Design background

Most high-end components offer incredibly bad value. Why do we say this? Because, as crazy as it sounds, about four to five percent of the cost of good value high-end electronics is in the actual electronics that do the work. The other 95% of the cost is in the metalwork and other items that don’t contribute to sound production or sound quality. Basically, high-end is a lot of show and not much go for a huge cost.

Musical Fidelity has always tried to offer value for money. We feel that to offer grossly overpriced bling is an insult to customers – so we have turned the conventional cost-ratios on their head. By doing this, we are able to offer state-of-the-art performance at shockingly low prices.

The V-Series is the result of our iconoclasm. We have eliminated pointless metalwork, bling and packaging, and concentrated on performance. Typically, the V-Series has 60% to 70% of its cost in electronics. The quantity and quality of components in any of the V-Series is pretty well identical to those from high-end components costing ten times (or more) the price. The difference is that the V-Series is housed in nicely finished, economical metalwork as opposed to bloated high-end excess.

Once you take this approach, everything begins to fall into place.

PCB

You don’t need a big PCB. PCBs are purchased by the square inch. The smaller a PCB, the smaller its cost. When you analyse the space that circuitry requires, the PCBs needed seem, by high-end standards, very small. They are not small, they are just the right size. Lots and lots of money saved.

Once you have defined the size of the PCB, you have also fixed the size of the metalwork.

Metalwork

Metalwork does not need to be huge or heavy. It simply has to wrap around the PCB. Because we are using small PCBs, the metalwork is dramatically reduced. Less metalwork equals less cost. In addition, Musical Fidelity has invested in tooling to ensure that the piece-part cost of metalwork is very low.

Front panels

From some points of view, high-end is only about front panels. Just look through all the brands. It is front panel city. But do front panels contribute anything to the sound or performance of any product? Hmm... But they do cost a fortune. Typically, a high-end front panel will be as much as 30% of the total cost. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

The V-Series does not have front panels. We have inputs at one end, and outputs at the other. This has a profound effect on the cost and also on the internal layout of the PCB.

Linear layout

The V-Series PCB layout is a linear flow from input to output. Conventional electronics have all the inputs and outputs on one face. Inevitably, inputs will be positioned next to outputs (and interfere with each other), signal paths will be unequal in length and capacitance, earth lines will not be necessarily symmetric and power supply routing will always be questionable.

With the V-Series linear layouts, none of these potential major problems are present. Because of this, the technical performance of all the V-Series is extraordinary. In doing our best to reduce manufacturing costs, we had to develop a whole new approach to layout. Not only did we save money – we devised circuits that deliver astonishing technical performance.

Invest in tooling to keep piece-part costs low

Musical Fidelity has invested in production tooling for the V-Series to ensure that piece-part costs are as low as possible. We have also committed to manufacturing large quantities of the V-Series, which enables us to negotiate gratifying quantity discounts that we can factor into our pricing structure. As a result of all the above, the V-Series represents true state-of-the-art performance at extremely competitive prices.

It is not rocket science, but it does require an absolute commitment to achieving the end result of incredible value for money for the audiophile.