2026 Awards – DACs under £10k

It’s clear from the outset that Hegel intends its flagship D50 to showcase everything it has learned about digital technology over the years. For one, the DAC’s design ethos reads like a masterclass in tackling the menace of electromagnetic noise. 

Hegel has taken extensive measures to reduce electromagnetic noise within the D50, designing the internal power management to contain and reduce internally generated noise. The analogue power supplies (no switch-mode supplies here!) use two low-noise toroidal transformers, carefully positioned and shielded to keep the noisy digital and standby functions apart from the sensitive digital and analogue components. The incoming mains power undergoes EMI-limiting filtering, and the circuit board for the single ESS 9039Q2M Sabre DAC chip is positioned above the other electronics, reducing noise, shortening signal paths, and placing it as close as possible to the three master clocks (one for the S/PDIF feed and two for USB), which are also strategically positioned to minimise noise and optimise timing data. Joining those aforementioned inputs are AES/EBU and BNC options, plus RCA and XLR analogue outputs, meaning the D50 should be sufficiently equipped for most system needs.

Completely absorbing

That monumental effort pays off, resulting in crystal-clear precision and an overall competence and musicality that would embarrass some pricier rivals. In his review, Steve Dickinson calls Michael Torke’s South Beach, midnight piano piece “rhythmically assertive, with interleaved and interwoven threads, and the potential to sound like a complete mess in inexperienced hands” but notes that through the D50 “it is simply and undeniably compelling and captivating”. Hand it anything and it will produce a “riveting and very affecting performance”.

Reviewed in Issue 246

Hegel • hegel.com

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Just a quick glance at its front panel’s numerous fascia LEDs gives away that Musical Fidelity’s one-from-the-top M8x DAC is a tweaker’s delight. Select your own filter? Check; choose from eight of them. Upsampling of PCM signals to 352.8/384kHz? Check. Reclocking the incoming signal to the M8x’s internal clock? Check. And that’s just one example of the design’s flexibility. 

The M8x sports dual ES9038Q2M chips in dual-differential mode at its engineering core, with space-demanding discrete components, a fully balanced topology (i.e. double the electronics) and a sizeable toroidal transformer justifying its significant physicality. The DAC can operate fixed-output into an integrated amp or preamp, or variable-output directly into a power amplifier or active speakers. Its digital inputs include USB-B, AES/EBU, coaxial and three opticals, with an I²S input onboard too for connecting a Musical Fidelity CD transport, while RCA and XLR analogue outputs are joined by 6.35mm and  XLR headphone outputs. Musical Fidelity lauds the M8’s headphone ability, as does Phil Wright in his review, calling playback “beautiful” through his various headphones.

Flexible and formidable

Outside of the headphone context, the M8x also excels, combining strong detail retrieval with a powerful low end and a lovely organic sound that trounced Phil’s Mytek Liberty 2 DAC. “The M8x took my £15k+ system up several notches, bringing more out of the other components,” he concludes. “Again and again, the system’s newfound vitality brought a smile to my face and drew me closer to the music.” Flexible and sonically formidable, the M8x is a valuable addition to the Musical Fidelity roster.

Reviewed in Issue 248

Musical Fidelity • musicalfidelity.com

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