We said it was good…….
When we first heard the Musical Fidelity M8Xi we were more than impressed. Given that this is a $12,000 integrated amplifier I guess that this was to be expected – but that is not always the case.
It appears that we are not alone, the M8Xi has just been named the EISA Hi-END Integrated Amplifier of the Year.
The EISA awards are recognised as the most prestigious awards in our industry. EISA is a unique association of 55 specialist magazines across 29 countries – there is a lot of credibility here!
The M8Xi was an important release for Musical Fidelity – it was the first totally new MF product to be released by the current owners – Audio Tuning based in Austria. This was a VERY impressive debut!
Musical Fidelity has a long history of manufacturing high performance integrated amplifiers, commencing with the A1000 in 1990. The M8Xi is the latest of this breed. Rated at 550 watts/channel it is effectively a separate pre-amp, DAC and two mono-blocks in the same chassis – all with their own power supplies. This is not only arguably the best integrated amp in the world, it will rival many separate pre-power amplifiers costing considerably more than the $12,000 asking price.
Another product that picked up a gong – in this case the Home Theatre Speaker System of the Year – was the Borea range of speakers from Triangle. We are intrigued with this range simply because despite the fact we have not seen nor heard a Borea speaker the interest level is through the roof. Overseas demand has been so great that Australia has not yet received any stock – at the time of writing the first shipment is due in about two weeks – and most of that has already been sold.
We are waiting with bated breath to see if this range is really as good as everyone thinks – we suspect it will be!
