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this was how I originally decided to purchase the Select II as I was trying to hear another dac at shows that could do what I heard the Select II doing at a lower price. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. I can see that in an A/B comparison, many other DACs sound more impressive than DAVE/Blu2. There is no dark magic involved. We have what I consider to be a pretty resolving system, but we also listen to music a fair old bit for pure pleasure and so theres a valve amp currently feeding our chosen reference loudspeakers though thats not to say this system isnt highly resolving in its own right. With the MSB there has been a great deal of attention paid to ensuring the signal stays as pure as possible and is not affected by other parts of the DAC or outside sources; modular construction, dual power supplies, isolation of USB etc. Its a clever thing meaning that their products are repairable and upgradeable for example, you can have a card that is set up for single-ended outputs or balanced XLR outputs (for review we have the balanced version). its that good. Up to 1km lossless transmission. Our publication is supported by its audience. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. So true jr, the discrete R2R Multibit dacs like the Terminator the Holo, MSB, Total ect ect have a life and a boogie factor to the music that DS dacs lack, and yes they do show up bad recordings. Btw, my MSB friend and I used the internal analog preamp for MSB and built-in digital preamp for DAVE. Ill go through the modules included in the Discrete DAC and explain a little about each. I dont know as that was years ago and I dont have one here to test against. Fixed. Did you audition all of them in the same place with the same system? I auditioned a DAVE (not deconstructed) and TT2 and found all Chord products lacked the musicality of MSB. What effect does reconstruction filter have? The headamp is powerful but not involving. Euphony Summus, EtherRegen, MSB Discrete. . Like x 5 List The evolution of the original irreverent and irrelevant and non-authoritative site for headphone measurements, i.e. Great Dac but for me a NOS DAC (Metrum Adagio) won the contest over all the others Dacs I have tried so far. We feel To my ears it makes music sound unnatural. Sound Media Group Pty Ltd I have Chord Dave and Blu2 too. Rori MSB Technology Discrete Modular DAC Page 2. It will kick your ass. JavaScript is disabled. CHORD Dave could be the most expensive deeply design DAC in the world and if you find it not your taste there is the best off the shelf DACs like akm4499 in Topping D90 for 699$ that could be even better than Dave. I think people buy what they like. You absolutely can say that you prefer other DAC's to the Berkeley Alpha Reference. 2001-2023 Head-Fi.org. The AC modules are fully balanced at every stage, have no buffers, IV converters, or transistors in the signal path, and have no active devices used in the conversion process at all. The SQ from DAC headphone output is lower than the best headphone amplifier but that kind of amplifier costs close to DAVE itself. It is not hard to audition these DACs in Melbourneand this is your best way to work out your own preference. I think my DAVE sounds great with everything. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9eh61-lampizator-pacific-da-converters, https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/lampizator-pacific-dac/, https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/subjective-grading-of-dac-that-i-had-heard-during-last-one-year-period. It is a manual step which I forgot. Daedalus Audio Apollo 11's. REL S3/SHO. 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. And differences at that level can be good. list the Rockna Wavedream Edition sounds this good, how good does their - Meat Loaf. The MSB simply offered more of everything and to my ears proved again that a true multi bit converter/ladder DAC is superior to delta/sigma or FPGA DACs. This is purely speculation based on browsing the internet over the years and internalising pro/con reviews from users. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates. Unless they have the exact same components as the end user, it's impossible to tell that customer how component X will sound in their system. SoundLab A1Px's, ARC REF40, VTL Siegfired II, cj GAT2, cj ART, DCS Vivaldi 2.0 stack, Taiko Audio SGM Extreme, TechDas AF1+ , Graham Phamtom III, Sumiko Palo Santos, vdH Black Beauty, ARC Phono 3, Studer A80, Crystal Dreamline, Transparent Audio Ref XL digital and Ref Gen V power cables, CenterStage footers, Nordost Qkore6' s and QB8's! I did try with just the one power supply and the Discrete remained a very strong performer with the differences being a very slight loss in the sense of separation and definition when listening intently. See what the reviews are saying. Once populated, the circuit boards are made into modules and then placed inside the casework. This is how MSB describe these modules: Its best to think of our DAC modules as a black box: the modules take the raw digital data in and output a continuous voltage. The DAC comes equipped with a single power supply, but can be augmented with a second discrete power supply to enable optimized power isolation between all major components. Dave gets a "thumbs up" overall from me though. As a matter of fact, I'd appreciate getting your impressions. There are some tonal differences too, but what you prefer will depend on your other equipment and the music you like. The only true way for the end user to know what they prefer is through listening in their own system.. and build quality is also excellent. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies. It would have been a different outcome though with the Cyrus pre-amp I previously owned, which cast a veil over everything. Sign up for a new account in our community. And this is where I had a problem with this DAC, though mostly the problem was of my own making. It is not hard to audition these DACs in Melbourneand this is your best way to work out your own preference. You'll be shocked by how much you lose by going through a separate preamp. Like others said, I'd try first an MScaler with DAVE. ), Chord Hugo 2 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp), DAC Noise Modulation: Chord DAVE vs Topping DX7 Pro+, Digital To Analog (DAC) Reviews and Discussion, Amplifiers, Phono preamp, and Analog Audio Review. - Roon Endpoint. state his/her experience and preferences. The Discrete is around 11,000 whilst the Select is 120,750 with its power base. conversation. If you send me a dave i will happily be your 4th friend who also owns a dave. In my listening tests, I could detect no attribute that made it sound special. Complete electrical isolation The Pro USB was developed to offer a multi part USB solution that features complete electrical isolation and all the performance of MSBs proprietary Pro ISL input. Needless to say given everything talked about so far, the Prime DAC modules are made in-house and they have been making and designing discrete ladder DACs since 1999. frequency response graphs, CSD waterfall plots, subjective gear reviews. The demo model came in brushed aluminium but you can also get black. Of the ones you mentioned I'd be most tempted by the Emm Labs DAC 2x though if you can get a used higher-end Esoteric, you should jump on it. That's the negative to going my route I guess. has 20 hours on it. You go off people's opinions and hope it'll match your equipment and system when you put the hard earned down. I wanted to know for anyone who has heard it have you also heard a DAC that approached it in sonic performance? Too many DACs> Too many amps> Too many headphones. One name that was thrown around by a few people I know is the Rockna Wavedream. 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. Search: Msb Discrete Dac Vs Chord Dave. 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. Now to include the HMS. Please specify coaxial S/PDiF or optical S/PDiF. I'd also look at the Mola-Mola Tambaqui and the new dCS Bartok. We can operate our current DAC modules at up to 6 MHz for PCM and up to 50 MHz for DSD. I don't think any of us have heard the Dave, and we don't have any interest. I expected a lot better. there are others I know about but Ive not heard them recently. After reading that review, and remembering the reverence APL had back in the day, alongside the Stahl Tek and Trinity dacs that were the heavy hitters 10-15 yrs ago, I was just curious as to whether . I wish you would have had the Totaldac D1 Seven to try. How r they comparing to the MSB Select 2 and Trinity? Conversely, you could spend a lot more and not gain a great deal in real terms. Is it better than the Chord DAVE that I raved about a few years ago? Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers, A healthy approach to understanding measurements, After being asked for the 308th time, Merv lists top 5 headphones, $1000 to the first to design a headamp using discrete components with better measurements than Magni 3+, http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/chord-dave-29757/#post579518, (You must log in or sign up to reply here.). As the noise in my system keeps getting lower, the PM2 keeps reaching deeper to find even more musical engagement and purity in standard 16/44 files. Right now my favorite DACs in my system are the Pacific Microsonics Model 2 (for PCM), Phasure NOS1a (for PCM), Meridian Ultra (for MQA), and the Playback Designs MPS5 (for DSD128). Up to 32 bit 768kHz They're very back ordered and are a pro unit with balanced only outputs and no remote but oh my do they sound spectacular. Dealer's should be required to state they're a dealer every time they post or have a disclaimer in their username. The PM2 is very special. Thanks. Anyway, the MSB Discrete is a machine that I consider to be highly resolving and a true HiFi product with regard to the definition I quoted above. Nice. I've yet to see a system with direct connections eliminating the preamp which wasn't improved by a adding a good preamp back into the mix! auditioned the Rockna Wavedream Edition DAC. I hear the new Ayre QX-5 Twenty gives the DAVE a run for its money at $8950 but that is just hearsay. Were constantly improving digital input modules to stay at the forefront of the high-end audio industry, ensuring youre always equipped with the most current digital file formats and interfaces. We are Nothing was amiss. The DAC has two modes; multi-bit PCM and single-bit discrete DSD mode. Focal Utopia ~ LCD i4 ~ ETHER FLOW open/C ~ LCD-2.2/XC ~ Nighthawk ~ K10 custom ~ JH Angie, Chord mscaler // Chord TT2 // Oppo PM-1 (Artisan silver headphone cable) // Beyerdynamic DT880 600 Ohm // WAVE Stream bnc cables // Kef LS50 Meta. Regular readers will appreciate all that is taken from the MSB website and I make no apologies for not really understanding the electronics. They are excellent pairing. I mean is it audibly noticeable? What ice cream do you prefer? I like Aqua Formula xHD and Totaldac Six. @yyzsantabarbara, your dealer quote is interesting, I suspected that the Mola Mola was that good. I havent heard the Rockna. This is a dealers email comment to me about comparisons he did. Thank me laterLoL. Many of these were already in a shootout on Audiogon with the same requirements - has to sound stellar on 16/44.1 tracks: I agree that the DAVE plus Blu 2 is spectacular, but not in a "hi fi" sense. Moving away from the actual sound of the music, one of my main takeaways from listening to the Discrete was the sense of timing it brought to music. Personally we have A/B 76 different digital front ends.. "To be 100% honest we have A/B tested most of the dacs mentioned us, over a 2 day test period come to the exact same conclusion. And if I had to guess (given I haven't heard both), I'd guess it outperforms the Tambaqui. There is the option to add a streaming module to the Discrete and if I was in the market for a digital streaming solution, then this is where I would be going. retail client forgets that most audio stores and audio distribution companies Like a true audiophile with "issues", I'm saying to myself, if at $8300 But in the specific case of the BADA and PM2, if you wish for me to be more precise, then taking into account that I only had the BADA ref for a very short time, the bottom line was that I didn't feel at the time that the difference between the PM2 in my system was significant enough to make it worth the energy to change components or the potential financial loss involved in a trade. Over the air updates will ensure that your renderer always has the latest capabilities and ultimate convenience. It's just more financially viable to me for the performance and price ratio. I did have the BADA Ref in my system for a short audition, and the Trinity And CH Precision C1 for a longer stay during a previous iteration of my system. Hope to try different formats on both DACs to see what works best in my system. In that time, weve pushed the industry forward with each product weve built, redefining whats possible. I have enjoyed my time with the MSB Discrete DAC a great deal. How does the PS Audio DirectStream DAC compare to the Chord DAC? It is worth every penny. Some silly sausage plugged a white power cable into a black device. Stay updated on Bloom Audio at their. 5 other people who only have 2 things in common with our system. Tailored for both the transport and the DACs daily use, our remote brings you closer to the music you love. You'd expect Audiosanctuary to understand what a gutless amp sounds like, and at least put a headphone amp in front of that DAVE, if they wanted to sell people either the DAVE or the headphones. For example, the chassis for the products are made from North American-sourced metals, and then that is machined using Haas CNC machines that are built in California. MSB Technology [Select DAC II Full Option] Chord [Dave] Myek [Manhattan II] I had A-B test about 2 months. Jon Hopkins Music For Psychedelic Therapy was a beautifully enveloping experience, made all the more so as sounds come and go in the soundstage in a somewhat more solid way than without the usual DAC. luxury apartment hotels paris. connection because it eliminates some parts and gets you closer to a direct The Discrete DAC uses two of these modules per unit. 2 DAC | Audionet Pre G2 preamp | Audionet Max mono blocks | Vivid Audio Giya G2 Series 2 | 4 JL Audio Fathoms | Echole ICs /SCs / Siltech Classic 550L jumpers, Shunyata PCs / Eth. As I listen to this tune a few times it strikes me that the Discrete is just that (discrete), it doesnt seem to add a great deal of itself to the file it is playing. Taiko Audio Extreme > Sablon Audio Reserva Elite USB2022/Sablon Audio Reserva Ethernet2020> Aqua Formula XHDV2 > Sablon Audio King Sablon Interconnects > LDR pre > PuLSar45 DC SE amp > Sablon Audio Reserva speaker cables (pigtailed) > Avantgarde Duo Omega( Duelund xover). 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. 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. Just go for an internal Asus card to fit in a PCI slot you should be able to get bit perfect optical output thanks for confirming suitability of current setup. In that time, weve pushed the industry forward with each product weve built, redefining whats possible. Chord Dave DAC "Sealed Box Brand New" Never Opened !! Elegant design. I cant help with comparisons of two of these DACs, but I did hear the Tambaqui up against the dCS Bartok and it was a pretty close call, but ultimately the dCS sounded more analogue and more immersive, I have heard the Dave and EMM Labs DAC2x up against aMakua that I subsequently purchased. If you go reference you will never look back. Funny how Rob Watts drones on and on about noise modulation, and then we see his product performing like this.. now one might not exactly call this noise modulation, but it definitely something to avoid, especially given the price tag. personal preference." That's just too money for the performance. You must log in or register to reply here. When you get the chance to hear Chord DAVE, try playing files bit perfect instead of upsampling them to DSD256 with HQPlayer. turns out that with the Extreme USB slightly pulls ahead of the Ethernet with the Renderer, then adding the Pro USB there is now a significant step up over the Renderer. To cut a long story short: A burnt in MSB Analog DAC with Power Base demoed side to side to a burnt in DAVE was no challenge for the MSB. This hobby is "highly subjective", influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions; therefore you can A/B a million different components and come to a completely different conclusion on how it sounds compared to another listener. Thats not allthe CNC unibody aluminum chassis provides the discrete power supply with optimal thermal performance and an elegant design aesthetic. Looking forward to the your additions to the list. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material (in part or in full) without express and written permission from this websites author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. The MSB Renderer was developed using an in-house hardware design running an ultra low noise A5 processor for optimal audio playback performance. It's too damn expensive, full stop. You must log in or register to reply here. Cs | Critical Mass CS2s -> components, Isoacoustics -> speakers + subs | Adona Eris II rack on Herbie's titanium footers | Fully treated and dedicated 2 channel room. Watts is avidly not reading this in anticipation of the video version he won't watch. The BADA Ref is a great DAC and I understand the new version takes it to even another level. IMHO an audio recommendation in a forum is just an advice on what is worth listening and the reason why we think so. - MQA decoding. The end result is a digital experience defying expectations. Then we have the Integrated Clock module and Im starting to get the whole modular approach to the design of the MSB DAC. We await Phase 2 where all DACs are assessed using upsampled data via your Lumin U1 to establish ranking and the preferred format through each. So I saw the DAC lighting up and it looked fully functional, right down displaying the bit rate etc of the file playing, but no music. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. I have the Berkeley Alpha Reference DAC, waiting for an upgrade. Equipped with high-visibility and a wide viewing angle, the display is both easy-to-read and stunning, exhibiting our love for intuitive features. Aurender W20-> Lampizator Pacific SE -> Ayon Crossfire III or Circle Labs A100 -> Avantgarde Acoustic Trio LE 26 with 4x REL Carbon Special ,SACD Player: Audio Aero La Fontaine. The Premier is a super-high-resolution, completely silent, utterly dynamic component that lets music flow through it less hindered than through anything else I've heard. More to follow. To be 100% honest we have A/B tested most of the dacs mentioned Whether its a software update or a leading-edge modular component, were here to help the most valued aspect of MSBour customers. I like all this attention to detail and the MSB website suggests a company that is massively proud of its American heritage and of the products they make. CH Precision mono dac with clock and 3 power supplies (7 boxes)----its more spendy---$150k, Merging Technologies NADAC w/power supply and clock---much better now with the clock and power supply upgrades than my previous experience.----around $60k. You're very polite about how you describe your preferences, cmarin. I'm really anxious to hear more opinions about this DAC and noticed that DAVE hasn't got a thread of its own (only together with Mojo). There's 340 pages packed with HiFi Reviews, Industry Interviews and much more. Triangle Magellan Concerto 2< AQEverest< Vitus Audio SS-010 Mk2< AQDragon High Current< AQWELXLR< ChordQutestDAC w UpTone JS-2 & AQ Dragon Source < AQDiamond USB< InnuosPhoenix USBwAQ Dragon Source< AurenderN100H & AQ Dragon Source< NetGear GS105GESwitch w UpTone LPS1.2< Supra CAT8 Ethernet