Musical Fidelity V90-BLU5 HD, Bluetoothreceiver and DA-Converter

Musical Fidelity V90-BLU5 HD, Bluetoothreceiver and DA-Converter

V90-BLU5 HD – Overview

The V90-BLU5 HD is a sophisticated Bluetooth receiver, ideal for receiving music from smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs directly to your hi-fi system. It can also be used as a digital/analog converter for many digital applications such as TV, receivers and other digital sources. Connected directly to your hi-fi system, the V90-BLU5 HD delivers high-quality sound from its internal digital/analog converter and high-quality analog output stages. The diverse online platforms in particular provide a wealth of interesting film and sound material, which no longer has to be heard through the inferior speakers in smartphones and tablets when using the V90-BLU5 HD. With the V90-BLU5 HD you can enjoy sound transmitted via Bluetooth in well-known MUSICAL FIDELITY sound quality via your HiFi system.

Just typical MUSICAL FIDELITY: Powerful, dynamic, musical

V90- BLU5 HD – Technical background

The V90-BLU5 HD has a few aces up its sleeve. First of all, there is the Bluetooth receiver function. The V90-BLU5 HD complies with the Bluetooth Class 5 standard and can cover distances of up to 240 meters in a clear view. Of course, this also depends on the sending device. If this has a lower standard, the range will be reduced according to its specifications. The V90-BLU5 HD supports apt-X HD as a sound standard. The second feature is the digital/analog converter. The V90-BLU5 HD has one optical (Toslink) and one coaxial (S/P-Diff) digital input, which outputs all incoming PCM signals at the analog output with the perfect, powerful sound typical of MUSICAL FIDELITY.

The connection is very easy to establish. Simply start the pairing procedure on the sending device and confirm the pairing by pressing a button on the V90-BLU5 HD - done. After pairing once, the two devices will automatically connect again the next time they are used. The operation is kept as simple as possible. Bluetooth always has priority. As soon as a device is paired and plays sound, the V90-BLU5 HD automatically switches to this source. Otherwise it plays the connected digital sources, to which you can assign your preference using a priority switch on the back. Pressing the button once switches to the other source.

The V90-BLU5 HD is a versatile device and a beautiful piece of engineering and a rare opportunity in this sector to bring music from Bluetooth and other digital sources in unprecedented quality as close as possible to music lovers.

V90- BLU5 HD – more details

Compared to most Bluetooth receivers that use the built-in DAC on the Bluetooth chip itself, the V90-BLU5 HD is the true high-end way to go. It uses a separate DAC with re-clocking and up-sampling, based on the premium Burr-Brown PCM1781D chip. Bluetooth has never sounded so good!

The vast majority of Bluetooth receivers use the digital-to-analog converter built directly into the Bluetooth chip. This one is largely of mediocre quality because what it was designed for - a hands-free car phone system or small portable handheld speakers - does not require parameters that meet the requirements of high-end audio. This of course has a negative effect on the sound. The V90-BLU5 HD uses a separate DAC based on the premium Burr-Brown PCM1781D chip. The digital signal from the Bluetooth receiver is re-clocked and upsampled, and then processed by the D/A converter.

As a high-end sample rate converter from Burr Brown, its job is to re-clock and convert all signals to 24 bit and 192 kHz. The up-sampling performed in this sophisticated and clean implementation allows it to achieve the lowest distortion levels, maintaining and improving the integrity of your Bluetooth wireless music.

The V90-BLU5 HD features an audio-oriented HiFi chip from leading manufacturer Qualcomm. CSR8670 is a premium product that supports the development of highly differentiated premium Bluetooth audio products. CSR8670 itself even has a relatively high-quality integrated DAC - also with 24/192 function. However, after extensive listening tests, the developers of MUSICAL FIDELITY discovered that things could be much better.

V90- BLU5 HD – more details

So they designed and built their own digital section, consisting of a separate SRC and DAC in typical MUSICAL FIDELITY fashion. The result has been
worth it: The V90-BLU5 HD is probably the best Bluetooth receiver on the market!

V90-BLU 5 HD uses the latest Bluetooth standard 5.0: Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest version of the Bluetooth standard. This offers various improvements, but only when used with compatible devices. The range of the Bluetooth connection has been increased to 240 meters (compared to 30 meters in Bluetooth 2.0). Even when obstacles and changes are in the way, more bandwidth can be accessed to ensure consistently high bit rates for your aptX HD transmission. Of course, this requires a mobile device that also supports these standards. If you have an older phone without BT 5.0, the standard is still fully backwards compatible and will fall back to previous BT versions, although range and bandwidth will of course be affected.

AptXHD

V90-BLU5 HD is equipped with aptX HD. This codec was developed to meet the growing demand for high-resolution audio. This advanced codec supports high-resolution 24-bit formats over Bluetooth. For aptX HD to work, it must also support your mobile device. Through careful engineering and expert board design, we were able to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, resulting in lower background noise. A lower THD and no audible artifacts ensure there is little negative interference with your music. This means we can now enable you to hear even the smallest details in your music with powerful dynamics and fine details at a truly high-end level.

Flexible input and output options The V90-BLU5 HD features analog and S/P-DIF coaxial and Toslink inputs. You can connect additional sources to these and the V90-BLU5 HD can detect an incoming Bluetooth stream and automatically switch to the BT source. This allows you to use your BLU5 HD as an input extender and connect up to 3 additional sources to it. We also included digital outputs in case you want to feed the digital signal to another DAC.

V90-BLU5 HD – The sound

Why MUSICAL FIDELITY? Anyone who chooses a device from this traditional company usually knows exactly what they are doing. And that has it's reason. From the first amplifiers in the 80s of the last century to today, MUSICAL FIDELITY has always remained true to itself. The highest musical standards at a really fair price.
The sound philosophy has always followed one goal: the highest possible power delivery capability from the amplifier so as not to put a handbrake on the music. Now every source device is also a small amplifier. The output stages that then drive the NF cable (Cinch/RCA) must deliver current without limits and extremely quickly so as not to put any hurdles in the way of the dynamics and thus the musical flow. With this recipe, MUSICAL FIDELITY has made countless, rightly proud owners musically happy for four decades.

Even in the digital age, there are no compromises at MUSICAL FIDELITY. The latest converter and upsampling components are always used in all digital devices to ensure that every detail can be heard. Same here. You will be amazed at the sonic potential even in initially data-reduced sound files. Let's be honest: you can't eat in a star restaurant every day, it has to be a curry sausage sometimes.

But there are huge differences there too. Especially the many live concerts that are waiting for your attention on the relevant online platforms can be enjoyed in unimagined quality with the V90-BLU5 HD. With the V90-BLU5 HD, your stream retains the warmth, detail, transparency and dynamism that is so often missing from other Bluetooth implementations.

Just typical MUSICAL FIDELITY: powerful, dynamic, musical!

Specifications

• Bluetooth: CSR8670 Bluetooth chip
• Bluetooth Radio Specification v5.0
• SBC, Qualcomm® aptX™, aptX™ HD
• aptX™ HD max. 24bit/96kHz; 576kbit/s
• Carrier frequency 2,402 to 2,480 GHz
• Transmitter strength +10dBm (max)
• Class 5 up to 240M range
• Class 2 up to 30M range
• D/A converter: Burr-Brown PCM 1781D 24/192 DAC
• Burr Brown SRC4392
• Total Distortion (THD): 0.01%
• Frequency response: +0, -0.1 dB (20 Hz – 20 kHz)
• Channel separation: < -78 dB
• Signal-to-noise ratio: < -80 dB (A)
• Inputs: 1 pair of RCA/Cinch sockets, line
• 1x optical Toslink up to 24 bit / 96 kHz
• 1x coaxial RCA up to 24 bit / 192 kHz
• 1x Bluetooth (antenna included)
• Outputs: 1 pair of RCA/Cinch sockets; Line
• 1x optical Toslink up to 24 bit / 96 kHz
• 1x coaxial RCA up to 24 bit / 192 kHz
• Power supply: 12 V / 500 mA DC (power supply included)
• Dimensions W x H x D (mm): 170 x 47 x 117 (including connections)
• Weight: 0.6kg (1.1kg gross)
• Finishes: Silver or Black