Musical Fidelity M8x DAC Digital to Analogue Converter

Superlative Headphone Amplifier

The M8x DAC doesn‘t stops at DAC performance, it also boasts a high-end, ultra-powerful headphone amplifier capable of driving even the most demanding headphones with ease. Whether you‘re listening through speakers or headphones, experience the signature Musical Fidelity sound: soft yet powerful, clear, and effortlessly musical.

Technical Talk

Building on Musical Fidelity’s knowledge and experience with Sabre ESS chips, the M8x DAC uses 2x ES9038Q2M chips in dual differential mode for a pristine dual mono design. Thanks to these converters, it supports up to 768 kHz files in PCM and DSD256 via DoP and native DSD512 via USB, covering any digital file you can buy or stream. The SPDIF inputs are greatly improved as well, now supporting MQA (up to 384kHz) and DSD (DoP 64) as well!

Digital Architecture

We utilize an extremely low-noise, low-dropout regulator designed specifically for high-performance audio systems and optimized for high-resolution audio thanks to its revolutionary dual-regulator architecture. The inclusion of a Time Domain Jitter Eliminator results in superb SNR and THD+N performance with unbelievably detailed transient response. Digital audio is the art of time, with Musical Fidelity’s proprietary clock design Musical Fidelity have managed jitter rates of unrivalled and below 100 femtoseconds. This outperforms many renowned and respected audiophile clock generators! Other advances in the DAC section include optional upsampling and reclocking and an oversampling bypass mode. The 16-core XMOS and CPLD MAX II Altera processors ensure there is always enough headroom for these operations, the digital filters and the MQA processing. Compared to the M6x DAC, MQA processing is now possible on the USB and SPDIF inputs!

Upsampling, Reclocking and Digital Filters

The CPLD MAX II (Complex Programmable Logic Device) Altera is used for re-clocking, which together with the XMOS microcontroller brings high-quality processing of both PCM, DSD and MQA technology. Upsampling and reclocking can be individually turned on and off for PCM signals. DSD and MQA use their own format specific settings and filters. For PCM signals, the M8x DAC has eight selectable digital filters.

Oversampling Bypass

For ultra-high-res audio Musical Fidelity have gone the extra step and created Musical Fidelity’s oversampling bypass mode. This mode can be accessed by selecting filter 8 and is by default selected when the M8x DAC is first turned on after unpacking. In this mode the DAC’s oversampling FIR filters are disabled, and source data is upsampled to 352,8kHz or 384kHz, respectively.

Going even one step further, ultra-high sample rates of 705,6k and 768kHz enter the DAC block directly. Effectively, this turns off all remaining filtering, improving audio parameters and the frequency spectrum by yet another step. The oversampling filter is the largest single digital section “block” on the ESS DAC chip by silicon area. By powering this filter block down, Musical Fidelity reduce the on-chip PSU / ground noise and consequently lower signal correlated clock modulation on the ESS DAC’s silicon die.

Discrete and Fully Balanced Output

The M8x DAC bolsters a massively improved discrete output stage. Immediately noticeable by the enormous space requirements on the PCB – owing not only to the fact that it is fully discrete but also fully balanced – it is a major evolution compared to the M6x DAC’s counterpart that was built using integrated circuits (=chips). This design also makes the M8x DAC truly fully balanced from beginning to end. Not only is this benefitting sound characteristics, but also longevity and sustainability. The M8x DAC remains easy to maintain and repair as chips go eventually out of production and might not be replaceable many years later. But discrete components will always be built and can always be serviced.