Musical Fidelity has released details of its new M1 SDAC. Building on the success of the award-winning M1 DAC and borrowing elements from the M6 DAC, the M1 SDAC is a DAC, preamp, headphone amp and aptX Bluetooth receiver in one.
UPDATE: Read our Musical Fidelity M1 SDAC review
Set to retail at £799, the M1 SDAC has a thorough selection of inputs: two digital coaxial inputs, one digital optical input, one AES/EBU balanced input, an asynchronous USB input (the same as on the VLINK192) and two RCA analogue inputs.
The digital coaxial, balanced and USB inputs all accept music files up to 24/192, while all the digital inputs are internally upsampled to 24/192.
There's a coaxial and an optical output, too, plus an analogue-to-digital converter within the DAC section, allowing a digital output for any input.
Also on board are the aptX Bluetooth and headphone amplifier modules. The Bluetooth receiver is Musical Fidelity's V 2.1 aptX receiver, which accepts up to 24bit/48kHz files. (Again, all music is upsampled to 24/192.)
As on the M6 DAC, Musical Fidelity takes the signal directly from the Bluetooth receiver to the upsampling circuitry, bypassing all other electronics in an effort to deliver the best sonic results possible.
The M1 SDAC's headphone amp "will drive any headphone", is capable of 2 watts peak output and has an independently remembered volume setting (as does the preamp output).
The Musical Fidelity M1 SDAC is on sale for £799. Musical Fidelity will also be rolling out a package deal with the M1 PWR power amplifier, the pair available for £1299.
