mf..why so bloody popular

I am trying to get my head around why mf is so popular....I know its well made, well designed, but why does it seem to be cultish and go well?

 

Interesting. I had no idea

Tony.

(who has found more dry joints in MF kit than in a hippie's ash tray...)

 

lol that's a good quote, try telling it to the mad hippy!!

 

I suspect is because of MF's policy of replacing its product range every 6 months. what with this and being in with the mags (hence all the best buys) pull in the inexperienced punters.

What would be interesting to find out is how long the average length of ownership of MF kit is. I owned some for a short time and got rid of it fairly quickly due to disappointment with the sound. Sounds great to start with, but then terminal boredom sets in.

 

....er....because lots of people think that it sounds great.... just like other brands that coime to mind, no big mystery!

 

I don't mind the look of their older round kit, but the new stuff looks tacky and their reference stuff looks like sad penis extension stuff only before seen on the odd nova body kit.

Trouble is all the MF I have heard sounded shite.

 

what garyi ^ said

 

A few reasons come to mind:
1. Looks nice
2. Usually get stonking mag reviews. So if that's what you base your buying decision on....
3. I guess that someone must actually like the sound of it

 

May be it is the name 'Musical Fidelity'!
Many punters buy them believing that they get what is written on the box. Then few weeks later they pass it on, creating high turn-over leading to a kind of popularity.
:JPS:

 

Because the stuff I've heard of MF sounds so horribly tune-challenged, dull, and somewhat "fruity" in the bass - and this was a minor caveat in an otherwise glowing review I read a few years back. Never mind the vedict, the devil is obviously in the detail...

Hi-fi wallpaper and zero musicality, imho.

They advertise rather a lot and where reviews are concerned it just may be a case of he who pays the piper... doesn't hear the tune.

 

Does that not then show the effectiveness and how easily people are swayed by 1/ good marketing, 2/ packaging 3/ changing often and 4/ what they read in a comic mag....my that is worrying, how easily led people are

 

I had two X-Can amps, the v2 and v3... they both looked and felt fantastic. However, they both seemed to use ridiculously cheap components, that have a tendency to fail, and when compared to a rival amp (v3 versus Perreaux SXH1) quite honestly, it doesnt stand a chance.

Surely they make *some* good products though?

 

certainly the mf kit i heard a whole ago was doing some things right but at the end of the day it was outclassed by the naim gear i eventually bought. i can understand why some people would chose things the other way round though. the nu-vista cdp i heard was dull, dull, dull though - but again it's all down to opinion and i can understand why some would like the nv 3d and say that other players are harsh and forward. it's all a matter of taste.
i was under the impression that mf stuff was reasonably well built but as i've never looked into one i'll deferr to thers who obviously know better.
does anyone have any opinions on the mf ti-visor 21 dac?
cheers


julian

 

...or Sony televisions...

I'm with Garyi on this - but their EARLY kit like The Preamp and Typhoon power amps were fairly PRaTy and rocky in my mate Vince's old system, back in 1992...

 

Very true!
TV and other advertising for example, often inform you very little about the product but try to conjure up an image that is appealing to the market segment they target.
Marketing is all about creating "Perceived value and not real value".
The likes of Russ Andrews are experts at that and exploit it to the full.

 

I do admit to being rather underwhelmed by the A3 series, but as a current owner of an M3 (MF - not Beemer - and albeit retired), I found it completely wiped the floor with the mainstream competition in similar price bracket (e.g. Naim, Linn, Meridian). Maybe if PRaT is the only thing you're interested in then YMMV, but to my ears it has bounce enough and all the things those others completely ignore. The 3D CDP also produced the most beautiful sound I've heard in its price bracket too - but does smooth over a fair bit of detail.

So that's popular, at least in part, because it's damned good! (It's just I've found better since)

Now I guess you can all beat me with your rhythm sticks .

So why is Naim so popular? (No...please DON'T answer - I think I know, and I'm not really interested)

 

I think it's become popular to bash MF because they are successful and are perhaps a bit more marketing led than other brands but the stuff I've heard hasn't been bad. Not really my bag but very good at doing what it does.

It's interesting that in the recent HiFi News review of the Trichord clock 4 upgrades and Tone & Timpy's mains lead that despite all the "grooviness" that those bits and pieces may have added Howard Popeck still ended up preferring his un-modded, stock mains lead NuVista 3D CDP . He preferred it to the hot-rodded DVD player acting as transport for a TriVista 21 DAC. That's not intended as a comment on the mains lead or mods, more as an indication that HP rather likes what the NuVista CDP does.

I haven't heard the TriVista DAC21 but it has had rave reviews from all the mags that have had it and one or two people over on HFC thought it gave a DAC64 a run for its money .

Their new M1 TT has had some pretty good reviews too (and looks rather tasty IMO). Walrus Systems in London are hardly the kind of people to be taken in by MF marketing and they also seem to rather like it.

Michael.

 

I've still got an old MF B200 as emergency fallback for when (sorry if) the Lumleys fail.
And funnily enough, it sounds pretty good indeed..
I haven't had any of the newer stuff impress me though.. The NuVista I thought was just bland and bling!
But then I haven't had much Naim impress me either - though I felt that was more a case of All Show And No Go (and very little bling)

 

I'm quite impressed by their marketing. I've got a few X-bits and so ended up on their 'Club' newsletter round. Unlike Russ Andrews' propaganda efforts, which irritate me intensely and have me reaching for the green ink, the MF marketing is cleverly 'inclusive'. I think they are very good at creating pride of ownership and aspiration, and propagating the 'we're just a little family business' and 'we're really excited about this' routine. You can see through some of it but it doesn't wind you up in the way that RA does... Good luck to 'em.

 

Not sure about MF

I had a look at some Mf gear before I purcahased my Exposure kit and have to say that I was totally put off when I saw inside the amp.

Where as the Exposure is very tidy and well laid out the MF was a complete mess and look at little like a McDonalds burger.

Thought I would add this !

Paul.