Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Tuner by BaddaBob

Model:	MD-102
Category:	Tuner
Suggested Retail Price:	$2500
Description:	In house manufactured 5 stage tuning front end, dual antenna Inputs, shielded torroidal transformer
Manufacturer URL:	Magnum Dynalab
Model Picture:	View

Review by BaddaBob ( A ) on November 26, 2004 at 04:06:35
IP Address: 24.156.106.153

Add Your Review
for the MD-102

First off I have to acknowledge that I am not a professional reviewer, and that this is the first high end tuner I have owned. This review is no doubt tinged with first flush enthusiasm.
I looked at and listened to a couple of mid-fi tuners (NAD, Rotel) but couldn't form any serious opinion since they were always demoed with mid-fi components, and I didn't think their stats were that good. I liked what I heard in the Magnum Dynalab tuners, and was thinking of the MD-100, but the MD-102 had better THD stats (0.10% for BOTH mono and stereo). I thought that there is already enough noise in the FM band without the tuner adding more, so I moved it up a notch to the MD-102 and am I happy I did.
Right off the bat, I was impressed with the quality of the sound that came out of this tuner. At first listen, I thought "now this is what a good CD player should sound like." Well, like I said, first flush enthusiasm, but the sound IS that good. Most of my listening for this review has been for jazz, since the jazz station here gets terrific reception. Classical is not bad, and I just got an ST-2 antenna which has improved it considerably, but I haven't spent a lot of time listening to it yet. Two nights ago the local jazz station had a group of musicians in the studio playing live - wow.
Bass is just terrific - a walking bass line in a good jazz piece is a marvel to listen to. Mids are detailed and full - every instrument stands out very well. Nice sound stage - might be limited by the room, so could be better than I am hearing. Highs are clean, although a bit rolled off, which is due to shortcomings in FM technology more than anything. Piano sounds like a pie-ano! The reverb is there, you can hear the pedals muting the strings, very little is lost.
Tuning is easy and the dual antenna inputs are a great touch - you can compare your cable FM reception (sucks) to antenna (much better). I found that even the little bit of wire MD includes in the box "for testing purposes only" gave me better reception in my canary cage downtown big city apartment than my cable tv radio reception.
A wonderful tuner IMHO and well worth putting on your audition list. For me, the fact that it is NAFTA made was attractive, although this is understandably not everybody's cup of tea.

Product Weakness: None that I can think of
Product Strengths: Easy tuning, wonderful sound, strong signal reception, double antenna input

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Bryston 3BSST
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Bryston BP25
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Toshiba SD-2815 with Monarchy DIP Classic and Ack! dAck
Speakers:	ACI 25th Anniversary Sapphires
Cables/Interconnects:	DH Labs Theater Select
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz
Room Size (LxWxH):	14 x 20 x 10
Room Comments/Treatments:	none
Time Period/Length of Audition:	2 weeks
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	None that I can think of
Product Strengths:	Easy tuning, wonderful sound, strong signal reception, double antenna input