I've owned loads of MF.

The good'uns ...

A1 FBP pre-amp. Simply a very fine sounding pre!
A370 power amp. A bit of a monster, but very enjoyable. Thinking about it, quite hard to fault. Not the Best at anything but a great allrounder.
F18 power amp. Wow - huge and hugely powerful. Lovely mids and top but a bit of a soggy bottom. Looks fantastic.
FCD cd player. Pizzaz by the bucketful. I loved it.
F22 pre. Easily bettered in terms of transparency (although valve rolling helps a lot) but very 'musical' - i.e. nice to listen to.
A3 power amp. Yeah, did the job with commendable enthusiasm. Loadsa power but also good with high efficiency speakers, which is quite unusual ime.
V-LP phonostage. Good vfm.

The bad'uns ...

A1000 integrated amp. Assuming similarity with the A1001, I agree with you about the meh-ness, Steve. A very boring amp.
A308 pre. Another bland one.
A324 DAC. Blandness strikes again!
X-Pre. Meh, once more.
X-10D. Hmm.
NuVista pre. Lord knows what the fuss was about and all the rave reviews, did nothing for me.

The mediocre ones ... nothing really wrong, but not that great either ...

A5 integrated and cdp.
MVX pre. OK, but didn't wow me at all.


Currently own and enjoy ...

V-CAN headphone amp.

__


I am sure there have been quite a few other bits of MF that escape me at the moment.