Review for Musical Fidelity M1 DAC - Digital to Analogue Converter - Black

Musical Fidelity M1 DAC - Digital to Analogue Converter - BlackReview for Musical Fidelity M1 DAC - Digital to Analogue Converter - Black

With so many on offer these days, it is good to have a name you can recognise. The Musical Fidelity M1 DAC - Digital to Analogue Converter - Black is certainly that and will be a superb buy. For this reduced price, the Musical Fidelity M1 DAC - Digital to Analogue Converter - Black is widely respected and is always a regular choice for many people.


  • Choke Filtration
  • 24-bit Delta-Sigma DACs in a dual differential alignment
  • 8x over-sampling

Product Description

Musical Fidelity was one of the first companies in the world to make an outboard digital-to-analog converter over 23 years ago, and the M1 DAC continues this heritage of top performing DACs. This new version of the M1 (M1A DAC) has added 24-bit, 96 kHz asynchronous USB interface and an upgraded power supply. It has four digital inputs: coax, optical, balanced and USB.

Don't be fooled by its ultra-competitive price - the M1's technical performance rivals that of DACs costing many times more. Musical Fidelity's advanced circuit design and PCB (printed circuit board) layout, in combination with the use of top quality digital components, delivers state-of-the-art performance.

The M1 DAC will lock on to any S/PDIF signal at 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88kHz, 96kHz and 192kHz, and the input sampling frequency is then displayed on the front panel. It employs a pair of 24-bit Delta-Sigma DACs in a dual differential alignment with 8x over-sampling, so you'll enjoy true upsampling to 24-bit at 192kHz!

The M1 has vanishingly low distortion, typically less than 0.005% across the band. Frequency response is ruler-flat. Jitter is extremely low. And the noise ratio is outstanding - it's one of the quietest DACs in the world, regardless of price. Look at the M1 DAC's total measurements and compare them to any DAC up to ten times its price, and you'll see that, on balance, the M1 DAC is equal to or better than any of them!

The M1 DAC has a high quality power supply, with choke filtration on the mains input. This acts essentially as a mains signal conditioner, which increases the performance and value of the M1 to even greater heights.