New Musical Fidelity M8 pre - anyone heard this

I took the plunge and bought the M8 pre and M8700 monos. they are still new and will probably benefit from run-in, but are nothing short of awesome. The pre is the really special component. Stunning transparency and detail.

Congrats. I really like the MF M series. I owned the M6i and thought it sounded very very good and organic. Though I love the dynamics and power of my Accustic Arts Power 1 integrated, I still miss the M6i.

You did forget one very important part. I did own the best MF and I gave presentations for MF. And I sold it a lot in the past. Wenn you use speakes who can give a wide an deep stage, the stage will never be of the same quality as Pass Labs can give you. But there is another very big part missing. Pass Labs can focus on the sound of an instrument. For example a recording with 2 different acoustic guitars. The Pass will let you hear the difference in sound very well, for MF this is a lot more difficult. In the world of Highend MF is good, but not the highest level. So not good enough compared to the very best.

Ok, i've put about 200 hours through these amps and am comfie they have largely settled down. They are awesome!

i am going to have to disagree with Bo1972. The M8 pre is much more transparent and detailed than the Pass XP20 I listened to and have gone back to since. My experience has been that after listening to these M8 series amps and then the Pass I feel as if there is a thin veil in front of the music with the Pass set up. The Pass is a touch warmer at the expense of lost information. TheM8 also gives better separation in space of instruments and performers. One of my audiophile friends commented last night while listening to some 24/96 material that he brought over that he was amazed by how much detail came through. But to be clear, we do not find these amps cold or mechanical, just very transparent. Of course this makes them utterly unforgiving of poor recordings.

The M8700 monos command absolute authority over my Vivid Giya 2s. they sound detailed, clean, and clear at soft volume levels and just keep sounding as transparent and unruffled right up to limits of how lound I am willing to go, generally up to 95db or so for me. i find myself creeping up to these high SP levels because with these amps i experience absolutely no edgginess or fatigue.

my only criticism is that the M8 pre's soundstage is a bit confined and certainly not as expansive as the Audio Research 5se, for example.

Some may want more warmth or other euphonics built into their equipment. Others with deeper pockets than me may want the absolute transparency of say the Boulder gear. But, for those who want to still excellent clarity and transparency with the power to deliver tremendous detail without distortion at just about any bearable volume level, these M8 series amps get as close a wire with gain as is possible without paying sums that would otherwise buy a small house or an S-class Mercedes.

I love them!