Hot Product Archives: "
Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 Headphone Amplifier"
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Times change and we change with them
The original X-Cans (V1 and V2) were cheap'n'cheerful designs housed in extruded-aluminum tubes. The X-Can was driven by an external wall-wart power supply and was built around a pair of tubes (also 6922s, if I recall correctly). The basic design was good, although many owners felt that it could be substantially improved with a heftier power supply and different power tubes.
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Who will change new lamps for old?
While we were on the subject of things that made people feel better, I asked Antony about the tubes Musical Fidelity used in the X-Can V3 -- after all, so many people insisted on playing mix’n’match with the tubes in the V1 and V2.
"Reliability is what's important to us -- we've only had about 2% tube failure ever on our tube products. In my opinion, [tube rolling] is all BS anyway. Providing the tube is roughly the right gain group, roughly the right current group, it should work -- if it doesn't, you haven't designed your circuit properly. I think things should be consistent and predictable, which is why we went back to first principles in designing the V3."
First principles?
"Very low output impedance, sufficient gain, and lots of load-driving ability. The V3's circuit is amazing -- you could use it as a preamp if you got a cable terminated in a phono plug. Actually, I thought about adding an output connected to the volume control, but then you'd need a switch. And then we could have added an extra input (or two), and we'd need to add another switch -- and where would it all end? With a product that was a preamp and cost $1000, and that's a different kettle of fish entirely."
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...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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