Review: Musical Fidelity M1 SDAC
Upstatemax
Posts: 2,670
Posted this on Amazon for the M1 SDAC so I might as well as post it here. As this thing continues to burn in I love it more and more. Very warm and musical. Great bass extension from the LSi 9's and very, very quite:
There are very few quality DAC's that sport analog inputs to function as a full fledged Pre-Amp as well and a good quality headphone amp to add icing to the cake. I looked at this unit and the ADL Esprit as well.
I decided to go with the M1 SDAC since it could also handle Bluetooth streaming to make it easy for my wife to use. She will RARELY use it, but when she does it NEEDS to be easy. The SDAC also seemed like it had a better build.
I have my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (Via Cambridge 640p) , Oppo BDP-103, and my Macbook Pro-Retina (with SS drive) connected as sources to the unit. The amplifier is a Parasound HCA 1500A feeding Polk LSi 9 speakers. I don't use headphones much, but they are quickly becoming a priority for me as I have small children...
The sound right out of the box has been wonderful. Very musical unit, timing and pace is right on target and really gets your foot tapping from all sources. The first album I spun was ZZ Tops "First Album" since it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures and I have not been able to spin it in months. Billy Gibbons is front and center with his guitar on this album and it sounds awesome. This is not "Eliminator", this is much more down and dirty blues. Billy's solos come across clean and clear. highs were nice and pronounced but bass was a bit lean out of the gate. This was on almost everything I threw out at first.
I let the unit burn in for 48hrs and revisited. Bass came through with much more authority and the sonic signature is starting to warm up. I never feel a "digital edge" to anything from the SDAC. Always smooth, yet detailed.
The Bluetooth streaming works flawlessly and sounds far better than it has any business sounding. The SDAC comes with the BT antenna and an extension wire and base should you need it. I did not use the extension, just the antenna connected directly to the DAC. The digital inputs are all up sampled to 192kHz (unless it's native 192kHz) so I was curious as to how this handled up sampling. I started with my iPhone 5S. I was able to connect and start streaming in under 20 seconds. Simple as switch input to Bluetooth, open settings and select the "M1 SDAC" that was waiting for me and start playing music.
I started with ALAC rip of Joe Bonamassa "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" and it was GOOD. Bass was tight and clean with a great midrange focus. I have yet to hear this album play this smooth and clean no matter how high I turned the volume knob.
Okay, sounds good with an ALAC rip. How about iTunes quality downloads? Once again very good for the source. Not as nice as the ALAC rips, more of a flat response in the midrange and highs but the bass was pretty well pronounced. But once again it sounded better than it had any business sounding and far better than it has ever sounded on my system.
Janine Jansen's "Four Seasons" on Blu Ray audio was OUTSTANDING. You can close your eyes and truly feel that you're there with the musician. You could hear and feel the resonant tones from the violins. Highs were never harsh but felt like they could stretch on forever. I also spun my SACD of Muddy Water's "Folk Singer" and once again, that same feeling. Like you were missing nothing.
This unit does an awesome job polishing up "inferior" formats, but it shines when you throw high quality audio at it. absolutely silent, black background and the ability to deliver unadulterated sonic bliss to the amp when needed and the ability to polish up some of your lower resolution music.
All in in all, this is a very versatile DAC and Pre-Amp that does not leave you feeling like you settled for less by going with a "combo" unit rather than dedicated DAC and Pre. It's simple to set up and use, sounds fantastic and looks great. I don't see this unit leaving my set up for some time.
There are very few quality DAC's that sport analog inputs to function as a full fledged Pre-Amp as well and a good quality headphone amp to add icing to the cake. I looked at this unit and the ADL Esprit as well.
I decided to go with the M1 SDAC since it could also handle Bluetooth streaming to make it easy for my wife to use. She will RARELY use it, but when she does it NEEDS to be easy. The SDAC also seemed like it had a better build.
I have my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (Via Cambridge 640p) , Oppo BDP-103, and my Macbook Pro-Retina (with SS drive) connected as sources to the unit. The amplifier is a Parasound HCA 1500A feeding Polk LSi 9 speakers. I don't use headphones much, but they are quickly becoming a priority for me as I have small children...
The sound right out of the box has been wonderful. Very musical unit, timing and pace is right on target and really gets your foot tapping from all sources. The first album I spun was ZZ Tops "First Album" since it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures and I have not been able to spin it in months. Billy Gibbons is front and center with his guitar on this album and it sounds awesome. This is not "Eliminator", this is much more down and dirty blues. Billy's solos come across clean and clear. highs were nice and pronounced but bass was a bit lean out of the gate. This was on almost everything I threw out at first.
I let the unit burn in for 48hrs and revisited. Bass came through with much more authority and the sonic signature is starting to warm up. I never feel a "digital edge" to anything from the SDAC. Always smooth, yet detailed.
The Bluetooth streaming works flawlessly and sounds far better than it has any business sounding. The SDAC comes with the BT antenna and an extension wire and base should you need it. I did not use the extension, just the antenna connected directly to the DAC. The digital inputs are all up sampled to 192kHz (unless it's native 192kHz) so I was curious as to how this handled up sampling. I started with my iPhone 5S. I was able to connect and start streaming in under 20 seconds. Simple as switch input to Bluetooth, open settings and select the "M1 SDAC" that was waiting for me and start playing music.
I started with ALAC rip of Joe Bonamassa "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" and it was GOOD. Bass was tight and clean with a great midrange focus. I have yet to hear this album play this smooth and clean no matter how high I turned the volume knob.
Okay, sounds good with an ALAC rip. How about iTunes quality downloads? Once again very good for the source. Not as nice as the ALAC rips, more of a flat response in the midrange and highs but the bass was pretty well pronounced. But once again it sounded better than it had any business sounding and far better than it has ever sounded on my system.
Janine Jansen's "Four Seasons" on Blu Ray audio was OUTSTANDING. You can close your eyes and truly feel that you're there with the musician. You could hear and feel the resonant tones from the violins. Highs were never harsh but felt like they could stretch on forever. I also spun my SACD of Muddy Water's "Folk Singer" and once again, that same feeling. Like you were missing nothing.
This unit does an awesome job polishing up "inferior" formats, but it shines when you throw high quality audio at it. absolutely silent, black background and the ability to deliver unadulterated sonic bliss to the amp when needed and the ability to polish up some of your lower resolution music.
All in in all, this is a very versatile DAC and Pre-Amp that does not leave you feeling like you settled for less by going with a "combo" unit rather than dedicated DAC and Pre. It's simple to set up and use, sounds fantastic and looks great. I don't see this unit leaving my set up for some time.
Post edited by Upstatemax on
Comments
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Nice!
Congrats on a good find and sharing the review.
H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music. -
Nice Dac.......Congrats!Linn AV5140 fronts
Linn AV5120 Center
Linn AV5140 Rears
M&K MX-70 Sub for Music
Odyssey Mono-Blocs
SVS Ultra-13 Gloss Black:D -
Nice review....always nice to be able to polish up less than stellar recordings.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Thanks for the review........I love the MF sound, it's just right.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Thanks for the review........I love the MF sound, it's just right.
I agree.
Still more sterile that my old Dared but it does a great job bridging the gap between SS and tubes IMO.
Now I'm waiting for my AQ Forest USB cable to arrive for the MacBook. Mantis seems to love them and for the price you can't go wrong.
