Quote:
Originally Posted by audioguru
Hey Mark - curious if you ended up purchasing the Analog DAC? I had the chance to audition the MSB Reference DAC and hooked it up directly to my amplifiers...I was amazed by the sound. Completely natural, smooth, detailed, yet retaining all of the grit, heft, and transients of the original recording. Very impressive stuff from MSB.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by For The Love of Music
Curious as well, this is a progression contender if I am stupid enough later this year.
|
Yes i did. Picked it up last week and at a better price than originally thought.
What an amazing dac it is. So smooth, so detailed.
When I upgraded my speakers last year, I found my dac at the time (NAD M51) started sounding harsh, more digital. Dont get me wrong, the M51 is an awesome dac and reproduces music way above its price point.
Nonetheless, the dac was clearly the weakest link in my chain.
I had a chance to audition the Select Dac by MSB at the Axpona Show-2015.
I was completely blown away by how "analog" the sound was. No indication I was listening to a digital file whatsoever
Unfortunately, the price tag of the Select Dac was way out of my league. Fortunately, Vince Galbo was there and we started talking about the Analog Dac.
Vince thought the Analog Dac with the separate power supply would produce about 80% of what the Select can do. Vince suggested adding the volume control and removing the pre amp from the chain.
He was right and wrong, imo.
Right in the way the Analog delivers much of what the Select can. Wrong in his suggestion to remove the pre.
I have a ARC Ref 3LE and in an a/b comparison, the pre added a greater sense of space and air over the dac being direct to the amp.
I also have the MQA upgrade which is a must in my opinion.