Good for unforgiving cdp like Marantz and poorly recorded cds. Add valve-like quality to overall sound.

None if partnered with the right cdp and fast amplifier.

Excellent with Marantz cd-63se, does not work with NAD C521. The more revealing the amplifier and speaker you have, the bigger the improvement. Need fast amplifier with good bass control (e.g. Naim Nait 3) to overcome occasional muddiness/slowness in bass.

cheap, easy, brilliant sound

None. But you might want to change the valves for ECC 85s. It's easy to do, will not cost you much and will improve sound even more.

The musical fidelity X10-D is an amazing product, which breaths life into music produced by cheaper CD players. I bought it to upgrade my rather low-end CD player (Philips CD 500, pre 1995). Rest of the system: NAD C340 Mordaunt-Short MS10i pearl speakers Qnect2 interconnects QED speaker cable After a good warm-up, the difference made by the X10-D was enormous. Trebels were less harsh, the mid range came to life, bass was deep and refined... separation between instruments was clear and the soundstage was far wider and more natural. In short, I am highly impressed. I have further upgraded by using NOS telefunken ECC 85 valves... and the sound is even better... with much more immediacy than the Philips tubes. It's a matter of taste, but I think one that is worth trying (the tubes only cost me 12 euros!). I have tried it on higher end CD-players and amplifiers and the results are mixed. For good sources, leave well alone. But if you have a cheap CD-player (less than 400 euros)... you cannot go wrong with the X10-D. It will make it sound far, far more refined.. with less digital harshness.

Body, realism, open and wide soundstage, atmoshpere, timbre and tonality are right and are both there!

Maybe some overdose of bass sometimes. I suppose it depends on the system it connects to....my EXPOSURE 2010 amplifier has already bags of punchy bass so it might be the case that i noticed it but may not...listen to it first.

Well, I decided to write a review for the X10-D as it seems that many people are interested to it...me too... I haven't yet buy the X10-D but when i read all there reviews here I decided to visit a dealer and ask for an audience session of my own (at my place). The dealer gave me one unit for testing it (listening to it) together with a custom AC Adapter (not an X-PSU). I listened to the X-10D for 3 days and nights before return it back (notice that the X10-D was already used for demonstration by the dealer itself). But first of all, my equipment: Amplifier: EXPOSURE 2010 CD-Player: MARANTZ CD-6000OSE Loudspeakers: MISSION 780 on stands. Original Cabling: CD-Player > Amplifier - Van Den Hul "The First" Amplifier > Speakers - STRAIGHTWIRE Sextet. X-10D Listening session Cabling: CD-Player > X10-D - STRAIGHTWIRE Chorus X-10D > Amplifier - Van Den Hul "The First" Amplifier > Speakers - STRAIGHTWIRE Sextet Speakers are BI-WIRED. Here the results: The X10-D does the following things to the music: 1) Strong, clear, detailed, punchy and "open" bass (sometimes overdose of it but it sounds tasty (?) ) 2) Soundstage gets more atmospheric for sure - speakers seem to "dissapear" (the latter depends on the music you listen to...) 3) High frequencies DO NOT DISSAPEAR but they get more "polite" instead. More "listenable" more "friendly" They are still there. 4) Instruments get real "body" and warmth. The most exctiting part of it. 5) Voices : a pleasant surprise, go listen yourself...(in 3 words: "they become real" - depending on your overall system realism of course...) Overall the music gets tonality instead of just playing notes!!! X-10D adds timbre to the music. That is what does. ATTENTION: HAS TO BE PLAYING (or just powered on ?)FOR AT LEAST 2-3 HOURS BEFORE ALL THE ABOVE BECOME REALITY. NEEDS GOOD INTERCONNECTS BOTH SIDES (Amplifier and CD-Player).

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none yet.

I use this X10-D to soften up my overly bight passive preamp (Creek OBH-12). This thing really does work a tube magic after I have repplaced those JAN Phillips with a pair of NOS E88CC by Siemens. So even though I have to sacrifice some purity of my passive preamp, I am more than compensated. My system now sounds a lot more lively with better controlled bass. I totally agree with many reviews posted below that replacing those JAN Phillips tubes with good NOS tubes is a must for this X10-D to work its magic. My associated equipments are: Arcam CD72 (used as a transport) Musical Fidelity A3 24DAC Creek OBH-12 MF X10-D MF A3CR amp B&W CDM1NT Transparent audio cables all round

Has the ability to truly change the sound of a system. Some people gripe about it, but I love mine to bits. it is an integral part of my system now... Gives dynamics, warmth, excitement and power to my system. with decent valves I doubt you'll notice any sonic degradation at all. (Unless you are dumb and use it with a Wadia and some Mark levinson amps.)

Leave to warm up for ages... Change the ECC88s for ECC85s.

This is not only a review, but a list of my experiences. I should state that I am using the buffer between my Passive pre-amp and Power Amp. Before I go on, I want to thank Damir Hlobik for his tip on ECC85s. I bought some NOS ECC85s recently and they sound a huge amount better than the Philips ECC88s. Firstly, I strongly recommend you leave this to warm up for at least 2 hours before doing any critical listening. The stock Philips Valves are quite bad (But not as bad as some second hand Mullards i bought... Must've bought duds). Initial listening showed that a veil had dropped over the entire sound. And treble was rolled off earlier. After leaving the X10-D to warm up, these symptoms lifted somewhat. Although the sparkly highs I had with the Passive pre were still absent. After warm up, I had gained so much it was astonishing... Dynamics had come back, Mid-range had body and the whole sound had more presence. It had transformed my passive pre-amp into something far, far, far superior. After a few months, the missing upper frequencies, (We're talking over 20KHz here) that I knew were there, started me thinking about a valve upgrade. I found on ebay some second hand Mullard ECC88s. (A pair of mullards for only a fiver? I should've known.) I swapped the valves over and left the X10-D to warm up for some 4 hours. Then went about lstening. It was horrible. Lumpy and odd sounding. You could not believe how quickly I replaced the Original Philips valves. 3 months later (and earlier this week) I remembered something on this page that advised people on ECC85s. well, I started thinking about this upgrade and took another quick look on ebay. Lo and behold a chappy was selling some NOS National ECC85s (Never used, Mint condition). Well, I bought them there and then for £12.50 and this morning recieved them and put them in. This has to be the cheapest upgrade I have ever made. I didn't even allow the 4 hours arm up time, I decided I'd listen to them cold. They sound better cold than the Philips ECC88s sounded after 3 months of never being turned off! And when hot? Amazing... My sparkly treble is coming back (It does not sound as open as the passive pre, But nothing does. Then again, Passive pre-amps have No bass whatsoever and are very thin and undynamic. I prefer my music to be full bodied, exciting and dynamic than for it to solely have great treble.

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Zip.

Improver Depth and Air about the Treble, Greater Speed and Clarity with the Base, New tone and Highlights on the Midrange. You will notice New elements to your music which wern''t there before.

Lousy On £700+ CD-Players, Also Due to the Valves It might not be everyones cup of tea to have one of these sucking on your Power 24/7.

System Components:- Myryard MI120 Pioneer PDS-705 Stabel Platter Teac TS-130 Turntable (Going to a Sondek Soon) Onkyo Tape Deck (Going to a Nakamitchi Soon) Partington Speaker stands 11 Year old Technics 60W speakers (Upgraded several times to improve Base/ treble and overall Sound Quality, Will be Ruaks very Soon) Various Cabes Which I collected over the years, Some good some lousy, All will be Upgraded soon. Well haveing read other review many good some bad, I notices some common themes here, The bad review were made by people who had Hi-MD or hi end HiFI setups, or used a certian kind of cable. However the biggest hings I Noticed was these people rushed home to try it. However when I firt plugged mine in I to noticed a Mudieness, and loss of sound Stage, However it did give benifits in the Base treble, and Brought some new ligt to old sounds. However Armed with a little tit-bit of information someone told me and, that was Valve amps should never be turned off once warmed up, as Valves take a time to Warm and adjust. So after pluggin it in and testing I went to work, I came bac about 8-9 hours later, My G/F had been useing it all day, And she is jsut getting in to Hi-Fi, and she was all bounce about how good it made thigs sound now. And I have to Admit after It had warmed up it sounded about 20 times better than it did when Cold. So My advice to anyone trying one, is pug it in and leave for about 5 hours, then try it, if you like it Leave it ther and Don''t unplug or turn of, as it will take another 5 hours to warm up again once cold. It made my £350 Pioneer PDS-705 Stable Platter System Sound like a £1000 System. A welcome upgrade for lowwer end CD players, however above £700 your not going to notice much improvement in sound Quality. I Should be getting My X-DAC Next week, Haveing Heard one of The Dac''s in Action I Recomend one for Low end Users, However the Technology in the X-DAC Was good for it''s time and now is quite commonplace So will be useless on newer Higher range systems. however Still the CD Pley I have may Be Crap sounding However The transport is Spot on and think Pioner were fools to stop useing it. Plus the feature on the Transport are useually found only in higher end Systems. So IF you want a good CD-player for your X10-D get a Pioneer PDS-705 Stable Platter System.

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X-DAC

Sound with adrenaline without glare

Availability not much else

This add-on line level device is nothing short of magnificent when paired with the X-PSU power supply. Here''s the real deal set-up: To get the absolute most out of this, first start with an appropriate transport...digtial out(coax) to GW labs DSP...Set at 96/24...coax out to Musical fidelity X-24k dac...analogue outs to X-10D inputs..(all powered by the X-PSU)X-10''s analogue outs..to amp. This nearly duplicates the $5000.00 Mus Fid. 3d cd machine in terms of sonics & technology..The X-10D seals the deal & steals the show. Try this set-up for yourself you can substitute An MSB dac for the x-24k & if absolutely necessary a Z-Man ASE for the X-10D...But you will lose the X-PSU in the mix.

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Z-Man ASE

One of my best buys ever.

The supplied Jan Philips tubes are quite awful, so is the supplied wall wart.

The X-10D is absolutely brilliant! But only if one does the following:

a. replace the supplied Jan Philips tubes with Telefunken (make sure they're from Germany) tubes
b. replace the supplied wall wart with an X-PSU
c. use a passive pre-amp e.g QED Passive Preamp - use one with a discrete resistor potentiometer if you can spare the cash
d. use Nordost Blue Heaven (preferred) or Nordost Solar Wind (if on a budget) interconnects
e. a clean, neutral, and musical power amp e.g Acurus A250, or Aragon 8008BB, or Aragon Palladium or Hafler 9505
f. Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables
g. A clean, neutral, musical CD player e.g. Musical Fidelity X-Ray or A3 (if you're on a budget), Sony XA7ES (if you're feeling generous), Gryphon Tabu CD-P (if you're feeling very generous)
h. ensure that your power supply is really clean
g. ensure that your power amp has enough juice to drive your speakers - my preference in speakers are B&W 800 series (Matrix and Nautilus), Harbeth HL Compact 7ES, and other BBC sounding speakers (I know B&W doesn't fit that mould)

The result is magic. If you want resolution, palpability (body), and pure musicality at an affordable price, this is it!

Over the last eight months, I've listened to heaps of high end active pre-amps, and only one has possibly surpassed the above setup - Loth X Silbatone preamp. The Loth X costs around 30,000 Singapore dollars. It's battery operated and I believe it's virtually a silver mine on the inside.

The above is my personal opinion, so please don't flame me.

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Musical Fidelity X-Pre

none

see above

This is a product that does nothing at all, except to get in the way of your music. SHAME ON YOU MUSICAL FIDELITY!!!!

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interconnecting cable of excessive length

Soundstage, warmth, reduces digital glare

none

Before critisizing the product, one should critisize the tubes that came with the product. On inspection, it came with 2 Philips ECC88's. First impression was the warmth that came with it and the slight improvement in soundstaging but it did not have the overall coherence that my system without the X10-D.
I changed the tubes to Siemens 1962 ECC88's and found everything written about it to be true. It made everything more listenable with reduced digital glare that can be a problem with my revealing system. Soundstaging improved several notches, music so liquid that it almost sounded like analog.
This product made every more listenable, more musical, which is the sole reason we pursue this passion of ours.

Associated Equipment:
Rotel 991 Cdplayer
Audiolab 8000S integrated amp
Missino 752 speakers
Van den Hul the Second interconnects
TMC Whitelabel interconnects
Ear Science power cords
DIY power cords and power block
Wharfdale equipment rack sand filled.
DIY speaker bases
DIY sound absorbers