I picked up a used X-10D for $75 (US). I have an MF X-Ray CD player and I thought for $75 I'd give the X-10D a try.

Guess what? No difference with the MF source. Nada. Zip. Squat. I had three other pairs of ears do the blind test. and nobody could tell A from B.

We then tried a few other players including a YBA, an Onkyo and a Sony walkman. Guess what? Huge differences all round but the only one we all agreed showed flat out, universal improvement was with the walkman. All the others had a mix of tonal colouration (or maybe it was warmth, we argued), spatial muddiness, some clarification in the midrange but in all nobody was overwhelmed or even whelmed except that it made the $79 walkman sound like a $300 Sony player so maybe you could be a few dollars ahead.

I had read that this product is really dependant upon what plugs into it. Nothing like checking it out with your own ears.

Gives cd sound more presence and breathes easier.

Yet to find out.

Something like the M/F X10D is either impress or depress people depending what type of system you have and your "personal" ear. I have a Pioneer PDS904 cd player and have placed the X10D between my M/F E20 Pre and E30 power amps. All I can say is it has added life to the Pioneer and although I think it is a tad over priced, I am pleased with it. Audition first if you can to avoid disappointment!

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Adds some harmonic richness to midrange, rolls off highs for those who think CD is harsh

Loss of detail on both highs and lows.

I tried this unit with 4 different CD players and found the same effects on all. There was a general loss of fine detail and increased "muddiness" in the lower bass. For a critical listener the effect was maddening (and not subtle - the "air" around percussion instruments is dramatically reduced).

However if someone has a lower priced system with speakers that render CDs as sounding overly harsh, then they might find it more enjoyable. Highs are rolled off and the midrange is given a bit of emphasis.

So I strongly recommend against it if you have good equipment. But if you've got a CD player with hot high frequencies into speakers with a metal tweeter, then you might find yourself relaxing and enjoying the music more with it in your system.

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I bought one of these and was so-so about its performance until I heard that the cheap 6922 tubes could be upgraded. I swapped out a pair of Teslas and now I LOVE this X10D. With the old tubes it sounded a little muffled with mushy bass. Now it sounds totally transparent - I'm using Magnepans with ribbon tweeters.
Give this a try if digital sound is wearing you out.

Intrigued by the ads in Audio Advisor and the reviews I saw here, I decidedto see if this thing could smooth out the harsh sound I was hearing from my
CD changer(Yamaha CDC-755). Simple set up and now I find myself looking for
more old cd's to re-listen to. Unfortunately, it can't do much for poor
recordings, but what can?

It truly opened up the sound stage, smoothed the harshness, and solidified
the bass. My B&W804's are getting a real workout and I'm enjoying the hell
out of hearing them work so hard. I would be VERY interested in another model to put btwn my pre and 5-channel power amp. When I see it, I'll buy it, too.
A great addition!

X10-D made the sound much warmer and more body and liquid. It's more forward w/very analog "tube sound". Need good cables otherwise hurt transparency.
Good for a low to mid-end CD players. Don't know about hi-end.
Good stuff. Quite musical.

When friends or visitors ask me " what is that thing on top of your amp" I tell them it's a X10-D from Musical Fidelity and when I start to explain a little about it, they always get aweird expression on there face untill they start listening. Then the're all running off to buy one, leaving me without goodby .So here I am listening on my one , but what the hell ,
with the X10-D you're really rather be alone so you can turn up the volume and ENJOY,cause this thing is so relaxing , for the first time its MUSIC you here, can't live without it anymore.I think it's the buy of the decade

I must agree with other reviews and commend Musical Fidelity on the X-10D, I placed one in between my carver c-1 preamp and my harmanhardon amplifier...very smooth. I have a audio alchemy set up for my cd player which helped in smoothing the cd, but the X-10D help the all around, and imaging...wow!!! I look forward to adding the upgraded power supply.

I was initallly apprehensive when I heard about the X-10D.....the usual things like "2 interconnects instead of one", "double the interconnect length", and "4 contacts instead of 2" went through my mind. Once I plugged it in, I have never looked back.....this thing is AMAZING, especially with regard to soundstage width and depth. The best upgrade possible.

I bought an X-10D, not to use between my CD player and the preamp, but to use as an impedance buffer between my passive preamp (variable output impedance) and my power amp (low input impedance ~ 25KOhms).
I was initially worried that the wonderfully transparent sound of my passive preamp would be ruined by this modest $200 device. In absolute terms, it does reduce the transparency just tiny, tiny bit. But, ah, such a small loss of transparency is more than compensated by all the goodness it adds. After about two weeks of break-in, X-10D not only sounds transparent and clean, it adds so much body, dynamics, and other good things I cannot think of any other part of system that has better performance to price ratio. In fact, X-10D is more transparent than the Sterephile Class B rated buffered output of my preamp.

Amazing product!