Musical Fideity’s M6 Encore Connect is a ripper, streamer and preamplifier all in one handy, if substantial box. It costs £3629 and Lionel Payne hooked it up to his system to see if it came up to scratch. 

“The Musical Fidelity M6 Encore Connect Multi Format Audio Streamer is quite a mouthful! From now on in this review I will simply call it the Encore Connect. The Encore Connect is what is often referred to as an “All-In-One” although this particular model has preamplifier but not power amplifier facilities. However, Musical Fidelity also produce a variant with in-built amplification (using dual mono amplifier modules from the M6Si providing 225watts at 8 Ohms) called the Encore 225. Available in black or white, the review sample arrived in the black variant and proved to be no lightweight as it tips the scales at over 16 kilograms, this being a good indicator of the build quality of the unit which is particularly sturdy. To either flank are substantial heatsinks which I assume are only really required for the Encore 225 but as both variants wear the same clothes they remain on the Encore Connect…”

Read the full review here