Musical Fidelity X-10 V3 MU-VISTA TUBE BUFFER

[BRANDONH]

Has anyone used this unit?
What do or did you you think about it?
I am thinking of adding it between the preamp and amp.

MUSICAL FIDELITY X-10 V3 MU-VISTA TUBE BUFFER

A legend returns! Musical Fidelity sold almost 50,000 of their original X-10 Tube Buffer Stage and has finally brought it back to life. The new X-10v3 is based on the Musical Fidelity exclusive Mu-Vista (kW) tubes and is guaranteed to add the magic of tubes to any system without adding any significant noise or distortion. The new Mu-Vista tube is Musical Fidelity’s highest performance tube to date. It’s more linear and quieter, with better performance capabilities than either their highly regarded Nu-Vista or Tri-Vista tubes. The X-10v3 is a tube output stage that can be added to any system; perfect behind any digital player, in a tape monitor loop or between your preamp and amp. Turn your CD or any other affordable digital player into the tube-hybrid player of your dreams. Add it between your amp and preamp or into a processor or tape loop and hear every single source component come to life in a spectacular way. Once in place, you will hear an added level of richness, warmth and musicality previously attainable only with a tremendous investment in world-class tube gear. The $399 Musical Fidelity X-10v3 Tube Buffer Stage will be a very limited manufacturing run, so audition one in your system before they are history!

About the Mu-Vista tube:

Musical Fidelity's latest discovery, the 6112, is an ultra high performance twin triode that we call the mu-Vista. Originally, it was used by the US military for crucial low noise guidance and other missile functions. It is incredibly rugged and immune from microphony and other extraneous effects. Also, and we hope this attribute is never needed; it's immune from electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) which occurs when a nuclear bomb explodes! As you would expect, the mu-Vista is super tough, super quiet, ultra reliable, incredibly linear and absolutely predictable.

Musical Fidelity has not had a single Tri-Vistor 5703 tube fail anywhere in the world in any of their Tri-Vista products. Our tests show that the mu-Vista has similar levels of reliability, and why not? The tubes have been purchased direct from the US military and are genuine milspec, mil usage parts.

As far as we know, they have bought the vast majority of the world's stock of the amazing mu-Vista. It will form the basis of a number of limited edition products.

Recommended Usage:

* On the output of a CD player.
* In the tape loop of an integrated amplifier.
* Between a pre and power amp.
* From the front two channels of your HT processor or receiver

Features & Benefits

* High input impedance - Does not offer any loading to the source CD player and as a result it gives its best possible performance.
* Low output impedance - Drives any amplifier easily and ensures virtually perfect linearity.
* Uses exclusive mu-vista (6112) mil-spec mil-usage tube- Excellent technical performance, incredible longevity - great sound.
* Low noise, low distortion, huge overload margin and wide bandwidth - Extremely clean sound with huge dynamic range.
* Limited edition - Not many other people will have one of these babies.

NOTE: The X-10v3 does not have a power switch on it and we have received numerous questions about whether or not to leave the X-10v3 powered on all the time. We recommend giving the X-10 at least a full minute to warm-up before turning on your amplifier and then leaving the X-10v3 on all the time. According to the X-10v3 owner's manual "This product has been designed so that it may be left on indefinitely, it may become warm to the touch - this is normal."

Specifications

* Input impedance: 470K Ohms
* Output impedance: < 33 Ohms
* Total harmonic distortion: < 0.004% 10Hz to 20kHz
* Frequency response: 20Hz to 65kHz +0, - 0.5dB
* Crosstalk: Better than 80dB, 20Hz to 20kHz
* Signal / noise ratio (reference full output): Better than 93dB unweighted
* Better than 106dB 'A'-weighted
* Valve (tube) type: 6112 twin triode (two)
* Power requirement: 12 - 0 - 12 Volts AC 500mA (via mains adaptor supplied)
* Dimensions (approximate): 180mm (7.1 inches) wide
88.2mm (3.5 inches) high including feet
218mm (8.6 inches) deep including rear terminals
* Weight: Unit, net 2.5kg (5 lbs 8oz) un-boxed, Adaptor, net 0.45kg (1 lb)
Total packed 3.1kg (6lbs 13oz)

[ezside]

[QUOTE=BRANDONH]Has anyone used this unit?

I currently have one installed.

What do or did you you think about it?

I'm extremely pleased, works as advertised. I think that the effect may be especially good in my system, since I have a passive preamp: buffering is a good thing.


I am thinking of adding it between the preamp and amp.

Mine is between the preamp & active crossover, so much the same thing.

[Ray H]

There may be problems down the road with 6112 availability. These tubes haven't been in production for at least two decades and the very limited use in the civilian market may not bode well for the Russians or Chinese to bother with. Call me a cynic, but my take is Musical Fidelity saw a golden opportunity to snap up the remaining stock of 5,000 odd tubes from the U.S. military at bargain basement pricing, did so, and designed a circuit around them to market the exact same number of finished units as the number of tubes they have on hand. Nice windfall profit for Musical Fidelity for the minimal materials outlay incurred. That military spec tubes are very reliable is unquestioned. The bad news is the fact that filaments eventually fail and tubes go gassy. The good news is that most buyers will have likely tired of these devices' euphonic coloration* long before the tubes tank, which leaves them an outlet to recoup their loss, er, investment on eBay...

*Distortion is distortion regardless what distorting euphemism is substituted.

[woodman]

There may be problems down the road with 6112 availability. These tubes haven't been in production for at least two decades and the very limited use in the civilian market may not bode well for the Russians or Chinese to bother with. Call me a cynic, but my take is Musical Fidelity saw a golden opportunity to snap up the remaining stock of 5,000 odd tubes from the U.S. military at bargain basement pricing, did so, and designed a circuit around them to market the exact same number of finished units as the number of tubes they have on hand. Nice windfall profit for Musical Fidelity for the minimal materials outlay incurred. That military spec tubes are very reliable is unquestioned. The bad news is the fact that filaments eventually fail and tubes go gassy. The good news is that most buyers will have likely tired of these devices' euphonic coloration* long before the tubes tank, which leaves them an outlet to recoup their loss, er, investment on eBay...

*Distortion is distortion regardless what distorting euphemism is substituted.

What Ray said ... I concur 328.7946%

IMO, this is a product that can best be described as a solution valiantly searching for a problem to "solve" - where such a problem simply does not exist in the first place! I would only add that I think MusicalFidelity should be ashamed of themselves for what I consider a business decision based upon very questionable ethics! If after what Ray and I have both had to say on the subject, you still want to give MusicalFidelity a goodly chunk of your hard-earned, that's your business. I personally, wouldn't give 'em a plug nickel of mine for one of these things.

[markw]

This device does for audio what rubbing a little vaseline on a camera lens does for photography. It most certainly doesn't clear anything up but some people like the effect

[BRANDONH]

Thanks everyone for your input.

[Feanor]

...

MUSICAL FIDELITY X-10 V3 MU-VISTA TUBE BUFFER...

Features & Benefits

* High input impedance - Does not offer any loading to the source CD player and as a result it gives its best possible performance.

...

It sounds like the only actual benefit of the unit (versus feature), is impedance matching between CDP and amp. How does this help and is it always useful or does it pertain to particular amps?

[GlenNewdick]

if you want tube sound buy a tube pre-amp

[hermanv]

Originally posted by GlenNewdick
if you want tube sound buy a tube pre-amp

Glen(?) is right, although top of the line tube pre-amps runs thousands, decent pre-amps are available used for similar prices to the X-10.

If you must have new; I think the BottleHead tube pre-amp (kit) sells for less than the X-10 and has gotten some very good reviews.

Although I can easily imagine or visualize subtracting something from a signal, I have a much harder time believing that you can somehow add in greater amounts of quality.