smooth sounding amp.small but stylish that mates well with room decor.75 watts pc.

No phono. No remote.

A belter of an amp! Smooth and detailed highs, great midrange, ample lows. Can drive most speakers to high sound pressure levels without strain!

sexy looking aesthetics. 75 pc. Can drive most speakers to high volume levels without strain.

No phono. No remote.

A belter of an amp! Smooth and clean sounding highs. Ample lows. A looker!

1-Dynamics; 2-Bass Control; 3-Drives tough speaker loads; 4-FLOWING MUSIC; 5-Simple,objective circuit design; 6-UNIQUE LOOK.

For this price: NONE!!!

Having acquired it 4 days ago, I've only just begun to listen to this little amp.All I can say is there's nothing "little" about it...for the price paid,this is one GREAT product.Right out of the box,one gets:phenomenal dynamics, strong speaker-driving abilities,beautiful soundstaging,gloriously envolving sound and a UNIQUE look...it is truly an OUTSTANDING integrated amp. Quoting a notorious magazine: a chip off the old-Musical Fidelity-block. Maybe vocals could be just a touch clearer...no,I'm not being fair...for that,one will have to go up the MF ladder onto higher product ranges (A series,Nuvistor,Trivistor, etc.)

Similar Products Used:

Too crappy to even mention...

Good all round musical delivery Not shy on power Style (love/hate) I love Separate power supply Blue LED!

Doesn't grab you by the throat - unlike the valve x-pre (which was surprisingly punchy and crisp)

Just bought this because the wife objects to the monsterous Magnum A200 monoblock power amps. These babies kicked out serious amps and I never managed to get them warm. I used them in conjunction with a x-pre, with which I was very impressed. The wife was happy with the cute silver styling and blue LED in preference to the 3.5 stone coffins (each!) I wasn't expecting the x-a2 to get near the Magnums in terms of delivery but it makes a fine effort. There's a lot of power on tap - well enough to annoy the neighbours. Not as clinical or punchy as I expected but a fine interpretation in musical terms. The Magnums cost £2000, so what was I expecting! I will miss the x-pre (supreme valve amp). In short, for £275 (£499 retail) you can't go wrong. Shame MF have discontinued them. Hopefully it will be replaced with sometihing equally as musical and visually pleasing

Similar Products Used:

MF xpre, Magnum A200 power amps, Rotel, Marantz, Tannoy

Goes extremely loud without distorting. Incredibly clean sound. Amazing soundstage. Looks.

Lack of bass. Can get quite hot.

This amp is amazing. I listen almost exclusively to metal (my theory is that if you're going to play music, you may as well use a guitar. If you use a guitar, you may as well use an electric one. If you use an electric guitar, you may as well use it at full volume. If its at full volume, you may as well add some distortion etc.etc.) and this is the only amp I've heard anywhere near its price that allows you to isolate each different instrument from the distorted wall of sound that greets you as soon as you press play. It also goes VERY loud without distorting - very important for metal. My speakers cones' start running out of travel way before there is any hint of distortion (well, distortion that wasn't recorded in with the music)! On the occassion I play something a bit more melodic and quieter, this amp really comes into its own It produces a soundfield of such depth, space and clarity that its impossible to describe. Take a listen to Radioheads 'OK Computer' through this amp an experience it for yourself. Plus, does anything in hi-fi look anywhere near as gourgeous/sexy/modern/cool as the X-series? I only have one criticism of this amp - it it bass light. I've gone from bookshelf speakers (Mission 780's) to larger standmount speakers (B&W DM 602 s3) and finally to floorstanders (Acoustic Energy Aegis 3), which with any other amp have a very forward bass. With my X-A2, however, they sound absolutely amazing. Also, it can get *very* hot, so use it with a bit of air around it. Now I know why I've spent over £1500 on my hi-fi - the reason is there every time I play a disc. My system: Marantz CD6000ose cd player Musical Fidelity X-24k DAC Acoustic Energy Aegis3 speakers Chord company cables

Similar Products Used:

NAD C370 Rotel pre/power combo

With proper isolation a huge soundstage, superb dynamics and detail. VERY musical.

At the price, none.

I have been a fan of MF equipment for sometime now. I bought this amp based on reviews I had read and didn''t even bother with a listening test. My source is their FCD player and I use van den Hul the Second i/c and Townshend Isolda speaker cable with Triangle Zephyr Mk1''s. My system sounds ever so "high end" and this is with a £500 amplifier. Enough said.

Similar Products Used:

none.

sound, clear, looks

no headphone out

After waiting for 2 months I finally got my new system:
xa-2 with marantz 600 ose cd player and b&w speakers 601 linked with kimber cables. Sounds really good. The amp. is much better than everything else i tested: marantz, cyrrus and arcam. I like the looks as well. New xa-2 has a BLUE led instead of the red on the xa-1. Funky. I strongly reccomend it.
I listen to: Depeche Mode, Sting, Bach, Mozart and rave once in a while.

Similar Products Used:

none

Excellent price, smooth sound across the spectrum, sufficient power, atypical (and attractive) styling.

The curves may be hard foe some people to integrate into some enclosures.

This upgrade was occasioned by the incessant problems I experienced with my old Sony ES receiver. The ES gave me fits for two reasons:

(1) It suffered from the tendency to think it was smarter than me, and kept changing around its processing/equalization settings without giving me full control over what was going on behind the scenes; and

(2) No matter how hard I tried, fiddled with placement, cables, etc., the ES tended to produce kazoo-like distortion when certain types of music were played (e.g., CSN's "Helplessly Hoping, with strong vocal harmony overlaid on guitar + bass; Liz Phair's "Big Tall Man," which has a lot of intentional guitar distortion with loud percussion & vocals; and Jane Monheit's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," when she hits the vocal peaks). This arose on my original NHT New Waves, then my NHT SuperZeroes, and eventually also on my B&W CDM-9NTs. The B&W's are so precise that they made the distortion passed on to them unpleasantly (and intolerably) audible, so the ES had to go.

The Rotel RA-1060, which I borrowed from the same local dealer from whom I bought my B&Ws, improved the situation markedly. However, some similar-sounding (though much less intrusive) distortion issues remained at the high-end on certain passages (esp. the aforementioned Monheit track). I wrestled for a long time as to whether the most likely problem was the amp, the CD players (which are far from audiophile quality), or the other associated equipment. Eventually, with some trepidation, I returned the loaner Rotel and ordered the XA-2 from audioadviser.com, thinking that I'd just return it within 30 days if it didn't do the trick.

The XA-2 that I bought was a demo model, which meant that it had already been broken in. However, the unit is intended to be left 'on' 100% of the time, so I left it active for a couple of days before doing any critical listening. Nevertheless, the improvement was noticeable and immediate.

With the XA-2, all of the distortion problems that had been plaguing me simply went away. The sound is musical, sweet, and totally without the harsh brightness of many of the brands I listened to. I am no longer afraid to play any of my discs, and (in conjunction with my pair of B&W 9NT speakers) I am delighted to play disc after disc, hearing them in a way that I never had before.

At $600, this demo model was $100 cheaper than I could have bought the Rotel RA-1060 locally, yet it is substantially better sounding on my equipment. The XA-2 is easily the equal of the Bryston I auditioned in the store on my same speakers, but which cost significantly more.

In conclusion, before buying the XA-2 I didn't know much, if anything, about the company "Musical Fidelity." But now I am an evangelist & will certainly consider their other products in the future, as need dictates further additions or upgrades.

Associated Equipment:
B&W CDM-9NT Speakers
AudioQuest Type 4 Speaker Cables
Sony 300 CD Jukebox
Sony 200 CD Jukebox
Interconnects of assorted brands
Panamax 500DBS Power Line Conditioner/Filter/Surge Suppressor

Yes, I know that my jukeboxes certainly leaves something to be desired as digital sources, but we all can't upgrade everything at the same time, now can we?

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RA-1060 integrated amp, Sony 30ES receiver.

clean, simple, compact, smart, sexy

this sounds stupid, but the volume nob is too easy to turn it should have more fluid feel.

Hooked up the X-A2 lastnight with Hero interconnects and my
6 year old $200.00 paradigm's. HOLY SMOKES---these speakers
never sounded so well. I listen to a number of albums
(tori amos, massive attack, janes addition, stan getz, beethoven, herbie handcock, tom waits, john coltrane, ruben gonzalez, tool) and could not believe all of the
subtle elements of these albums I had been missing. I am a
novice with audio equipment, but I can say that this little amplifier produced music the way the albums were meant to sound. It was a pleasant experience to sit in my living
room with a beer and a little amplifier that made my face grin from ear to ear. If your worried about purchasing this amp with out ever hearing it---don't worry you can send it back with in 30 days for a full refund, but I doubt seriously anyone who posts a review on the X-A2 will do that.

I've only had the amp for a day, and I have a pair of PSB
Stratus Bronze on the way. I'll post back and let everyone know how well the little guy performs with the PSB's.

Musical Fidelity X-A2
Kimber HERO Interconnects
Toshiba CD/DVD Player
Kimber 4TC Speaker Cables
PSB Stratus Bronze

Similar Products Used:

none

Clean, balanced, detailed and dynamic

None

This is a follow up to my first review of the unit.

I have lived with this amp for 7 months and I am still thrilled with it. I feel that this amp performs well beyond it's price and is worthy of high quality speakers and sorce components.

I feel it's strong points are great detail and a clean, smooth midrange. Treble is smooth and the bass is very natural.