Musical Fidelity - V90-LPS MM/MC Phono Preamp

I have a deep love of analog playback, and spend a lot of time listening to LPs. I actually have two analog systems. Both utilize tube Amps. (each has a Mac MC225). My reference system has a Mac C-11 Preamp which many people consider to be one of the best ever for LP playback. I needed another pre-amp for my secondary system as the one I was using was marginal on the Phono section. Enter the Musical Fidelity V90-LPS. As the Mac MC-225 has level pots, I am able to use the V90-LPS directly inputted to the MC-225. The sound is Fabulous! I love that the V90 is dead quiet. The RIAA EQ sounds perfect on to my ears. With nothing else in the circuit, I do not miss, or need, any further EQ such as tone control boost, or filters. The sound is pure and accurate across the entire spectrum. The Staging is wonderful. The V-90 is less warm than my C-11, and does not have quite the depth of the C-11 (using 6 Telefunken 12AX7As), but for a purchase price of under $300.00, Wow, get real! An appreciated extra is the ability to utilize a low output MC cartridge if I so decide. (currently, I am using a higher output MC cartridge, so the MM output works fine. So, to summarize, I would recommend the V90-LPS to anyone seeking great LP playback, on a defined budget.

I heard in a review or two that the soundstage and dynamics on the V90 were outstanding and played way above it's price point so I decided to try it even though my current Phono Preamp was quite satisfying and no slouch. All I can say is WOW! Everything you hear regarding this product are true the air, the soundstage are unbelievable at this price point and it preforms with speed and dynamics as well. The bass was resolved but a bit light when the music gets complicated however the fix to that was to upgrade the power supply and get rid of that little wallwart that doesn't look like it could charge my electric toothbrush. Once the power supply was upgraded this unit easily competed with pre-amps that I have heard costing $1,500 or more...I highly recommend this unit!

Imagine ordering a 48 oz Kobe steak for $25.00. Then you take a bite. Taste very good especially for the price. As you dine time goes by. Then you notice as time goes by this $175.00 Kobe steak you paid $25.00 for is now melting in your mouth.In my opinion this describes the Music Fidelity V90-LPSIt made my vintage Dual 5000 sound wonderful. I have a Pioneer Elite SC-67. It's phono stage is not of any reasonable standard. This little amp fixed that! Buy and enjoy!

After reading enough good reviews I upgraded my stock Ortofon Red on a project deput Carbon to a Denon c103 Mc cartridge. To pull that off I needed to upgrade the phono stage. Lots of articles/reviews later, the "accurate" tag was common to this preamp. This preamp + c103 provides an awesome sound on a McCormick DNA and Martin Logan Mosiac speakers. Very happy with everything about it. I feel the bass is especially accurate which is important to me.

good value

Sounds wonderful. I recently purchased a "budget priced" tube amp and after reading the swinging range of reviews on affordable tube preamps I opted for this because of good reviews and my confidence in the Musical Fidelity name and I'm not disappointed in any way. Smooth, quiet and transparent. I love it and recommend it to anyone who has 3 grand or so for an entire vinyl rig and not 3 grand for just a phono stage.

This would have been the sound quality when plugged into a high end system with good head phones that one would have expected from a boom box from the 1970's that might have cost $50 back then. VERY POOR sound. Ridiculous. Come on Amazon!!!! stop allowing this be sold and facilitating the ripping off of innocent people, remove it now.Bought this to revive an old phono player with a so-so cartridge. It has a $150 Audio Technica moving magnet cartridge with pretty good specs. This device (V90-LPS) is supposed to pre-amp the signal from the turntable. Its job is to give a really high quality out that is true to the cartridge being used. This unit makes the RCA phono out sound VERY poor, when listened thru a DAC headphone device retailing $200 and also when plugged in thru a decent Philips surround sound system and listened to with good headphones. Mids are VERY flat and dead, highs are non existent and have been dulled out, and bass is way too thumpy almost like it has been enhanced in this device. Rip off. Stay away from Musical Fidelity. You will not be happy unless you have LOW standards and simply don't know any better. The sound is so bad, it is not useable.

Bought this V90-LPS and tried it against the Emotiva Audio XPS-1 Phono Preamp. The V90-LPS sounded more open and airy. Both preamps are well constructed. Decided to keep this amp.

He notado una mejora en el sonido con respecto al previo del amplificador.

Kanon, hade en pro ject innan men märkte en vesäntlig skillad på ljudet klare ljud mjukare bas

Finalmente un suono adeguato dalle mie testine (STANTON 881S e GRADO Gold). Incredibile, ascoltato anche a casa di un amico in paragone con l'ingresso MC del suo McINTOSH ..... SUONAVA SENSIBILMENTE MEGLIO. Io lo uso sul mio vecchio ACCUPHASE ed ho aumentato sopratutto la trasparenza e l'immagine. Per quello he costa è consigliabilisimo.

Transparence, douceur des aigus et une scène ample et profonde grâce à un très beau médium et un grave épuré. C'est autre chose que le préampli intégré de ma platine ou l'entrée phono de mon amplificateur.Mise en route enfantine.

What I am about to reveal about this product was hard for me to digest, considering the favourable reviews.I purchased this Pre-Amp to digitise my collection of Vinyl, a rather mammoth task that you ever only want to do once. I was expecting a significant improvement over my 40 year old equipment. The Manufacturer claims very low noise levels (barely audible they say), so I decided to contact them before I wrote this review to ascertain whether I had a faulty unit or whether the noise levels were normal. There was no response, so here goes:As a retired Audio Technician, I've had the opportunity to evaluate a huge range of Hi-Fi equipment since 1980, so I know what I'm talking about here - there is No 'Mistake'. For proper evaluation, I tested with both a Moving Coil & Moving Magnet Cartridge. Both yielded similar Results. The output was connected to a Sony Digital Recorder. The recording level control was properly adjusted (meaning the loudest part of the record registered just just below 0dB, or clipping). If anyone is interested, the record being played was a 12" Single - Blue Monday by New Order. Now to the actual Issue - the noise level (without the record playing of course) was reading about -40db (It was also clearly audible). When the same setup is repeated with my 40 year old equipment, the noise level doesn't even show up on the meter. Now here comes the ultimate proof - I then replaced the Inputs with RCA Shorting Plugs (For anyone who doesn't know - Shorting Plugs to the Input of any Amplifier is vital when determining the noise level specification and is standard practise. It eliminates all external influences that may inject noise into pre-amp). Once this was done, the noise level was still hovering around -40db. This was all being generated by the Music Fidelity V90-LPS. The photo shows the noise level that my Sony Recorder was measuring from this pre-amp. I find it bewildering that this has not been an issue with other reviewers, perhaps it is perceived by many as 'Record Noise' and goes un-noticed, or perhaps I do have a faulty unit, but I I'm unsure because the Manufacturer didn't care enough to respond to my email.