musical Fidelity headphone amplifiers and have never been impressed - I was honestly expecting to be underwhelmed by this amp and the opposite occurred.  I currently own the following amps: Schiit Mjolnir, Mcubed (MOSFET amp from a decade ago), O2/ODAC, FirstWatt F1 for the K1000 and HE-6, DAC1-USB with its integrated headphone output and Oppo BDP-105 with its integrated headphone output.  I purchased the MX-HPA and the Violectric V181 to see how they perform with a variety of headphones.  I can't name too many instances where I prefer the V181 to the MX-HPA at this point, except the 2 Mr. Speakers headphones and Audeze LCD-2 - they have great synergy with the V181.  I can see how one would prefer the neutrality of the V181 to the warmer MX-HPA, but I simply prefer the Musical Fidelity with most of my headphones and music.  The bass of the V181 seems a bit recessed and this gives the whole sound a bit of etch or silhouette-like presentation.  How they compare to the Schiit Mjolnir is another story, however.  The Mjolnir is more muscular and dynamic than either, though not as warm and forgiving as the MX-HPA (but not thin-sounding like the V181 can be at times).  I think I'll keep the MX-HPA and Mjolnir in the studio and take the V181 to the office.  If they ever get around to fixing the USB module I may pop in the DAC and fully retire the O2/ODAC unit.  Headphones used:
 
LCD-2: great match with V181
K553, K612, K7XX: MX-HPA better match for all
K1000 & HE-6: had to try 'em

DT250-250, DT880-600: preferred MX-HPA for all (at times like this I wish I still had the T1, thought from its sound signature I would have likely preferred the MX-HPA with it)
D7000 & TH600: preferred MX-HPA
Alpha Dog & Mad Dog Pro: great match with V181, perhaps the best I've ever heard with these cans
HE-500: MX-HPA better match
HD600, HD650, HD800: MX-HPA better match (especially with HD800)
 
How do these amps compare to the Mjolnir?  I prefer the sound of the Mjolnir for most of these headphones - the HD800 is the one exception where I may actually prefer the MX-HPA.  I need more listening time as that headphone can be challenging.  Also I think the V181 is the best amp I've yet heard with the Mr. Speakers Alpha Dog and Mad Dog Pro.  The advantage of these amps vs. the Mjolnir is the versatility of using unbalanced devices with the V181 and MX-HPA.  The V181 in particular can output 3 headphones simultaneously and accept a variety of inputs.  Also, the MX-HPA is still old-school in that the balanced headphone output is a dual 3-pin XLR rather than the more standard (these days) single 4-pin XLR.  This is more costly and seems outdated.  I made my own HD600 and HD800 balanced cables using their stock cables and I also made a 4-pin to dual-3 pin adapter but I can see where that is a pain.  Despite the Mjolnir's requirement for balanced only, I do like how it can output to 2 balanced headphones simultaneously (it has a dual-3-pin and a single 4-pin output).  Now for some Brubeck and later some Opeth, with a dash of Crosby Stills & Nash and Mahler...

 

[JWahl]

To answer the original question posed in my own opinion. MF has been in the headphone equipment market for awhile now. The V-Dac was my first standalone Dac. However, with the stiff competition and rapid pace of improvement, they have always been 2 steps behind. It's not that they make bad equipment, but many others make much better at often lesser prices now.

 

[god-bluff]

All the Musical Fidelity headphones now appear to be discontinued. Being sold of at bargain prices

They never did produce that flagship 'MF500'

 

[Vanquished]

Can MX-HPA be used with single ended headphones? 

 

[god-bluff]

  Can MX-HPA be used with single ended headphones? 

This review from HiFi news seems to indicate it can
http://www.musicalfidelity.com/uploads/reviews/HFN_MF_MX-HPA_web.pdf

 

[Vanquished]

This is what I looking for, thanks: "More usually, though, when using the ordinary (unbalanced) ¼in connection, these same two sockets provide stereo outputs for two pairs of headphones."

 

[god-bluff]

4 years on and, like much British HiFi, criminally ignored on here. Under new ownership it still keeps producing the goods.

The M6s DAC has just been tested by HiFi Choice in a group test including the more expensive Mytec Brooklyn DAC+ and Benchmark DAC 3b. It 'blows the competition away' For 'it's sense of scale, space and dynamics`,' its in a class all of its own'

Why is there so much Schiit on ere?!? Why are such well respected and popular, well loved and long running companies such as Musical Fidelity ignored on these strange hyped up forums?!?!

 

[davidcotton]

Mainly because Headfi is us based, so I imagine MF is either difficult to get hold of or costs $$$ when it is available.

 

[minmsee]

I'm looking for my next headphone amp. I've been enjoying LCX from Massdrop. It's affordable but a nice balanced amp. I'm thinking that MX-HPA must be the best for me. The outout power, simple circuit design and, of course, many good reviews, they all indicate this must be my next amp. But only one concern is that the released year was 2014, 5 years ago. Does it still keep a good position in the market?

P.S. The price range is different, so I believe that the sound stage and resolution of MX-HPA must be clearly better than that of LCX.

 

[aqtaket]

And I'm interested in Musical Fidelity V90-BHA amp. So it on the previous page... Really, almost zero information...

 

[Roderick]

According to manual V90-BHA has "low output impedance". It is 22ohms so it is actually ridiculously high. It has "powerfull output into 32ohms". Well...it's 0.75W @32 ohm so it's not that bad but for a balanced amp it is propably among the least powerfull 5%. Also they claim single ended connections are automatically converted into balanced. That is of course impossible. So musical fidelity seems to be comfortable at flat out lying to potential customers. I would not touch their products with a ten foot pole.

 

[aqtaket]

According to manual V90-BHA has "low output impedance". It is 22ohms so it is actually ridiculously high. It has "powerfull output into 32ohms". Well...it's 0.75W @32 ohm so it's not that bad but for a balanced amp it is propably among the least powerfull 5%. Also they claim single ended connections are automatically converted into balanced. That is of course impossible. So musical fidelity seems to be comfortable at flat out lying to potential customers. I would not touch their products with a ten foot pole.

Thanks a lot for your input! I think I'll stay away from MF. Most likely I'll get a
Pro-Ject Head Box ds2 B
the second thing will be upgrading with a linear power supply. I have a not high impedance cans - ATH-AD2000X.