Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Vinyl Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Hagerman Bugle vs. Musical Fidelity X-LPS v3

Posted by dean man jim (A) on October 18, 2005 at 10:52:07

Inmates,

This is as short as I could make it!

You might recall that in mid-September VA member VinylGenXer generously made his Bugle available as a review sample. I immediately signed up to try it. After hearing it for a second or two I realized it was much better than the “good” phono stage built into my NAD pre amp/receiver. A little digging in the VA archives provided some comparative statements about the Bugle being better than “anything available under $500” (and elsewhere I found a direct comparison with the $1000 DacT CT 100, which the Bugle won), so I became curious about how it might fare in my system against another carefully chosen product. So I ordered a Musical Fidelity X-LPS v3 from Audio Advisor, which has a 30-day return policy and lightning-fast shipping, to conduct a “free” in-house comparo. My own system is decidedly entry-level hi fi (paraphrasing Arthur Salvatore’s language), so this “under $500” price category made sense.

There were a few reasons I chose the Musical Fidelity as a competitor for the Bugle. At $400 it certainly fits the “anything available under $500” category. This is also a ‘new and improved’ model, supposedly a league or two ahead of the last “can shaped” model they produced (the earlier version had reportedly been outperformed by a Bugle). After review, our friends at Stereophile categorized the new Musical Fidelity phono stage as a great overachiever, and placed it a full two performance classes higher than the Bugle (Class B vs Class D, in the 10/05 issue). Stereophile isn’t alone, as I found other seemingly legit reviews that have been similarly complimentary toward the MF, stating that it performed well beyond its price point. I also chose my lovely spouse to serve as a blind tester—she sees quite clearly but is unconcerned about which wire is going where, making it easy to superficially and thusly camouflage the units. I’ll be brief in reporting our observations…

Similarities. Both phono stages provided more musical enjoyment, compared to the built-in (supposedly “good”) phono stage I referred to above. They provided more of everything that is good and less of everything that is bad. Either one would be a welcome companion for our Thorens TD150 MkII turntable. With some recordings the similarities far outweighed minor differences that we noticed. For instance solo piano recordings, direct to disc and other excellent “recording studio” recordings of small-scale music, were equally enjoyable through both phono stages, more or less. The nit-picking differences were slightly better detail from the Musical Fidelity, but slightly better suppression of surface noise from the Bugle. I was also expecting the Bugle to create less noise—the MF was quieter, but neither produced audible hiss or other noise when playing an LP at any volume. The Musical Fidelity began to pull away, though, when we listened to rock/pop/jazz recordings, that have a deeper, “dialed in,”soundstage courtesy of talented recording engineers. On these recordings the MF bested the Bugle, seemingly by the degree to which the recording in question had this type of depth. Examples if you want ‘em.

Differences. Significant differences did consistently appear between these two in recordings of larger-scale music (chamber orchestra, full orchestra, orchestra + chorus), and chamber music, that was recorded in a real hall. One of the differences is that the Musical Fidelity provided a "roomier," deeper, and taller soundstage--which in turn provided more stable imaging and better resolution of detail. If anyone is curious specific examples are available, with or without the list of music we listened to.

So for us, with the recordings we listened to, and our system, the Bugle was bested by the Musical Fidelity on “better” recordings. The Bugle is now on its way to another curious inmate, and my wife and I get to keep the Musical Fidelity for two more weeks or so before we decide what to do (or what not to do).

Sincere thanks, again, to VinylGenXer for his generosity in loaning his Bugle! This was my first in-home comparison, and it was fun!

Jim

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Sonic Craft

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---