Its not bombarding you with information, but it is a notably more defined sound with regards to the spatial information and the way that elements sit in the mix a tad more solidity and more of a sense of the stereo image being wider and deeper and with instruments and sounds occupying a definite space of their own. First I want to say that I fully agree that the hobby is Regular readers will appreciate all that is taken from the MSB website and I make no apologies for not really understanding the electronics. The bottom line for me is that great DACs can make a difference over good DACs. However, its also very nice to listen to in this system, though I would say it is more accurate/true to the original DAC than our LAB12 DAC or perhaps our Lampizator BIG 7. I would have loved if you heard them in the same system for a direct comparison. All rights reserved. Sounds shrill on my workstation and work laptop. When connecting to the MScaler, Dual-BNC was used on the chord dacs with shawline digital BNC cables. I have heard the Dave and EMM Labs DAC2x up against aMakua that I subsequently purchased. It is just as important as the DAC itself. I found it big bold brash and dynamic but hard cold glary and fatiguing - all the old fashioned things I hated about early digital. This gives us lots of headroom for future sample rates and audio formats.. Never say never, but I reckon 99.9% of folk would get to the Discretes level of performance and not be able to justify another 110K to achieve, what I am guessing would be marginal gains though I have not experienced the Select and so cannot say for sure that this would be the case and it may be a total revelation is sonic engineering. The modular nature of the Discrete and other MSB DACs is very clever and I assume this goes a good way towards giving it such a neutral and detailed sound, where no one part is interfering with what the other is doing. They both use FPGA for their decoding. What effect does reconstruction filter have? Sound Media Group Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Theres just a sense that with the MSB in the line that everything is timed correctly and rock solid. Sign up for a new account in our community. I would just add budget and the other components in the system are major factors to consider. And I've learned to be careful and not generalize how a component will sound based on show conditions or other systems. Height with feet: 68 mm Weight: 8.2 kg, Accessories included: Manual Remote control Aluminum MSB USB charging cable 4 X Spikes and Cups 4 X plastic inserts Power connector splitter, MERASON FRROT DAC REVIEW The Merason Frrot DAC costing 995 isn't the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Switzerland. Along with an integrated clock, changing this card allows switching between single-ended and balanced outputs. For some folk, a highly resolving and accurate system may well be described as being over-analytical, and on the other side of the audio fence, some will suggest that some systems sound nice but flawed. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Then just stay with the basic Premier unit, and the power supply that comes with it. Did I mention the remote is perfect? Euphony Summus, EtherRegen, MSB Discrete. subjective to a point and that is why we do blind testing and A/B testing with For the most part, I listened to the MSB through our LAB12 and Krell KST100 amps and TotalDAC D100 speakers. At this kind of price, it puts Chord DAVE as being direct competition and I said that DAVE was the best DAC Id heard back in 2018. One of the things I jotted down in my notes during this time was the sense of scale the Discrete brought to the music I was listening to big music sounded BIG and more intimate recordings had their own scale too. Elegant design. But of course, I love window shopping and perusing top tier systems including illustrious more familiar gear like Lampi, TD, MSB, Ares Cerat, Aqua. more might come to mind and I will add them. Ok, I looked a prat but it proves that the separate PSUs are actually doing something rather than being there for show, though they do look rather cool in themselves. Our publication is supported by its audience. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Others might disagree but these are my findings. Not a bad idea Snoop! The video cannot be shown. The only true way for the end user to know what they prefer is through listening in their own system.. Right now my favorite music player is from the same manufacturer of the Phasure NOS1a DAC: Stealth LPS running XXHighEnd software; again with the same caveat that I haven't heard a lot of the other highly regarded music players in my system. It has the option for two PSUs and once you hear with both it becomes a necessity to have both. And now that my system is much more resolving, it's possible that the differences could be larger and my preferences could change. This latter recording gets played to death at shows, but that doesnt detract from it being a very good tune and a very good recording, though I have been known to take the piss a bit when it gets played for the tenth time in a day at audio events. This is because one PSU is supplying juice to modules including the screen and USB input etc but not to the output module. Toggle signature. Did you audition all of them in the same place with the same system? Never use!! In my assessment the Makua offered a more open and spacious sound. the North American distributors for Rockna so I thought I would jump in on this Hmm.. Stuart Smith finds out. It seems to take in zeros and ones and then somehow make sense of these and just convert them into faithful reproductions of the recording though me not being at the recording of any of the records I listened to, thats my assumption coming into play. By I just heard DAVE directly connected to MacBook Pro via USB without any expensive cables, headphone amplifier, power conditioner. In comparison to spdif which feels more 3D but relatively smaller sound stage, with better separation, vocals are more focused/accurate, everything sounds more evenly balanced. At MSB, we believe excellence is a promise worth keeping. Thats not allthe CNC unibody aluminum chassis provides the discrete power supply with optimal thermal performance and an elegant design aesthetic. There ain't no Coupe deVille hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box. This is a company that is All American and fiercely proud of that fact. Digital Audio Forum: DAC, Transports, Digital Processing Forum, 4x20A circuits | Audioquest Niagara 3000 | Paul Hynes SR4T + HDPlex HD500 PSUs -> Music PC w/JCAT XE nic, HQPlayer, Roon, Tidal / Qobuz | HDPlex HD100 PSU -> OCX clock + EtherRegen | Aqua Acoustic Quality LinQ streamer | Aqua Acoustic Quality Formula xHD Rev. Wherever I read I see unanimous praise for the MSB Select II. has 20 hours on it. The only thing that I'd really like to see added here is an Aries Cerat. Wavedream only has a couple hours on it, but from the first note it Copyright Hifi Pig and Hifi Pig Magazine, Big Pig Media LLP. Cheers @Stereophilus Im outputting directly to the LAB12 (and later a Krell KST100) power amp and so a digital volume algorithm is used where the digital volume control is left at a relatively high output so as not to encounter loss at lower volume levels. and the MSB Select II has a huge advantage over other dacs with its modularity and in-house development which promotes, in a very timely way, keeping the product at the very tip top cutting edge of digital interface developments. If you have a turntable, for instance, the Discrete will have to act as a standalone DAC and go into a preamplifier/integrated amplifier which will then add its own flavour to the mix. Paired with performance increases, our modular design ethos increases flexibility for future updates and product support, guaranteeing a long-term product investment. If I want to build a complicated system, I won't consider DAVE because for the position of DAC, I can choose from other brands (Totaldac, NADAC, Rockna, Prismsound 8XR etc) at the same price. By clicking links on our site, we may earn affiliate commission, but our editorial remains entirely independent and unbiased. As I said, its an odd one to describe but you do hear it as it brings a sense of rightness to rhythm tracks. The in-house discrete design is then constructed into its own shielded CNC pocket for optimal isolation. Chord Dave Replacement. Specifications: Type: Digital to analogue converter with volume control. Thanks. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary tells me that the definition of high-fidelity (HiFi) is the reproduction of an effect (such as sound or an image) that is very faithful to the original and it would seem to be reasonable to assume that this is the goal of audiophiles around the world. I'm also a very patient person and can wait for the right bit of kit at the right price to come up secondhand. In that time, weve pushed the industry forward with each product weve built, redefining whats possible. those surpass any other digital choice. Up to 1km lossless transmission. Firstly, that was a very impressive list of high end components you have listened to. It is worth every penny. Thank you, Mike. So I personally prefer to listen to different DACs just like I prefer to listen to analog as well as digital. Is this what passes for high end? 2. The good DS (delta sigma) dacs that aren't hard or harsh, are a bit of a yawn, and lack bringing out the life (boogie factor) of the music, but in a . I'm super happy with my Esoteric N-01, which is a noticeable step up in quality/musicality from the DAVE - as yes the DAVE sounds a bit "thin" (though extraordinarily detailed). The Discrete DAC Features - MSB Technology The Discrete DAC Refined sound. As a contented Qutest user, I would have hoped for "improved", performance from the Dave. I'm looking for suggestions between $10K - $12K. Have you thought about hooking up a Blu2 to Dave? I may need to reset expectations a bit lower: This is an update to some old DAVE vibration control posts. Too objective for subjectivists; too subjective for objectivsts. The PSUs are available to match. And I make Best DAC Quality Ranking list. Once populated, the circuit boards are made into modules and then placed inside the casework. There is no such thing as a "FPGA DAC"! I wired it all up and the unit lit up but I could get no sound out of it whatsoever.