Natural, engaging sound, with "analog" characteristics. Above average sound stage.

Silver facia may not suit your taste.

I originally set out to improve the sound of my system by replacing the speakers (currently Klipsch RF3''s). However, after some advice from the knowledgeable (and approachable)people at a local Hi-Fi dealer, I was convinced that the problem lay with my source, a Toshiba SD2108 DVD player. In addition to the Musical Fidelity unit, I auditioned (at home) CD players from Sony, Nakamichi, and Linn. I decided on the MF A3CD within minutes of hooking it up to my system. Apart from the Linn Genki, which was also an excellent unit, the others lacked the detail and musicality of the A3CD. I spent the whole day trying out different CD''s from my collection. I''d describe the sound as quite "analog" in nature, as well as natural and revealing. After 10 hours of (nearly) continuous listening I felt no fatigue. I do have two minor criticisms. Firstly, it would have been nice to have a choice of facia color. The rest of my system is black. Secondly, when I first hooked up the A3CD, I only got sound from one channel. After twisting and jiggling the link cable into one of the analog RCA connectors, I had no further problems. Despite the relatively high price, the improvement in sound quality is more than ample compensation.This is simply a wonderful CD player that for $2,000 Australian Dollars, has transformed my system.

Similar Products Used:

Linn Genki, Nakamichi MB10 (not in same league), various Sony models.

analog sound

none at this time

Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD Player number 21 out of 500 in the world.I am in my 92 hour of burn-in, Man did the reviews not even come close!
A CD player very close to an analog . I look to see if the Nu-Vsita 3D is on or my Nottingham Hyperspace(turn table).
Now It realy is that big of a differents ."The Nu-Vista 3D is more analog then every CD play I ever tried at every store, show room, audio show or, home set-up.
Sorry that I had to but this in here but there was no were to place this review.

Similar Products Used:

alwasy used sony players

neutral and revealng.good quality.

has no volume control on remote,couch potatoes!

very happy with this player.glad i bought it.

Similar Products Used:

marantz63se with musical fidelity x can[sam tellig's suggestion]

extremely open "TRUE-TO-LIFE" sound, depth + width of soundstage, musicality, terrific design

high price paid due to low local currency - portuguese
escudo / high sterling pound + usd

Marantz cd63mkii-ki signature - purchased dec 1998
Musical Fidelity A300 dual mono - purchased april 2000
B&W CDM NT1 - purchased dec 2000
MIT cables throughout

First of all, i am a part-time musician and play
classical guitar + keyboards in a 4-man band for 12 years
(electrical guitar, electric and acoustic bass, keyboards
+ drums)
Being a musician, we have the advantage of knowing exactly what musical instruments sound like, both in the many hours spent in our rehearsal room, as well as listening to our
sound-checks through a p.a. system at live shows.

The latest upgrade in order to balance my system out was
evidently the cd player. I was very fond of the marantz, however i did feel i was not "squeezing" the most out of my amplifier + speakers. I took my marantz to the shop so that i could do a/b comparisons with both cd players.I did not in fact notice a night/day difference but i remember too well that the sound of the marantz out of the box was pretty ordinary ! I have left it in repeat mode for 4 days
running and last night i sat down to my first serious audition.

First and foremost, my lounge is 6 x 3,5 metres. The speakers are set 2,5m from each other and my listening position is 3m. The new series b&w cdm nt1 are beatifully voiced and within their price range, are absolutely sublime.
Given that they require high-powered amps (solid-state) in order to really shine, i purchased the musical fidelity a300 dual-mono (150 wats per channel) which is in my opinion, the most musical amp within it's price-range. The first notes indicated a true synergy within my system, meaning that with whatever type of music i played, classical, classical guitar,symphonic-rock, the sound was so true-to-life it was uncanny !! once again i stress that i know what instruments sound like and there, in my lounge, i had that "being there" feeling which left me with goose-bumps!
All the instruments had the correct timbre, warmth, clarity,
extremely well focused, and set within a wonderfully deep + wide soundstage. I will make a very big financial effort but i will keep the MF A3CD player ! All i know is that I have listened to very expensive hi-end systems, but if you are looking for a terrific "true-to-life" mid-priced system, this has got to be the next best thing to live music (which is after all what i want from my domestic hi-fi at least) !!!

Similar Products Used:

marantz cd 63mkii-ki signature

Sound, Looks and Function

None that come to mind

Beautiful, natural sound. Excellent bass and clear detailled top end . I am used to the sound of vinyl and found this CD player to have that satisfying, full sound that I like. The looks are great, clean lines and unfussy. The remote has all the features one could want. Perhaps it is a shame that the amps (A300) remote functions are not integrated into this one. Thoroughly recommended and a huge improvement over my old CD player (Rotel 965BX).

System
Rega 3 with Linn K9
Musical Fidelity A3CD
Musical Fidelity A300 amp
Mission 752 Freedoms
Nordost Solarwind Interconnects
Nordost Flatline Gold Biwire speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, cyrus

Beautiful tone,Crystal clear,Highly detailed and transparent. Excellent build quality. Out of this world Bang for the Buck factor.

Zero.

Five days ago I went to a High End shop where they were proudly demonstrating a $20,000 cd player. Ten minutes into the demonstration it began skipping uncontrollably. What's more, the sound was no better than you will get from this outstanding unit from Musical Fidelity. I say that without reservation. This is a fantastic unit. Very clean, highly detailed, smooth, never harsh. I fail to understand why anyone would call it "clinical", or say it has "no soul". It simply conveys the music from the disc to your ears. If what your hearing has no soul, then it's your choice in music, not the equipment. Go buy that rediculous 20k player.I, for one, have better uses for my money. Highly Recommended. Associated equipment; Anthem Pre 1L,McIntosh 2120,Vandersteen 2ce Signature, Pro-ject6.1 with Blue Point, Kimber Silver Streak throughout.

Similar Products Used:

Nad,Denon.

Detailed Sound, Imaging

None

What else can i say about this player that has not already been said. For $1000.00 this player is a steal! Pristine, detailed, smooth and very musical. Play around with cables, this player will shine with good cables. My System: M/F A300 Int. Amp. M/F A3CD Player. Marantz ST-46 Tuner. B&W CDM1NT Speakers. Creek OBH-11 Headphone Amp. Grado SR125 Headphones. Sony SVD7700 DVD/CD Player. Transparent MusicLink Plus I/C Transparent MusicWave Bi-Wire Speaker Cables.

Similar Products Used:

marantz, Adcom, Sony.

everything is absolutely clear

Build quality is extremely poor.

I own the M3 integrated and when I first got my first one of them it stopped working after 2 hrs. I was treated terribly by MF BUT I did buy the Nuvista CD. Why well it blew away all cd I heard at the time Linn, Naim,Samuel Johnston etc, I returned the first one as the biuld quality was on a par with a $50 machine and have now received my new one which still does not have perfectly fitting panels. If MF really wants to go head to head with Krell et al then they need better engineering and a customer service dept'.
The player however is absolutely wonderful and makes listening to music a joy, I previously owned a A3 CD and have nothing but praise for that player.
Components used:
MF 3D CD
MF M3 integrated
Acoustic Energy A1's
Sounds Unique stands
Nordost Blue wind interconnects (?) can not quite remember if thats right.

Similar Products Used:

Linn

Build quality, sound, value, looks.

None

I wasn't even ready to buy a new cd player. I set out to find a new amp (see Musical Fidelity A300 review) and used this cd player as the front end for the audition. To sum up, I couldn't leave the store without it. Astounding detail and sound. Clean, elegant looks and solid build. I was going to wait and see what transpires with the DVD-A/SACS war but after hearing this player I had to have it. I have over 300cd's in my collection and until one of the above formats wins and/or more software is available (at a reasonable price), I can feel good knowing that the A3 is doing my current collection justice.
There is alot of competition in the $1000-$2000 cdplayer range. They are probably all "good" machines. Please do listen to them, because they really do sound different! The Musical Fidelity sounded the best to me and should be on anyone's audition list for that price range.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam 72, Sony(mega-changer), Rotel, Rega

Up-front Musical Warm Suave Luscious almost Analog character. Presence, Soundstage, Definition, wood is almost tangible, brass/copper really shines, like if there was a veil lifted, voices (noteably female) almost embrace you.

Remote, weak as ever. Please MF, finish the job, build a matching Nu-Vista remote. Overall finish seems a bit sloppier than with M3. My unit's display is visibly tilted, and just unacceptable on a $4500 hand-built machine.

I must admit that I never pr-order anything, especially when I haven't heard teh product yet. My dealer, however, guaranteed full refund if I would not be happy. Slowly but surely reviews of pre-releases and demo-machines started to trickle in, and my curiosity grew accordingly.

I'm 1 month down in the break-in period now, and I noticed a few things during this first month. After rushing home and unwrapping my unit, #218, an A/B comparison with my beaultiful Bow Wizard immediately gave the impression of a veil being lifted, or a curtain being drawn away when listening to Miles Davis: Kind of Blue, and Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (Rudy van Gelder Edition). Miles's Trumpet really started singing! Also, the stage was wider and deeper, but more in front rather than between the speakers. The Bow provided more or less the same depth, but more backward. Overall, the unit sounded reasonably well out of the box, but still a bit superficial. However, the clarity and detail on trumpets and horns, as well as the immediate warmth of voices (Billy Holiday, Songs for Distingue Lovers as well as some other vocalists) made me decide to keep it for a while and let it run in. Over the weeks, the magic started develop. With the Bass in Thelonious Monks Columbia Years '62 '68 you could really hear and feel the wood of the Bass in the musical picture.

At this point it was clear that this baby is for keeps!

I am now gradually starting to move to other types of music that I like to see how this instrument handles with various types of blues, pop, rock, folk and classical music, but until now, I have not been disappointed. My advise would be: audition this one while supplies last, again only 500 will be built, and it would be sad if you would realise it could be the CD-Player you're looking for when it's too late.

I found one annoying thing though, and that is a very annoying soft sounding "Ping" at the start of every track. This only occurs when skipping from track to track, manually or programmed, and is almost not audible when playing through speakers. When using a pair of headphones, however, it can grow very annoying, because it's much better audible.

Anyway, I'm quite happy until now, and I'll post a second review a few more months down the road or so.

Cheers,

Willem

(relevant) Equipment used:
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD-Player
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista M3 Amplifier
Bow Technologies Wizard CD-Player
Sony XB770 SACD-Player
Kef Reference Three~Two speakers
Musical Fidelity X-Cans V2 Tube Headphone amp
Sennheiser HD600 Headphones
Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway interlinks
Harmonic Technology Pro-9 Plus bi-wired speakercable
Harmonic Technology Pro AC3 powerchords

Similar Products Used:

Bow Technologies ZZ Eight, Bow Technologies Wizard, Musical Fidelity A3, Sony XB770 SACD-Player; Sony 555ES SACD Player