Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC User Interface Preview

[custom-cable]

After a slightly extended wait for the Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC to arrive we finally received it through our door! At first glance the packaging has changed a little from the other M1 series items and looks a bit more fancy! Straight from the box the unit feels solid and comes supplied with the aerial which can be either fixed to the back of the unit like a digital aerial or can be attached to a base which can then sit on the desk next to the unit. There is also a length of CAT5, mains, manual and obviously a remote! The remote itself has CD Player functionality....I can only assume at the moment that this is for the CDT which is due to arrive next week.

SETUP;
This is a breeze, simply scrolling to the setting menu, the user interface is easy to navigate you are able to choose whether the unit runs wirelessly or over a wired ethernet connection. When you choose which you would like the unit then reboots and you are then able to browse all items on the network, including pictures. The navigation is very quick and I was quite suprised at the speed. I would recommend using a wired connection for this unit as there are some limitations to the file playback over wireless. Be aware that the M1 CLiC streams via DLNA servers, this means that you will require a DLNA service to be running on the units storing your music for the CLiC to see it. Twonky seems a perfect match, however we were able to see Windows Media Player 11 that was broadcasting on our network and could access songs via that.

SOUND;
Appreciated that many are still averse to the idea of streaming, the M1 CLiC does in my opinion make a very good replacement for a CD Player up to the £1k - £1.5 mark. The sound using Twonky media and streaming a FLAC file 16/44.1 was very very good. The test track was Eric Clapton - Old Love from MTV Unplugged and you could feel every bit of emotion being expressed by Clapton with great detail and accuracy! The one thing that struck me was that although this unit was effectively playing with 0's and 1's Anthony had still made the CLiC sound like a piece of MF. Lovely, weighty sound, open midrange and a wonderful, tight, textured bass!

OVERALL;
First impressions of this unit are very good! I currently have an M1 DAC and am going to probably replace it with the CLiC, uses the same DAC and offers me the ability to stream High Resolution Flac over my network. The sound from many clients I have heard have sounded like they are playing by numbers, with the CLiC it is hard to tell its a completely digital unit and sounds musical and very enjoyable!

I do not profess to be a reviewer and these are just some initial thoughts on the CLiC.


Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC User Interface Video Preview

Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC User Interface Video Preview 2 HD

 

[PhilCTTE]

Thanks for the info. I briefly was exposed to it, and sadly it was not wired up for audio. Using the remote to search , unless there is a different method was a bit painful having to scroll through each letter and sequentially selecting each letter. Scrolling letters like on a fruitmachine if you get my drift. Is there a better interface ?

cheers.