Musical Fidelity's USB Ready V DAC

I also look forward to trying the V DAC and V CAN, as I can get it cheap ($180 and $130, respectively). That said, having past experience of MF products I don't have too high of expectation. Some in Head-fi is already selling his V CAN after a month of ownership.

Apparant from the users comment in Head-Fi, this DAC has improved on the bleached tonality of other MF products, but have some real PRaT issue. This is the link:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/musical-fidelity-v-dac-owners-391721/

Mapman,

The Trivista SACD player is the MF product I had, but I also noticed the bleached tonality and PRaT issue with a few other MF products that crossed my path. I couldn't put in more eloquantly than Art Dudley in his Stereophile review of another MF product last year:

"There was a colorless, almost chalky quality to instrumental timbres, such as the flutes in conductor Odd Gruner-Hegge's great recording of Grieg's incidental music for Peer Gynt (LP, RCA Victrola VICS-1067), which sounded gray instead of silver. And while dynamic contrasts seemed wide enough in a superficial, hi-fi sort of way, music remained utterly unstirring, whether played soft or loud. The experience was, in fact, a sort of a paradigm for the kind of high-end performance that seems to get the sound right but misses the music. On record after record, I heard fine imaging but little real presence, superficially good pacing but little momentum. "

I am glad this is not an issue with you though.

Good thing that apparantly MF is improving on these issues with the V-DAC.

Dtc,

Being a MF Trivista owner I am aware of that review by Michael Fremer, but I don’t see his opinion necessarily contradict with my own. Mike have every right to rave that the Trivista is richer, warmer and have greater resolution than the Nuvista, and you would expect so given its $6,500 price tag. Yet these fine qualities do not preclude a component from having tonality and PRaT issue at the same time. Simply they are different qualities, and since we all appreciate different things with music we also have different take on the same component. As a side note, Mike decidedly preferred the $4,000 Krell SACD Standard to the $6,500 MF Trivista in another Stereophile issue:

“Compared to the rich, warm-sounding Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista, the Krell delivered a taut, Naim-like immediacy and rhythmic drive that was startling, exciting, and extremely involving. Bass control, focus, and solidity were noticeably more coherent….had a far more distinct and dimensional physical outline than through the Tri-Vista…..The Tri-Vista's rendering was somewhat warmer, and passed along more context-defining midbass, as well as what seemed to be a wider-ranging harmonic palette, but it couldn't compare, overall, to the Standard's self-assurance, rhythmic swagger, and holographic soundstage presentation….one area where I'm not exaggerating is bass control and focus. The Standard beat the Tri-Vista by a wide margin in this area, and with that upper hand came superior rhythm and pacing and thus greater musical excitement.”

Mike went on to conclude his preference for the Krell as follows:

“The Musical Fidelity is a wonderfully conceived and executed product, and I bought it with enthusiasm. Some might prefer its grace and warmth, but, given my musical predilections, if I had to choose one SACD player, regardless of price, I'd go for the Krell.”

If opinions on MF tend to be polarized, apparently I am not alone with my reservations. Being a conservative person, my predilection is that it will do more service by highlighting potential issues. The MF components that crossed my path did seem to have the tonality and PRaT issues, but I have not heard every MF components there is and certainly not your MF A3.24. Some MF components I heard did have much less of the issues, namely the Nuvista CDP, and certainly the classic A1 amp and CDP. I am not surprised that your MF A3.24 belongs to this elite group.

My V-DAC may arrive any moment now, gathering from the reviews MF may well done it right this time and I have high hopes.