ЦАПы — Musical Fidelity M6X DAC

The Musical Fidelity M6x DAC is a standalone converter that follows the M6s DAC and M6sR DAC. It moves to the newer ESS ES9038Q2M chip, using two of them in dual differential mode for a dual mono layout, and it is built in the EU. The unit is Roon Tested, performs full MQA decoding in its own hardware and includes a headphone amplifier.

Key specs that matter

The DAC circuit is ESS 32-bit HyperStream II. Total correlated jitter is below 12 picoseconds peak to peak, and linearity holds within 0.4 dB down to -130 dB. Frequency response is -0.1 dB at 10 Hz and -0.4 dB at 20 kHz, referenced to 0 dB at 1 kHz. Channel separation exceeds 130 dB at 10 kHz, the A-weighted noise floor sits more than 120 dB below full scale, and THD at 1 kHz stays below 0.0005 percent at 0 dBFS. The RCA outputs deliver 2 V RMS and the XLR outputs 4 V RMS, each switchable between fixed and variable level, with output impedance under 10 ohms.

Engineering and use context

A Time Domain Jitter Eliminator is part of the conversion stage, and upsampling with re-clocking can be switched on or off independently. Seven digital filters are selectable, plus a full oversampling bypass. A 16-core XMOS processor and an Altera MAX II CPLD handle the processing, the filters and MQA. The USB Audio Class 2.0 input accepts PCM up to 32-bit and 768 kHz, DSD256 via DoP and DSD512 natively. The single coaxial input, the AES/EBU input and both optical inputs take stereo PCM up to 24-bit and 192 kHz with MQA. Single-ended and balanced outputs have separate buffers, and the XLR path is fully differential. Power comes from an encapsulated toroidal transformer fed through an industrial-grade mains socket that includes EMI filtering and a DC blocker to stop transformer hum. Front and side panels are milled from extruded aluminium, and instead of a large display, blue LEDs show sample rate, input, output mode, MQA status, filter and upsampling. Silver and black finishes are made, and the 2024 price was GBP 2,099 or USD 2,455. The case measures 440 x 100 x 390 mm and weighs 6.9 kg, with maximum consumption of 20 W and under 0.5 W in standby.

Pairing

The variable outputs let the M6x DAC drive a power amplifier directly, with the XLR pair suiting balanced inputs. The 6.3 mm headphone jack uses a current-feedback class AB amplifier giving 1.5 W per channel into 32 ohms, rated for headphones of 16 ohms and above.

Alternatives

Musical Fidelity also offers the M3x DAC as a smaller converter in its range.