Anyone heard a Musical Fidelity X-DAC?

My mistake, it turns out to be an X-ACT for $69 (too good to be true), predecessor to the X-DAC. I talked to one of the people at Audioadvisor and they suggested spending the extra $$ for the X-DAC. Although, it is good to hear that you are getting great sound from pairing the X-DAC w/ a multi-cd player. I need the convenience of a carousel (for my girlfriend) and the sonic benefits for myself. So, I'll just wait and watch until one comes on the used market. ps. The guy at Audioadvisor said that MF is phasing out the X-series "component in a can" models in the next 6 months.

If if can take optical output of CD Changer get an Aiwa XC37M. Sells new for $99.

I have an X-DAC that I am considering selling in the next couple of months, but it will be for $160. I bought it two years ago. READ THE ROBERT HARLEY STEREOPHILE REVIEW. It decodes HDCD and pre-emphasis, and it's output stage runs in class A, and has TWO SETS of line level outputs. In short, it is very handy to use.....................I feel that for $160, it cannot be beaten in any performance aspect, by anything else (that huge juggernaught of used basic MSB 3 Link Dac's don't get anywhere near as low as $160, that I'm aware of...and they don't decode HDCD, either. Sure, you'll have those that love to bash HDCD, but it is clearly a superior process to all the others, even SBM and XRCD, even if it's not usually a "night and day" difference...all DAC perfromance aspects being equal, of course, which they aren't).....................Mr. Dark, if I knew you WELL, I would let you borrow mine to try out for a month or so, if you'd pay the shipping both ways, and promise to keep it absolutely pristine (and I do mean "absolutely"). Perhaps we can get to know each other, but I make no promises at this time.................Anyway, I'm not totally convinced to sell this thing at all. I enjoy using it with my Sony carosel changer, and it sounds very well. IMO, the only limit is resolution and "he-man" dynamics, and also ultimate musicality that you get with $3000 worth of digital (my other player)...however, I've recently bought an X-PSU (mostly for my X-Cans headphone amp), and haven't tried this with the X-DAC yet. It may sound so good, that I'd rather keep it, than get to have the small chunk o' change that I could get from selling. Also, my linestage is not the absolute best around, so that is also a factor (my "good" CD player has internal volume and an output stage on par with the best linestages, so I drive the power amps direct with it).

Sugarbrie, talk about odd suggestions, but I am definetly going to check it out. You never know, sometimes solutions are so cheap pride makes people overlook them. But, what a bargain it will be, I could use the saved cash on the X-DAC (since money is tight this time of year). Or even better, I found a MF X-Pre going for $230 new. And Wow, Carl! What cruel tease you have tossed out. $169 is a great deal, we have to talk more. I'm in no immediate hurry to upgrade, so maybe over the next month or so I can convince you to part with it. Any chance you have check out their X-Pre tube pre-amp? I am considering getting it to tame the slight "Brightness" of my Rotel RB-980BX (120W) amp. Send me an email at [email protected]

I believe the X-Pre is essentially the same as the X-Cans, just with the phone jack, rather than RCA outs. I wouldn't go that route, if I were you, because I doubt you'll like the sound of "taming the brightness", mostly because tubes don't really do that without trading away resolution...and if the ones that come in the X-Pre are anything like the 6922's in the X-Cans, I wouldn't rely on them to tame brightness. You really shouldn't try to "fix" a source component downstream, you should instead have the best source component you can afford, and "make do" downstream from it. Read "The Complete Guide to Highend Audio", if you don't want to take my word for it.