If you have ever wanted (do I mean needed?) to amp up your laptop or MAC at high resolution and with proper speakers I’ve finally found the desktop solution. It is small, like a paperback, your partner may not notice and it will blow you MAC into space with a fulsome amplified noise to a pair of bookshelf speakers. And it looks pretty cool too if you’re using a MAC, as I am here, with its silver aluminium casework finish.
This pocket amplifier is part of a new range from north London’s finest, Musical Fidelity. I’ve had a play with
the V90-BLU, a Bluetooth receiver that enables you to stream music from a phone or tablet to your existing stereo with NO fuss (see separate review). I am starting to really like this V90 range of compact high quality components, that includes a headphone amplifier, a 32-bit DAC and a phono stage. 
This Musical Fidelity V90-AMP is simplicity itself, just power it up, plug in a USB source, in my case an Apple MAC though it could be a laptop, and then rig up your best pair of bookshelf speakers, in my case some old but great DALI Lextor 1s. The amplifier itself is 20watts per channel at 8 Ohms, it will drive most speaker pairs, but it really packs a punch. Being desktop, or kitchentop or wherever you’re listening, you don’t really need huge amounts of power just quality and this amplifier delivers effortlessly. The sound is sharp and powerful and most importantly the DAC manages the digital source.
Inside the box is an asynchronous 24 bit DAC that effectively takes control of the data stream from your source, for example the MAC or a laptop, which is often too busy doing other things to worry about the timing of your digital music. Thus it ensures your data source is delivered at the correct quality with the right timing to the speakers.
So if you’re working from home and you need to listen to a high quality sound, consider this Musical Fidelity V90-AMP, some DALI Zensor 1s and off you go.
The Musical Fidelity V90-AMP is available in the UK now with a UKSRP of £249.00.
For further details, go to http://www.musicalfidelity.com/
I demoed the V90-AMP Amp with an Atlas Element Asynchronous A-B USB cable.
For further information, please visit Atlas Cables on-line – http://www.atlascables.com/