Help chosing an integated amp

Get the new amp from a dealer with a return policy unless you are 100% sure about the MF.

they are both very very good, excellent performance in absolute terms and terrific values for the cost -- each is built very very well, especially the kinki, which is designed in a brilliant modular fashion

they both have prodigious power (you did not say your room dimensions and speaker of choice) to drive most if not all speakers to good levels in reasonable sized rooms

to my ear, the kinki has a purer treble than the mf but a slightly more recessed midrange, both have outstanding bass, mf has a tiny bit to lower treble forwardness and a slight fine grain (to me sonically the mf units to buy are the older ones, say a308 series, or the ones with a mu vista front end, what lovely sound)

you are right, kinki lets you roll op amps, in my ex m1 using sparkos made the sound even purer, cleaner and a touch richer

the kinki is from a chinese company, made in china, with a service center in texas

mf gear is assembled in taiwan, not sure where their usa service center is, i am sure their current importer has one or more usa service partners do any warranty or repair works as needed

Save a little longer and get either a Gamut to a Hegel 390.

Hi, my advice would be to forget any of those mentioned above and look for a Pass Labs. INT-60.
It is on another level and capable of extracting every last ounce of performance from your speakers. It will generate heat and likely be physically larger than either of the two you've considered, but is superbly built and you won't believe the sound quality whether you play at low volume or giving it the full montey.

I've had Musical Fidelity for over 20 years and extensively modified and upgraded them (and helped others do the same), yet wouldn't draw a parallel with the Pass.

If you're patient you should be able to obtain the Pass second hand for not much more than the new cost of the MF you mentioned.
US built and an excellent company to deal with.

I have the MF M6500i and like it alot. It’s a dual mono design with balanced inputs. My speakers are not hard to drive and I don’t know if yours are. I have to crank it to 70% to get loud sound, 80% is about as loud as my speakers can tolerate or my ears for extended listening. But it does not have much distortion that I can hear. Your speakers are very good, you may want to look for a better amp, like was suggested to do them justice and get the best performance from them.

Did you like the sound of your bridged mono blocks?  Thats how the MF is set up.  Its a 4ch amp running in a bridged dual mono configuation.  If that worked well for you I'd lean towards the MF.   

@scp

sorry, in my earlier post, i missed your mention of your von schweikert speakers... very nice!

Hi, my advice would be to forget any of those mentioned above and look for a Pass Labs. INT-60.

i have the int 60 as well, sonically it is a rather different kettle of fish than the kinki or the mf -- it is also 3x more costly

i am a big fan of papa nelson, but his amps are trying for a different sonic character, more similar to the beloved nuvista/muvista mf amps

Aesthetix Mimas?

The Boulder 866 is a superb integrated. I highly recommend an audition. If you like it be sure to get the DAC option as it is fantastic. Good luck!

we have a huge selection of integrated amplifiers 

the unison research hybrids are very magical

so is the krell k300i 

the coda csib is a very unique amplifier it can be switched from a 150 watt class ab  amplifier all the way to a 400 watt class ab amplifier the amount of class A power goes up or down depending on the bias setting

the coda csib is an incredible deal the amplifier is exactly the same .8 amplifier which sells for nearly the same amount of money as the integrated so it is like getting a free preamp 

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect nj

dealer for unison,krell, codaand many other integrateds.

Everyone is going to recommend what they found worked for them. I’ll tell you with no reservation that you HAVE to try the product with your speakers to know if the specific synergy is there. I, like you try to buy used so I can take my time listening with the option of reselling with little or no loss. USAM has no seller fees btw. I tried 5 or 6 different amp/pre-int’s on my speakers and 1 int specifically made the speakers wake up and sound great! When those speakers got old and I replaced them the int that was so magical with the last speakers didn’t have the same effect on the new speakers.

Of your 2 options I would def expect the mufi to be the safe choice because they have a good rep, are more likely to make you happy and if not should resell pretty quick if the synergy isn't there. What speakers are you driving?

A late friend had these speakers with Prima Luna tube amps and wow they sounded glorious.

I highly recommend you also consider tubes with them. Id really bet a hybrid with tubes in the front end and SS in the output would by wonderful with them and easy to live with.

@jjss49 MF is sold by Focal Naim America. Service is out of Quebec.

@scp if you want a MF M6SI in black, contact me.

Rogue Audio Pharaoh 2 with NOS 12AU7’s will get you close to what’s achievable for less than $5k. Great phono stage as a bonus. Add a good DAC/streamer and you are there. 

I will once again note that years after it's introduction, the STR remains on Stereophile's class A recommended list.