Description: Two-box remote-control CD player/processor connected by either optical or coaxial standard EIA serial data link. Unique processor features: 8x oversampling digital filter with discrete 20-bit DACs; de-emphasis operating in digital domain; remote-control level control operating in the digital domain, offering 0–40dB attenuation in 1dB steps. Specifications: Frequency response: 4Hz–20kHz ±0.3dB. THD: 0.0016% (1kHz), 0.002% (20Hz–20kHz). S/N ratio: 120dB. Channel separation: 112dB. Maximum output voltage (DC-81L): 2.5V balanced/unbalanced. Output…
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They can't sound very good—they're not big enough. As we all know, in hi-fi, big products mean big performance. Musical Fidelity's V90 series can't be any good. They don't cost enough. With your golden ears, you must pay through the nose.
The V90 components turn all this around. They are tiny. Inexpensive. Beautifully built.
Your friends will laugh when you turn on your DAC. Or phono preamp. Or Bluetooth receiver (the V90 series now includes the V90-BLU). But, of course, audiophiles must forgo the pleasures of Bluetooth. Too easy. Too simple. Too much free music from thousands of…
John Atkinson reviewed the V90-DAC in August 2014 (Vol.37 No.8):
When I e-mailed Stereophile's writers in January 2014 for their suggested ratings for the latest edition of the magazine's "Recommended Components," also in the April issue, ST recommended a Class A rating for the $299 V90-DAC. But, he added, with perhaps a twinkle in his eye, that this was the best DAC he had heard. I therefore provisionally placed the V90-DAC in Class A+, deciding that I needed to listen to it myself before the next "Recommended Components" appears, in our October 2014 issue.
I auditioned the V90-…
Sidebar 1: JA's Review System
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.89, Audirvana Plus 1.5.10; NAD M50 media player with NAD M52 and NetGear RAID arrays;Auralic Vega, Benchmark DAC1 D/A converters.
Preamplification: Pass Labs XP-30 line preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: MBL Corona C15 & Reference 9007, Pass Labs XA60.5 (all monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Joseph Audio Perspective, Rogers BBC LS3/5A, EnigmAcoustics Sopranino supertweeter.
Cables: Digital: Kubala-Sosna Elation! AES/EBU,…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I examined the measured behavior of the Musical Fidelity V90-DAC with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). For some tests, and to check the results of others with a different measurement system, I used my vintage Audio Precision System One DSP. My sample of the V90-DAC was serial number "RRY0135 (JUNE 2013)."
I used my 2012-vintage Apple MacBook Pro, running on battery power, to examine the V90-DAC's performance via its USB port. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the Musical Fidelity as having the…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-channel, solid-state D/A processor with outboard switch-mode power supply. Inputs: one S/PDIF coaxial on RCA, 32–192kbps, 16–24 bits; two S/PDIF optical on TosLink, 32–96kbps, 16–24 bits; one USB type B, up to 24 bits and 96kbps. Outputs: one pair unbalanced on RCA jacks. Frequency Response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0, –0.1dB. Crosstalk: –104dB, 20Hz–20kHz. Signal/Noise ratio: 117dB, 20Hz–20kHz. Jitter: <12 picoseconds peak–peak. THD+noise: <0.004% 20Hz–20 kHz.
Dimensions: 6.6" (170mm) W by 4" (102mm) D by 1.8" (47mm) H. Weight: 1.3 lbs (0.6kg).…
It’s been an exceedingly tough week for music deaths: Maestro Lorin Maazel, the last survivor of America’s greatest punk band, Tommy Ramone, unforgettable Broadway singer and actress Elaine Stritch and now the great Johnny Winter who died on Wednesday in Zurich, Switzerland at the age of 70.
Nearly cross–eyed and impossibly skinny even as a kid, the man with what he called "albinoism" from Beaumont, Texas, was a guitar virtuoso, particularly on his beloved Gibson Firebird, who loved playing the electric blues. Brought to a national audience via an article in a 1968 issue of Rolling Stone…
Music Matters Jazz is going 33. As all high-end vinylphiles know, MMJ is the LA-based company that's been reissuing classic Blue Note albums cut at 45 rpm, spread out over two slabs of 180 gram virgin vinyl, encased in a gatefold cover that meticulously reproduces the original's artwork on the outside and gorgeously reprints session photos of the musicians on the inside.
But now, after doing this with 112 titles, the company's proprietors, Ron Rambach and Joe Harley, are re-reissuing some of the greatest Blue Note titles on single-disc LPs cut at 331/3rpm. When I first heard the news, I…
The annual Capital Audio Fest (CAF), the Mid-Atlantic States' premier playground for audio, returns to the Sheraton Hotel in Silver Spring, MD on July 25–27. With the addition of its CanMania, whose list of vendors continues to grow; Saturday's Headphone Meet; and a new focus on high-resolution downloads, the annual show expects to draw a younger and bigger crowd of up to 2000 attendees to its eminently accessible location.
"D.C. has fantastic demographics and top universities, but a shortage of audio retailers," show founder Gary Gill told Stereophile. "There are maybe 10 retailers…
We’re big fans here at Stereophile of dealers putting on events for their customers to meet manufacturers and enjoy some high-quality tunes. So we’re letting everyone know that next Friday, July 25, from 5–8pm, San Francisco’s Music Lovers (2295 Bush Street) will host an open house. Guest speakers will be AudioQuest's Bill Low (founder and CEO), Joe Harley (SVP, Marketing and Product Development), and Skylar Gray (Director, Ear Speaker Division), each of whom will be available to share and discuss current and future products and answer any questions. For more info, visit www.musicloversaudio.…