Streaming with a Warm, Transparent, and Detailed Sonic Signature
Musical Fidelity's MX-Stream is a universal network device that can take any online or network streaming service to your integrated amplifier or DAC.
Musical Fidelity has always been driven by the vision to create musically engaging audio products which can hold this standard of fidelity for many generations to come. Many Musical Fidelity classics are still in the hands of their proud owners and have proven the success of the company's design philosophy.
Inputs consist of 2 x USB A, 1 x Micro USB B, Ethernet, Wi-fi, and Bluetooth. Outputs consist of 1 x audio optimized USB A and 1 x HDMI (video).
"It delivers bit-perfect audio to your DAC of choice and does so without character, noise, or fuss," reports audioappraisal.com, October 20, 2022. "For that it earns my recommendation."
Streaming in the Musical Fidelity Tradition
The MX-Stream is developed with the same goal in mind as everything else at Musical Fidelity. Technically correct design that not only measures like a dream but also sounds like it. In order for it to be true to the original Musical Fidelity spirit it has to have the company's warm yet transparent and incredibly detailed signature sound and not just possess technical wizardry for the sake of clean technical measurements.
A Custom Design from Scratch
The MX-Stream’s digital audio circuitry is a complete custom design from scratch. A huge section of the chassis is dedicated to the extensive power supply section. There are PSUs and high-end voltage stabilization components for all the different PCB units. Also onboard is advanced re-clocking – even the main CPU is operated by an audio optimized clock, which is completely unheard of in typical streaming solutions, which typically run with standard CPU clocks like those in regular computers.
Every incoming digital signal is cleaned up from the very beginning. All audio files that come in and out, are the best they can be by eliminating the noise that can be found in common streaming solutions. With optimized software, Musical Fidelity was able to push this high-tech hardware design to its absolute limits to achieve a near-zero jitter stream.
Bit-Perfect and Open Software Design
Its design makes it future proof by keeping the architecture open. In ten year's time, your MX-Stream will be as relevant as it is today, because it can run any open source software that you are willing and able to throw at it. It will use the same revelatory hardware design and continue to be the perfect streaming transport.
The onboard operating system and playback software by default is set up to enable you 1:1 bit-perfect digital audio transfers to your USB DAC of choice right from the start. You do not need to worry about anything. You are free to enjoy the Musical Fidelity signature sound without in-depth knowledge of digital audio technology.
Expert users will find advanced options to tailor the experience to their exact specifications and gain complete and transparent control of what their system is doing. Truly accessible high-end at your fingertips.
Flexibility and Control Options
The MX-Stream can be controlled via a mobile-device app and in any web-browser. Bringing unparalleled versatility to the table are full Roon-Ready certification, support for all lossless high-resolution streaming services that are available right now, hi-res formats (up to 32bit/384kHz and DSD256), standard network features like NAS support, USB-hard drive support, UPNP/DLNA, Bluetooth, Shareport (for iOS-devices), internet radio, CD-ripping with automated tagging, and automatic music library indexing. That's a lot of capability!
The Perfect Streaming Companion
As a standalone device, the MX-Stream is the perfect add-on for any integrated amplifier or DAC with USB B input. Not only is the technology inside the MX-Stream complete cutting-edge high-end, but also every analog circuit in integrated analog amps displays increased performance, when digital circuits and power supplies are kept separate from the analog circuitry.
By keeping streaming and amplification separate, Musical Fidelity achieves its true high-end sound vision to greater effect and at a more affordable cost, while also sharing the long lifetime of the company's amplifiers and streamers.
