Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl phono preamplifier

The Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl phono preamplifier is the latest phono product from Musical Fidelity.

This product shows the manufacturer’s will to offer a very high-end and affordable solution in terms of user-friendliness and versatility.

MUSICAL FIDELITY M3X SI: CHASSIS

The M3x Vinyl uses the same chassis as its big brother the Musical Fidelity M6x Vinyl . It is an exact copy apart from a few details. This enormous housing looks more like something you could find on an amplifier rather than a phono stage.

The device is very easy to use. The manufacture is very clean and provides a very luxurious aspect to the product.

MUSICAL FIDELITY M3X SI: FRONT PANEL

The front panel provides many push buttons allowing access to the different settings of the phono preamplifier (See all our phono preamplifiers). On the left, there’s a standby and mute button, an MM/MC button and an equalisation (IEC or RIAA) button.

There’s also a gain button (0/+6 dB) and the resistive and capacitive load settings. The MC load provides six options of adjustment: 25, 50, 100, 400, 800, 1,200 Ω. As for the MM load, it provides 50, 100, 200, 300, 350 and 400 pF.

The M3x Vinyl was clearly designed to operate with almost every MM and MC phono cartridge and even high end low output cartridges.

MUSICAL FIDELITY M3X VINYL: BACK PANEL

On the back of the Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl, there are two pairs of unbalanced stereo outputs (RCA) and an RCA phono input, as well as the ground terminal. The very high quality 24-carat gold-plated terminals are worth mentioning. They are superior to what you can usually find on devices from this range.

The IEC socket allows to connect a high-quality power cable.

MUSICAL FIDELITY M3X VINYL: CIRCUITS

Inside, the structure is very clear. It’s divided into three different circuits.

A dual mono circuit is in charge of the RIAA equalisation and gain. A shield protects it from electromagnetic interference. Another circuit is in charge of the power supply, filtering and circuit regulation. The last one is placed on the front and deals with logical circuitry.

The power supply is classic and not only in switch mode. There’s a cast toroidal transformer associated with special capacitors, rectifying and regulation circuits.

The RIAA equalisation is entirely made up of discrete components (transistors). The circuitry employs Wima capacitors and there’s no chemical capacitors in in the audio stage of course. The RIAA curve is pretty complex and very accurate (± 0,2 dB). It handles correction up to 80 kHz with a distortion level below 0.03% and over 85 dB of noise level.

MUSICAL FIDELITY M3X VINYL: TESTING AND LISTENING

The Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl phono preamp is rather different from products of previous ranges that we had the chance to test. It offers excellent balance and a real timbre quality. But it’s clear that the M3x Vinyl aims at providing a maximum of details.

The sound reproduction is clear and very “open”. The soundstage is wide and precise. There’s no hardness, but that doesn’t mean that playback is dark or dull. On the contrary, it shows all the differences between MM and MC cartridges, no matter the range and price.

There’s also a lot of nuance and subtlety with perfect dynamics distributed across the entire spectrum. Noise level is very low, which allows to highlight silences in a track.

Overall sound reproduction is very neutral and doesn’t highlight excessive colouration. This makes the M3x Vinyl very versatile in terms of combination with other elements of the system and the associated cartridge as well. Moreover, the important MC gain allows it to drive the most difficult low output MC cartridges.

The new Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl phono preamplifier can be seen as the missing link between a Lehmann Audio and an Aurorasound product. At this price, it is highly competitive! An excellent and very versatile phono stage.

Would recommend!