Musical Fidelity kW DM25 Transport / DM25 DAC Digital Analogue Converter

Back in the mid-noughties Musical Fidelity introduced the kW DM Transport & DAC hailing it as the best CD playing system in the world – certainly a lofty claim. Here now we have an example of this combination coming in good condition, albeit with a couple of very small blemishes. Supplied in original factory packaging, along with remote control unit, manual, mains cables, XLR interconnect cables plus of course you will also get our standard three month warranty.
Musical Fidelity Say….
The kW DM25 Transport uses the latest technology for the reproduction of your CD collection. In the kW DM25 Transport the digital data stream is separated into left & right mono signals and then up-sampled to 96kHz, In the kW DM25 DAC the signals are further up-sampled to 192kHz which moves noise, jitter and distortion artefacts well above the audio band. They are then passed through to left and right, low noise, low distortion 24-bit digital-to-analogue converters operating at 192kHz, which allows simpler filtering of the analogue output. This in turn gives an improved audio response without the need for sharp filters that degrade sound quality. The result is a CD player which gives a smoother response than previously possible with none of the “hardness” of other players.
The kW prefix is synonymous with the best performance available. The kW 25 (25th Anniversary) system is no exception. We passionately believe that standard CD has a huge amount of life left in it – but nobody has really exploited it, until now. The kW DM25 CD system is our state-of-the art system, which extracts every last drop of information from the disc. It is a revelation.
The advantages of standard CDs are that there are more than three million titles readily available at reasonable prices, everybody has a substantial collection, and there is still lots more information to be extracted from them, if only the equipment is up to it. Contrast this with the world of DVD-A: and SACD, where there are very few titles, hardly any new recordings, lack of general availability, unreliability of the format and very high price. Although we have made the best SACD players on the market, our first duty is to the music. We want as many people as possible to enjoy a wide range of music at a fair price. Answer? The kW DM25 super CD system.
The kW DM25 system is divided into a transport and DAC. Until now, Musical Fidelity has refused to make a CD ‘transport.’ This is because virtually all (99.99%) of ‘CD transports’ turn out to be nothing but a complete CD player with no DAC and … erm … that’s it. They always cost more than the donor CD player, for less hardware. This is not the type of product that Musical Fidelity wants to be associated with.
Our new kW DM25 transport is not like anything else ever made. First off, it has proper, turntable style isolation (taken from the M1), which ensures that there is no acoustic feedback of any description. It has adjustable ride height and levelling.
Internally, the kW DM25 transport is extraordinary. Normally, a CD mechanism has one common power supply for the servo, motor and digital electronics. That’s okay if ordinary is good enough. The kW DM25 is all about the extraordinary. The motor has a completely separate, choke-regulated power supply. There is another, completely separate, choke-regulated power supply for the servo system. And yet another supply for the digital electronics. Each part of the primary source of signal informa¬tion is operating at its optimum with absolutely no interaction or interference from any other part. This is unique.
The digital signal processing is of the highest quality, but standard S/PDIF 44.1kHz single coax out¬put was not good enough for us. We have opted for the AES/ EBU digital balanced format, but even that wasn’t enough for us. We’ve really gone for broke. Left and right have their own, separate, digital balanced output each. And even that is not enough. Rather than the usual 44.1k, these separate, digital balanced outputs are operating at 96kHz. A completely unique first.
Taken as a whole, the kW 25 transport is the ultimate digital information retrieval machine. Acoustic feedback has been eliminated. The actual guts of the CD player are able to operate with a freedom and clarity never before achieved. The digital electronics are state-of-the-art with a unique output configuration. This is one amazing piece of kit.
THE NEW kW DM25 DAC
The kW DM25 DAC is based on the DAC inside the kW SACD. It is the best DAC in the world. We have managed to make a few subtle improvements to its performance. The kW DM25 DAC’s system is double dual-differential, super performance, low noise, 24-bit, 192 kHz upsampling DAC. It offers about the best technical performance of any DAC in the world, regardless of price. The noise ratio is an incredible 123dB, jitter is almost non-existent and distortion is less than 0.001% across the band.
Frequency response is virtually perfect. This level of technical performance means that the effective dynamic range is huge. Not only does it get very loud, but also, because of its extremely low noise, you can hear right into every nook
and cranny of the recording. It is wonderful to hear.
The kW DM25 DAC has two, ultra-low-impedance output stages. The first is a Class A transistor system and the second is a tube output circuit. They run simultaneously, so that you can connect them both to your inputs and switch between them, on your amp, to decide which suits a particular recording better. The kW DM25 DAC has two inputs, one dedicated to the kW 25 transport and the other for other digital inputs with sampling frequencies up to 96kHz.
Specifications:
kW DM25 Transport:
Disc Mechanism: Philips
Digital Outputs: 2 x 96kHz Mono Balanced (Left & Right) AES3 Professional 110 ohms 5V P-P
Digital Outputs: 2 x S/PDIF (XLR connector)
Power Requirements: 100 / 115 / 230V AC 50 / 60Hz (factory preset); 10 Watts
Dimensions: 440 (W) x 390 (D) x 138 (H) mm (approximate)
Weight 12.3 kg
kW DM25 DAC:
DAC Architecture: 24 Bit 192kHz sampling, advanced segment dual differential current outputs; 8 x oversampling digital filter
Input sampling frequency: 32 – 96 kHz
Digital inputs: 2 x mono balanced (left & right) AES3 professional 110 ohms (XLR connector); 1 x S/PDIF – RCA 75R; 1 x TOSLINK optical
Analogue Output, Solid State: RCA connectors
Frequency Response: 10Hz to 20kHz ref. 1kHz – +0, -0.05 dB
Signal / Noise Ratio (digital mute): >122dB “A” weighted
Total harmonic distortion: < 0.002% at 1kHz
Channel separation: > 98dB 10Hz to 20kHz
Linearity error, 1kHz: 0dB at -80dB; 0.5dB at -90dB
Audio output at digital 0dB level : 2.2VRMS at 1kHz nominal
Jitter: < 150pS
Tube Class A Output: RCA connectors
Frequency Response: 10Hz to 100kHz ref. 1kHz +0, -0.4 dB
Signal / Noise Ratio: > 115dB “A” weighted
Total Harmonic Distortion: < 0.001% at 1kHz
Overall gain: 0dB
Power requirements: 100 / 115 / 230V AC 50 / 60Hz (factory preset); 30 Watts
Dimensions: 440 (W) x 390 (D) x 138 (H)
Weight 11.9 kg

For a review from US publication Stereophile please click HERE