Musical Fidelity M8x DAC – Both DAC and Headphone Amplifier

Musical Fidelity has developed a new digital-to-analog converter with headphone amplifier Musical Fidelity M8x DAC. In its development, the company relied on its proprietary approaches that have been developed over the years – such as the use of Class A output stages, the absence of an information display to reduce electromagnetic interference (indication is displayed using LEDs), as well as the avoidance of wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules.

Musical Fidelity M8x DAC is housed in an extruded aluminum case that functions as a Faraday cage, blocking external electromagnetic interference. The large toroidal power transformer is additionally shielded by an aluminum casing.

The heart of the Musical Fidelity M8x DAC is a pair of ESS Technologies Sabre ES9038Q2M converter chips operating in a fully balanced, dual differential configuration. The new product is capable of decoding digital streams in PCM format with parameters up to 32 bit / 768 kHz and native DSD up to DSD512. The DAC has oversampling systems, but the company pays special attention to the bypass mode - which allows processing signals with minimal digital intervention. A fully balanced analog output stage, made on discrete elements and operating in class A, provides excellent channel separation and low noise.

In addition, the Musical Fidelity M8x DAC is equipped with a top-class headphone amplifier - fully balanced and implemented on discrete components. The headphone amplifier is capable of developing 3.9 W (with peaks up to 10 W) when operating on a load with a nominal impedance of 8 Ohms. Musical Fidelity M8x will go on sale in Europe at the end of March 2025 at a recommended retail price of 3,999 euros.