Ordered a Musical Fidelity X-10V3 Tube Buffer Stage Today

pjdami

Wow this thread is resurrected. I ended up using one of mine with my Myryad cdp in the living room with the LSi / B&K combo. The other I used with my MF Cd Pre 24 / Rogue amp / Spendor combo.

It certainly made an audible difference with every position I put it in. I'll be interested to see how it works out for you William.

Congrats and if you don't like it they are selling like hotcakes on Audiogon for $320 - $340.

Paul

W WALDECKER

i just received my musical fidelity x-10v3 tube buffer stage from listen up.com for $399.00 and they shipped it from colorado to maryland overnite for free. i have it situated between my symphonic line vibrato cd player and tempest preamplifier the sound is not too much different than with out the tube buffer. but i must keep it in perspective that the cd player is a high end unit begin with. so i will keep it in my audio chain for a few weeks and see what happens. this is my first foray into tubes and i didnt know what to expect and my system sounds pretty magical to begin with so i wont be disapointed if i decide to take it out of my system.is there any burn in or break in curve with these tube buffers?

haimoc

It is weird to say that when I first installed it in the system, I did not notice much difference; however, after a day or so keeping the buffer in power, it did impress. Now, in regular using the buffer, I just need to warm up the buffer a few minutes before playing.

I have the buffer between the CD player and preamp, and one of my friend has the same buffer between the preamp and amp.. Try it in both places to see what you like better.

pjdami

I leave mine plugged in all the time which is what Musical Fidelity recommends. With the 100,000 hr Mu-Vista tube it should last a very long time.

I don't remember about any burn - in. I just plugged it in one night and listened the next day when I came in from work. After 4 days of being plugged in it should be pretty close to being what it will sound like I suppose (~ 100 hrs).

William, yeah try between your pre and amp and see what that does. May I ask what kind of interconnects you use with your system?

Paul

W WALDECKER

groneberg quattro reference.

pjdami

Originally posted by W WALDECKER
groneberg quattro reference.

Never heard of those but they sure do have a fancy name to them.

Did it get any better with some burn in?

W WALDECKER

hey paul the groneberg quattro reference cables are from across the pond in germany and come with top shelf wbt connectors that physicaly clamp on to the rca jacks when you twist the machined outer sleeve so i guess you could say that they are pretty fancy and they sound very good too and they go for $150.00 per 1 meter pair i am not sure if the tube buffer is done burning in yet but the sound seems to have opened up quite a bit since i last posted about the tube buffer. which makes things a lot more interesting when i am listening to my system. so far so good.i will wait until this unit seems fully broken in before i try it between my preamp and monoblocks.

W WALDECKER

i have had the tube buffer in between my tempest preamp and extreme monoblocks for a few days now and i think i like it better in this configuration. does it sound better with the buffer in place? i am really not sure because my amplifiers and pre amp although solid state have been described as having a tubelike signature to thier sound to begin with and it sounds sweet with or without the x-10 v3 tube buffer. this is just a experiment to introduce tubes into my audio chain. so i will let it stay in my system for at least the near future. who knows? my monoblocks are not even fully broken in yet. after another month i will compare the sound of my system both with and without the x-10 v3 and see which i like best.

jfb4548

I have mine installed between Preamp out and amp input as well. (My stuff is all solid state). It seems to really make strings and voices much more 'natural' with more vibrato. Sound stage seems to have more layers. Each differant instrument has it's own place - if that makes sense!

I removed several things to simplify the signal path between preamp and amp., so I'm sure that is partly the reason for the changes, but over all it seems like a keeper.

ezc

Got my X10v3 on my small system between the moded tosh3950 & the Denon 2805 all ss system driving NHT SB3's, all interconnects are Sigma Retro. With the X10 in the system the lows have tightened up & play down deeper, with a slightly longer decay, the sound is not bloated the sound stage has also improved slightly (wider & slightly higher). Mids & highs are also improved instruments are more defined with slightly better separation, over all sound is slightly warmer. I had it in my main system between the Njoe Tjoeb tube cdp with the up sampler, & the Rotel receiver. I don’t think it made that much of a difference there but kept it in the system for about a month before bring it to the shop & using it here. I should have tried it in between the Rotel 1065 & the BatVK60 tube amp. I wasn’t sure if it was ok in a variable circuit. But since reading up here I want to try it between the Rotel 1065 which is ss & BAT! I think that would have a noticeable improvement. I got the feeling I will be buying another one! Is anyone using the XPSU v3 & if so how much of an improvement over the wall wart?