I purchased the MF kW SACD player back in May 2007 via a UK dealer who sold for about 70% of its list price. I shouldn't have been that stupid after all ...
I received the unit, installed it ... and the first CD I put came out again after a minute, after a lot of incredible noise of the mechanics of the player.
The 2nd one it accepted (after half a minute ...) and I heart something ... some music behind the the mechanical noise of the player (I was standing about a meter from the player, that is ways too close).
The rest was an incredible nightmare. IF the player would take the CD (or SACD), which was 2 times out of 3 I guess, the mechanics were starting to make that much noise that sometimes you could hardly hear the music.
Support was crap and after 3 weeks I decided to sell it to a Dutch dealer who sold me in return an Accuphase DP78. I cannot judge the sound of the music the player generates as it makes too much mechanical noise.
Now to finish, after about 2 years, the poor Dutch dealer who bought this player has not been able to sell it to anybody, it is still for sale...
The MF kW SACD player has been the worst experience I have ever had with any electronic device.

I bought this unit along with the amp and preamp new, a great deal of money and connected it all up and started listening. That was in 2007. 2009 and the sacd player continues to deliver magnificent detail, clarity is marvellous so is the sheer quality of the sound in every aspect. sadly it is spoilt by the mechanism of the sacd which clicks and bangs and generally lets the unit down very badly.. The amp and preamp well the performance is flawless and I mean flawless! MF should replace all the sacd disk units with a newer type Mf clearly didnt do their research into this part of the sacd player, The mechanism is very poor and for a unit costing so much it is sad. The sound quality, well I have to hear better anywhere.

Pros:
I had a Meridian 508.20 before, which I used from 1997 till the end of 2008 for nearly every day hours long. It never failed. It has a great sound but I wanted something else; 11 years continuous use IS long. I decided on the MF because I had some 30 classical SACD’s and wanted to hear their potential. I felt for the looks. And, because the MF-player was nearly everywhere sold out, I bought it in Germany, by a renowned Hifi-specialist, for 60% of its original price. Second I wanted to know how the much talked about tube-thing of MF sounded. An extremely clear player. It extended the bass, the decibels and the impact on my Quad ESL 63’s. What no bass with Quad? In this combination, with MF’s A5 integrated amplifier, some of Shostakovitch music (8th symphony, Haitink, Concertgebouw orchestra) it knocked me out of my chair. Very lively player, detailed. Sometimes too detailed, you really can hear when recordings are soso. And, alas, there’re lots of them.

Cons:
Alas, too many. The way this player functions is very wooden. Before it starts a (SA)-CD it takes around 30 seconds before the music starts. And with what noise! It rattles and it sputters. You hear click and clack. When the CD stops: click; when you push NEXT/PREVIOUS on the remote: clack. The CD-drawer is the same as with one of the local drugstore players (20€), very very cheap looking. Very slow. And it doesn’t pop out for the full 1005, no only 90%. So you’ve to look very carefully not damaging your CD’s before leaving them on the drawer. When the drawer is opened you can’t easily push the buttons PLAY or CLOSE anymore; the drawer is above the buttons. The use of the STOP button gave a noise like sitting in a streetcar that had to make an emergency stop. The opening of the draw was as if the player disliked giving the CD back to me: very slow.

After playing 10 CD’s or so the spinning of the CD’s was clearly audible. Even from a large distance at the end of my living room (20 feet or so). It made a high humming noise which interfered with the music. Approaching the player a clock could be heard, like my grandmother had, adding extra unwanted nostalgia to the music. With some disc the spinning at the start is so loud you even don’t hear any music, skipping to track 2 the ‘normal’ situation of humming gets back.

The unit was brought for repairs and some days later a fellow from Audio Components, Hamburg, Germany, called me and told me noise was normal. I fell off my chair. He must be crazy; a €4000.- machine! He said that’s because SA-CD’s do need enormous speeds, more than CD’s, so that’s why it’s noisy. He started a lengthy conversation about McIntosh SA-CD players who’ve got the same. I don’t care, don’t have a McIntosh. But with CD’s – which following his theory don’t need enormous speed – the problem with the kW SACD is the same. So no repairs were made. The fellow in Hamburg said it was normal and my hifi-specialist said it wasn’t acceptable.

So, before you ever get the idea of buying this machine on the second-hand market, I urge you TO LISTEN. If you don’t hear disc spinning you’re lucky. (But following the guy in Hamburg it’s not the normal situation.) Take my advice: disc spinning isn’t normal!!! SA-CD players from Marantz, Sony, Denon and Yamaha don’t have this problem and they’re sometimes considerable cheaper.

Bought a Musical Fidelity kW SACD Player. I have a query on the SACD/CD playback function and would like to seek the advice from the users of this SACD Player . The "problem" is as follows:-

1. When a normal CD is inserted into the player, the word "CDDA" will appear on the display.

2. When a SACD layer only disc is inserted, the word "SACD" will appear on the display.

3, When a hybrid disc (i.e. with SACD layer and CD layer) is inserted, only the word "CDDA" will appear on the display.

My questions are:-

In situation 3 above, do you know whether kW player is playing the SACD layer or simply the CD layer (as only "CDDA" is appearing but not "SACD")?

Further, is there a way I can switch between the CD layer and the SACD layer in the case of a hybrid disc for comparison purpose? My Sony SCD-1 allows me to do the switching.

I have checked through the manual and there is nothing there. The remote does not have any button offering the "switching" function.

Many thanks.

Solid build, both tube and solid-state outputs,fabulous sound through the tubes!

None yet.

Best SACD player out there with only the Accuphase DP 100 and the DCS Verdi/Purcell stack as it competitors. It replaced my Sony 777ES SACD player and was clearly superior. I have the NuVista integrated amp and Monitor Audio GR60 speakers with it. It's sonic heaven !

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Musical Fidelity NuVista CD player Sony 777ES SACD player

The sound.

Few functions.

It gives you everything is on the cd. The best cd i've ever heard. Everything comes out. You are in the first row at your private concert.

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