Musical Fidelity B1xi Review

Introduction

It has been a busy few years for Musical Fidelity. Having become part of the Pro-Ject group of companies, they have broadened their range, both in terms of the categories they are active in and the price points they contest. The company has become a significant contender in a variety of areas.

At their heart though, Musical Fidelity is best known as a manufacturer of amplifiers. It is what the company started with in terms of products and still the category where they are most significant.

Over the coming months, there will be a selection of updated models bearing the ‘Xi’ badge. The intention is to add features and tweak the specification to bring some already excellent amplifiers bang up to date.

What you see here though isn’t an update of an existing amplifier but an all new model. The B1xi resurrects a name from Musical Fidelity’s past (the original was a simplified and more affordable version of the A1 integrated amplifier) and is intended to compete with the influx of new arrivals at the sub £1k price point.

To do this, it represents a considerable departure from the amp it replaced which was almost entirely devoid of features. Can the more lavishly specified B1xi challenge the best at the price point?

Price

In the UK, the Musical Fidelity B1xi is £699. In the USA- for the moment at least – it has a suggested retail price of $879 (and the fact that the B1xi is not made in China might help it stay somewhere near this price). In Australia it can be had for $1,600 AUD.

If you are reading this from the UK, it’s worth pointing out that the predecessor to the B1Xi is also still available. It’s called the M2si and you can buy it exclusively in Richer Sounds for £799.

Unlike the B1xi, the M2si is almost completely devoid of features (in fact, it only has one function – an AV bypass-over and above the absolute minimum required to be classified as an integrated amp) but it’s a fine sounding device that might be just what you need if you already have source equipment.

Design

• Classic Musical Fidelity looks
• Unusually practical
• Solid build compares well to rivals

The basic styling and design of the B1xi is in keeping with Musical Fidelity amplifiers dating back well over a decade now. There are styling details on the B1xi that you will find replicated on the range topping NuVista equipment so there is a clear sense of brand identity that works in the company’s favour.

Unlike some of those more expensive models however, the B1xi is only available in black). It’s not the last word in modernity; the B1xi doesn’t look screamingly up to date… but it’s unlikely to look horribly dated in a decade either.

Some aspects of the Musical Fidelity are rather good in a day to day practicality sense too. You can select inputs directly from the front panel and adjust the volume level that the amp will start at while it’s powered off.

These might sound trivial but only the Cambridge Audio CXA81 MkII (which is £300 more than the Musical Fidelity) can match these niceties at the price point. Using this amplifier day to day is a fundamentally pleasant experience, helped a remote control that is small but respectably kitted out.

The standard of build is good too. The chassis made of metal and feels very solid and, while the controls don’t elicit quite the same robust feeling, neither do they feel like they’re going to come away in your hand either. The B1xi isn’t as highly finished as the Audiolab 6000A MkII or Arcam Radia A5 but it’s very solidly bolted together and it feels like it’s going to last the course.

Specification

• Decent selection of analogue inputs
• Reasonably comprehensive digital board
• No streaming though… deliberately
• 60 watt Class AB amplifier

The fundamentals of the B1xi are reasonably traditional. Three analogue RCA inputs are supported by a front panel 3.5mm input (quite a rare thing in this day and age) and a moving magnet phono stage. There is also an RCA stereo preout rather than a single sub out.

This is because there are Musical Fidelity power amplifiers further up the range and it allows the B1xi to be used as a preamp for them if that’s how you choose to upgrade in the future.

These analogue connections are partnered with a digital board. This adds four more connections; two are optical and coaxial connections which support sample rates to 24-bit/192kHz. This is joined by a Bluetooth input that is built around a v5.1 platform and that supports aptX and AAC codecs on top of the default SBC.

Lastly, there is an HDMI ARC connection. This is a welcome fitment and puts the Musical Fidelity in fairly rarified company at the price point. The way this connection functions is a little odd though because it functions as a direct input to the power amp section and bypasses the front panel volume control which did mean that the LG B8 OLED here started at full volume which was quite exciting until turned down – which has to be done on the TV remote as the front panel control has been bypassed. It did work correctly on the Philips 65 OLED909 though.

What you won’t find on the Musical Fidelity though is any form of board streaming. Visit the Musical Fidelity website and you’ll find quite a lengthy scribe about the conscious decision to not fit Wi-Fi or on board streaming.

It covers a variety of reasons why the company hasn’t chosen to equip the B1xi with this functionality, the gist of which is that Musical Fidelity doesn’t want to risk part of the amp becoming obsolete and unsupported ahead of time. Something that will might help you choose a suitable streamer is the fitment of a 5V USB power socket on the rear panel that will happily power a WiiM Pro or Bluesound Node Nano without tying up another mains socket. This is good thinking and a useful extra addition.

The amplifier section itself is in keeping with Musical Fidelity’s design priorities. It’s a class AB unit that benefits from a toroidal power supply that is pretty large by the standards of amps at this sort of price. Power is quoted at 60 watts into 8 ohms and 100 into 4, albeit at a relatively high THD of 1% (or, ‘a bit higher than some rivals quote at’ if you aren’t too sure of what they means). In testing here, the B1xi has not felt wanting for power with any of the speakers it has been tested with.

Performance

• Potent and engaging sound
• Digital board is good but the analogue section is better still
• Solid partner for TV viewing
• Bluetooth is also excellent

Even though Musical Fidelity amplifiers come in a variety of shapes and sizes with outputs varying from 30 to 800 (no, really) watts, there is a very definite house sound to the company’s products. The good news is that the B1xi doesn’t tinker with this basic character.

There is a potency and sense of drive with the Musical Fidelity which is consistently good fun. Even when running with the relatively benign Mission 700; a speaker that the 6000A MkII formed a very happy partnership with, the B1xi is able to exert a level of control over lower frequencies at lower listening levels that makes everything sound more authoritative.

What’s important to get across is that this potency isn’t something that turns everything you play into something that can feel a bit relentless. The magnificent Just Me by Ewan Currie is a chilled, retro tinged masterpiece and the Musical Fidelity keeps these qualities completely intact while making sure that there is some thumping good low end to underpin it.

The Mission has naturally good bass whatever you connect it to but here, there is a control and definition that squeezes a little bit more out of them. No less importantly, even with the distinctly lo-fi Evan Currie recording, the Musical Fidelity keeps the top end of the Mission sounding sweet and controlled.

This behaviour is extremely consistent across both the analogue and digital boards but I’d give the nod to the former as the best performer. The B1xi uses an ESS DAC for decoding and the results are perfectly listenable but, when I used a Bluesound Node Nano over both the optical and the RCA out, I found myself preferring the RCA connection.

It feels a little like Musical Fidelity was trying to avoid some of hard edge that can bedevil ESS hardware. As a result it’s actually wound up being fractionally softer than the Node Nano and doesn’t feel as dynamic.

Where this really shows is the phono stage. The B1xi is the first sub £1k amp I’ve tested that can deliver an experience as satisfying as the Rega Brio Mk7 when running with a turntable. An enthusiastic blast through Ladies and Gentlemen, We are Floating in Space by Spiritualized isn’t ‘good for the phono stage in an affordable integrated amp’, it’s just ‘good.’  Combined with that naturally grunty amplifer section, there’s no shortage of headroom either. If you are a turntable user, the B1xi gets an awful lot right.

This is also true about the HDMI ARC performance. Yes, it’s a bit quirky operationally but the actual sound quality is hard to fault. Once again, it’s that feeling of power and impact that really helps things along. I entrusted an episode of Foundation on Apple TV to the Musical Fidelity and, as well as covering the basics; clear dialogue, locking events on screen and giving a bit of heft to events, it managed to make good on that same feeling of excitement and overall welly. The B1xi has managed to make all viewing an event and I rather like it for that.

Something else that has impressed me is the Bluetooth connection. I pressed the Astell & Kern PD10 into service as a Bluetooth source (at which it excels) and was genuinely enthused by the results.

Connection with the Astell & Kern was straightforward and stable and Neal Francis’ Return to Zero is a genuinely engaging experience when played over an aptX connection. This is far more than a convenience feature and something that would warrant use for critical listening. It adds weight to the idea that the B1xi will deliver on its considerable qualities however you choose to use it.

Should you buy it?

FAQs