Musical Fidelity X-Can

[El Hefe]

I just realised last night, after purchasing Rega Apollo CDP in July last year, that my set up now does not have a headphone option any longer. I wanted to have some private listening last night and realise that Rega does not have a headphone output jack.

Hence, googled for headphone amps last night and there is someone selling a second hand MF X-Can for 90 quid. Is it worth that much now? Anyone had this amp before?

Hows the sound on it?

 

[idc]

Hi El Hefe. £90 is a good price for the V2. There is one on ebay at the moment for £125. Any less than £90 and they tend to be faulty or marked.

They are excellent amps. They will drive any headphones. The sound is the MF house sound of detail, clarity and emphasis on the midrange. They will do deep bass, but only if the original recording does deep bass. But, I find it to be kind to badly recorded music as well as making well recorded music shine.

There is also a strong after market modding scene with upgrades available for almost every component within the amp, particularly popular is swapping the valves. The valves are like light bulbs and can either last for years or go very quickly. Since the build is rock solid, it has the potential to last forever.

 

[El Hefe]

Hi idc, Thanks for the feedback. But the one that I saw on the net is the first version X Cans, not the V2. Do u know what was upgraded from the original to the V2?

Yes, I agree with you on the MF amps. Been using my set up since 1999 and so far, only one of my XA50 blew a transistor in 2007. The rest are still immaculate.

 

[idc]

Sorry, I dont know why I assumed it was a V2 you were orginally referring to. The upgrade as such from CANS to V2 was the internal layout, opamps and the valves used. Full details can be found at the site Rock Grotto The pictures you see are my X-CANS! According to Rock Grotto, the sound difference between X-CANS nd V2 is minimal.

My V2 turned out to an X-CANS in a V2 enclosure. I was very happy with the X-CANS and got it very heavily modded which added detail, dynamics and soundstage.

 

[El Hefe]

idc,

Thanks again. Very useful info indeed. Unfortunately, the unit I intend to purchase has already been sold.

 

[idc]

Ebay has a regular supply of the X-CAN range. You should eventually find one there.

 

[Anonymous]

I personally found the X-Can quite a tinny sound.

YMMV. I thought the Pro-Ject Headbox a little better - there's one on eBay for £70 or best offer (don't put the dash in Pro-Ject when you search). I got mine for £50 on eBay.

 

[El Hefe]

idc:Ebay has a regular supply of the X-CAN range. You should eventually find one there.

Found one on ebay. The V2 version selling at 125 GBP.

 

[idc]

So long as it works and it is unmarked, that is fine for a V2. I cannot find it on ebay, but I did see another V2 starting its bidding and some very over-priced V3s. £125 is what I paid for the V2 brand new in 2001.

EDIT - I found the one for £125, it looks immaculate, the seller knows what he is talking about and you can get the instruction manuel off the Musical Fidelity site as a download.

The 'tinny' sound may be down to MFs desire for neutrality and high fidelity. Initially they do lack dynamic, but if you play some hard driving bass deep rock, they show the musicianship of the bass player by concentrating on detail. If the recording has deep bass, the MF will do deep bass.

 

[El Hefe]

idc,

How did u managed to get a brand new V2 at 125 GBP? I thought this unit RRP was 300 GBP?

Anyway, yup just saw someone starting the bid on V2. So, will wait and see the price for that in a couple of days. The seller of the 125 GBP unit does sound convicing and also referred to Rock Grotto's page.

 

[El Hefe]

idc,

Besides hooking up the X CANS via the tape loop on my XA1, can it be directly hooked up to the CD player?

 

[idc]

EH, my price was from 2001. I think that the V3 was £300 or so when it came out, then the V8 is £400.

You can connect your CDP directly to the X-CAN, then it become your only amp. You cant then conect it on to your XA1. I didnt bother with the tape loop. I just used one set of phonos into an aux input on my amp and selected it when I wanted to listen with headphones.

The X-CAN can piggy back off another amp, but another amp cannot piggy back off an X-CAN, if you see what I mean.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:The 'tinny' sound may be down to MFs desire for neutrality and high fidelity. Initially they do lack dynamic, but if you play some hard driving bass deep rock, they show the musicianship of the bass player by concentrating on detail. If the recording has deep bass, the MF will do deep bass.

One dealer, quite close to home on this site, described MF as far from neutral. Horses for courses.

 

[El Hefe]

idc:

EH, my price was from 2001. I think that the V3 was £300 or so when it came out, then the V8 is £400.

You can connect your CDP directly to the X-CAN, then it become your only amp. You cant then conect it on to your XA1. I didnt bother with the tape loop. I just used one set of phonos into an aux input on my amp and selected it when I wanted to listen with headphones.

The X-CAN can piggy back off another amp, but another amp cannot piggy back off an X-CAN, if you see what I mean.

Ah yes. I was thinking of to have another set of phonos running from my Rega CDP to the X CANS. But now just realised as well that the Rega only has one set of output. My previous Marantz CDP had 2 sets.

I still need to loop it through the tape monitor then because I still have my MD player using that output.

If I connect it through this method, do I still need to balance between the volume know of the XA1 and the volume know on the X CANS?

FYI, I have confirmed the purchase of the 125 GBP unit. Having difficulty with payment though. Keep getting the error message -

Sorry, you've hit a speed bump!
To continue checkout, please try again.

The seller is trying to sort it out.

Thanks for you feedback.

 

[idc]

I suppose there is an emphasis on the midrange that could be seen as not neutral. But throught that midrange it is very neutral.

 

[El Hefe]

Payment already went through. Seller confirmed to send out by FedEx by tomorrow. Shippping cost to Malaysia is nearly half the price of the unit itself.

 

[idc]

Please let us know how you get on. It is a heafty little unit.

 

[El Hefe]

idc,

What interconnects are you using for your set up?

 

[idc]

I lept onto the Silver High Breed bandwagon and got the Synergy2s for about £20 off ebay. They are marginally brighter (which I like)than the Choseal ones that came with my DAC and they were a lot shorter which I needed.

 

[El Hefe]

Idc,
do u have a write up of your complete system under 'Your System' forum? Cant really figure it out from the pictures in your signature.

 

[idc]

EH, I did but I can't find it anymore.

So, the Vaio has itunes and about 120gb of music on it and Spotify which is streamed off the internet via a wireless router.

The Vaio is connected by USB cable to the Fubar DAC which is the small grey box on the lower right. It gets its power supply from The Supplier PSU, the small red box on the left. Its power comes from its own wall plug in external PSU (like a computers PSU).

The Silver High Breed ICs are out of site round the back. I got short ones as all they need to do is connect the DAC to the MF X-CANV8P, the larger box on the top shelf. Then I plug in my headphone of choice.

I have just upgraded the laptop, which was enforced as the other one was causing problems. This year I concentrate on headphones. Then a DAC upgrade. But the amp will remain the same, though there is an upgrade service from MF.

Hope that helps.

 

[El Hefe]

idc,

Nice and simple set up. Once I receive the amp, need to get a 2 pairs of IC since I will be lopping it throught tape monitor and my MD player. I might settle with a freebie IC first before purchasing a QED IC. I usually do this for new component that I purchase in order to hear the difference in cabling. Although being a headphone amp, not sure whether we really need a decent IC. We shall see. I need to have this setup because I still record tunes onto my MD from various sources such as tuner and also from MTV from the satelite. And with this setup, it means I can also use the X-CANS to listen to music from tuner, MD and AE.

I am streaming music as well from my 1 TB external HD via my laptop to an AE. The AE is connected via an optical cable to my MF X-DAC. I only use my CDP for new CDs that I purchase. Once I buy another new CD, the previous one will be on iTunes and streamed through the AE.

The ebay seller asked me whether I wanted to upgrade the valves to Mullard E88CCs and CV2493 but I answered his email a little bit too late as he had already shipped the item. Thats a problem with this 8 hrs time difference with the UK. Seriously speaking, I would not know the difference anyway even if I upgraded it.

ANother question, since its a valve amp, does it run hot? MF manual mentioned that it is designed to just leave the unit on all the time. The reason I ask, in Malaysia, it can go up to 35 deg C in the afternoon.

 

[idc]

It runs warm rather than hot. I had a Rega amp that ran too hot to touch and the MF is not as bad as that. What does run hot is the wall wart PSU to power the amp. I would keep that ventinated and do not put anything on top of it. Becasue it was so hot I did turn the amp off after use and the only way to do that is to pull the plug out. I have seen a mod to the amp where a hole is drilled in the top and back or the unit to increase ventilation. See rock-grotto.co.uk for details.

 

[El Hefe]

idc,

Received the unit about an hour ago. Shoooot. The Malaysian customs imposed a tax on it. Had to pay another 30 quid before the unit could get released. So now the unit actually cost GBP 198.50 (125 + 58.5 for P&P and 30 for tax). So much of getting it cheaper from the RRP GBP 300 from 10 years ago

. But cant complain much as I get to buy other gear at a cheaper price here in Malaysia.

The unit is immaculate. Hooked it up with freebies IC first. In fine working order. The sounds came on a bit bright when I first turn it so let it run for 15 mins. The sound now is really warm and bass is abundant.

I am testing it with my noise insulation earphones (changing between Shure and Sennheiser). Have yet to test it with my wireless Philips.

So far using the earphones sounds good. Will see how it goes whether to change the IC and also purchase a headphone.

Also, just got the news from the seller that the unit is actually brand new where he got it straight from MF at a reduced price to clear up stock.

 

[El Hefe]

Wow. Really like the sound from this unit. I have tried listening to various type of music as follows. Surprisingly the amp can deliver for the different genres with much warmth and detailed presentation.

For the past few days, I have been listening to:

MD - Gypsy Kings, Andy Williams, Janis Joplin, Poison

CD - Michael Jackson, Andrea Bocelli, Metallica, Janet Sidel (HDCD), Foo Fighters

AE and iPod - Anything and everything

I have been swapping between my Shure (cant remember the model) and Sennheiser (CX-6) earphones and I find the Senn gave a better sound with the amp.

Yesterday, I purchased the Bose around the ear headphones and it just added more life to the listening session. The best part of all this, is that me wife approved so and went 'Wow, this is a really good set up'

She never knew listening via headphones can give a different experience compared to the speakers.

I was torned between the Bose and AKG 142. The AKG is more comfortable to use but it leaks sound like there is no tomorrow. And I can hear noise background from all over. Putting aside the AKG, tested the Bose noise cancelling, the on ear and around the ear. In the end, settled with the around the ear. Main reason being, its only used for home hifi which usage will only be about 30 to 60 minutes/day if I am lucky.