[Yoga]

I ended up pairing them with an ALO Studio Six & Audiophilleo, and ultimately moved on. A friend has just got the big reference Chord Monoblock amps. They look great......

Perfect example.
 
Chord make great amps, I was very tempted by their SPM-1200E. Overkill for the KEF LS50s though, hence the Moon 600i.
 
Quick side question for you, XLR AES cables. I assume you use DHC, but what do you think of Kimber Select 1030? 

 

[isquirrel]

I use Transparent Reference XL, never shorter than a metre to help with early reflections.

 

[isquirrel]

whoops sorry the link
 
http://www.transparentcable.com/products/show_product.php?recID=88&catID=3&perfID=1&modCAT=1

 

[Yoga]

  whoops sorry the link
 
http://www.transparentcable.com/products/show_product.php?recID=88&catID=3&perfID=1&modCAT=1

Read some great things about that cable. Out of my budget though! 

 

[isquirrel]

Read some great things about that cable. Out of my budget though! 

You would be surprised Transparent do from time to time trade in specials on other cables, in any case it's worth talking to one of their dealers. There is something so right about the musicality & timing of their cables.

 

[Beolab]

Just checking in on how the progress doing with the reviewing of the MSB Select II vs Analog Simon?

 

[Yoga]

I have an Analog dac on its way to me. Normal USB (I'll use the Regen however), with the Quad USB module coming later. To be paired with an Aurender N10 (and Lumin).
 
Side note - the main UK MSB dealer mentioned that they have already sold 50 (!) of the Select dacs. Hence production of other parts is taking longer, their factory is at max fulfilling those orders.

 

[negura]

  I have an Analog dac on its way to me. Normal USB (I'll use the Regen however), with the Quad USB module coming later. To be paired with an Aurender N10 (and Lumin).
 
Side note - the main UK MSB dealer mentioned that they have already sold 50 (!) of the Select dacs. Hence production of other parts is taking longer, their factory is at max fulfilling those orders.

 
.... 50 Select DACs, those high rollers must be getting quite bored after that. Until next year that is, when MSB will have some upgrades ready.
 
If it's the old USB you may need to upgrade firmware for both SQ reasons and to take the Quad (unless dealers already did that).

 

[dan.gheorghe]

  I have an Analog dac on its way to me. Normal USB (I'll use the Regen however), with the Quad USB module coming later. To be paired with an Aurender N10 (and Lumin).
 
Side note - the main UK MSB dealer mentioned that they have already sold 50 (!) of the Select dacs. Hence production of other parts is taking longer, their factory is at max fulfilling those orders.

Congrats for the purchase! 
 
50 Select DACS!!! Good to be a MSB dealer in UK then! =))

 

[negura]

He did not say anything about an actual purchase.

 

[Yoga]

   
.... 50 Select DACs, those high rollers must be getting quite bored after that. Until next year that is, when MSB will have some upgrades ready.
 
If it's the old USB you may need to upgrade firmware for both SQ reasons and to take the Quad (unless dealers already did that).

 
Different TOTL dac for each room perhaps? :¬)
 
I'll check the firmware, thanks for the reminder.
 

  Congrats for the purchase! 
 
50 Select DACS!!! Good to be a MSB dealer in UK then! =))

 
Loan unit dear fellow! I assumed the 50 unit sales was worldwide too :¬)
 
I also have some power cables en route for comparison, some customs by a UK wizard and some Shunyata. The latter are slightly expensive, it's more of a test to see if the hype is founded. Considering building some with the Acrolink 4030 II (7N) and furutech, but there's no return policy on DIY :¬)
 
After blowing the fuse in the Moon 600i last week, I can confirm that audiophile fuses do indeed make a difference. I was highly skeptical before actually listening. Slightly more accurate. Unless I imagined it of course :¬)
 
Lastly, the Moon 600i is an incredible amp. Beats the 430 hands down, can't wait to hear the Analog through it.

 

[romaz]

   
Different TOTL dac for each room perhaps? :¬)
 

Looking forward very much to your findings!

 

[isquirrel]

   
Different TOTL dac for each room perhaps? :¬)
 
I'll check the firmware, thanks for the reminder.
 
 
Loan unit dear fellow! I assumed the 50 unit sales was worldwide too :¬)
 
I also have some power cables en route for comparison, some customs by a UK wizard and some Shunyata. The latter are slightly expensive, it's more of a test to see if the hype is founded. Considering building some with the Acrolink 4030 II (7N) and furutech, but there's no return policy on DIY :¬)
 
After blowing the fuse in the Moon 600i last week, I can confirm that audiophile fuses do indeed make a difference. I was highly skeptical before actually listening. Slightly more accurate. Unless I imagined it of course :¬)
 
Lastly, the Moon 600i is an incredible amp. Beats the 430 hands down, can't wait to hear the Analog through it.

Which fuses did you get? f you haven't already, try listening for direction, you may detect a difference. If there are more than one fuses you will most likely find that they work best in faced in opposing directions, that show the current flows through the fuse holder.
 
Re the "50" Select II DAC's, there are 50 Select II DAC's period being produced in the current production run, looks like Ricardo may be on his propaganda machine again 

I am not going to debate the value of a Select DAC with anyone, however it is important to take into consideration that you no longer need a pre-amp and once the new Network Renderer is finished (8-12 weeks) you will not need a music server either, in fact after Roy's findings with "direct" driving headphones out of balanced outputs works successfully then you won't need an amp either. That's my rationale, or delusion, anyway, very soon I get to find out 1st hand. 
 
The quad USB is a huge upgrade over the former, heard it last week, not a subtle difference.
 
I borrowed a Regen from a fellow audiophile, didn't work to well on the Nagra. Running the Curious USB cable for now, very nice.
 
Oh and the Shunyata, if you are trying it out its an idea to get the dealer to lend you a digital and a analog version of the Alpha or Sigma (if that's what you are trying) I have had great success with the digital cord.  It does not work on all DAC's sometimes they can sound awful, best way is to try both. However on the 10 or so DAC's I have tried the digital on it has worked better than the Analog for 90% of them.
 
Isolation platforms, have you given any thought to isolating your products? In particular isolating the DAC can work wonders, power supplies also benefit a lot in my experience.

 

[Beolab]

Which fuses did you get? f you haven't already, try listening for direction, you may detect a difference. If there are more than one fuses you will most likely find that they work best in faced in opposing directions, that show the current flows through the fuse holder.

Re the "50" Select II DAC's, there are 50 Select II DAC's period being produced in the current production run, looks like Ricardo may be on his propaganda machine again :wink_face:
I am not going to debate the value of a Select DAC with anyone, however it is important to take into consideration that you no longer need a pre-amp and once the new Network Renderer is finished (8-12 weeks) you will not need a music server either, in fact after Roy's findings with "direct" driving headphones out of balanced outputs works successfully then you won't need an amp either. That's my rationale, or delusion, anyway, very soon I get to find out 1st hand. 

The quad USB is a huge upgrade over the former, heard it last week, not a subtle difference.

I borrowed a Regen from a fellow audiophile, didn't work to well on the Nagra. Running the Curious USB cable for now, very nice.

Oh and the Shunyata, if you are trying it out its an idea to get the dealer to lend you a digital and a analog version of the Alpha or Sigma (if that's what you are trying) I have had great success with the digital cord.  It does not work on all DAC's sometimes they can sound awful, best way is to try both. However on the 10 or so DAC's I have tried the digital on it has worked better than the Analog for 90% of them.

Isolation platforms, have you given any thought to isolating your products? In particular isolating the DAC can work wonders, power supplies also benefit a lot in my experience.

Simon can you give me a small review on the sound of the Select II with the Abyss compared to other dac's you have tried out like the MSB Analog, Gryphon and so on..

Had bin very cool to test the new Chord DAVE against the Select II . Many will laph here, but the price diffrence is just a figure and many audiophiles think that a machine with the highest price tag and ultra nice internal design most be the better one, but does not tell us in fact which one is the best sounding.

According to Rob Watts when i asked him if he had the ability to hand pick any solution from the Select II or DCS Vivaldi stack, or if he had unlimited budjet up to $100.000 US, if he had then bin able to make an even better DAC, and his fast response was No! He said that after over 30 years of developing and designing DAC chips / build amps / DAC's and programming FPGAś, this is the best sound he had personally heard to this date.

And yes he is not neutral to his statement i know but he is an unnest guy, so i beleve what he is saying to a high grade.

So it had bin very nice to see a review btw David & Goliath

 

[isquirrel]

Simon can you give me a small review on the sound of the Select II with the Abyss compared to other dac's you have tried out like the MSB Analog, Gryphon and so on..

Had bin very cool to test the new Chord DAVE against the Select II . Many will laph here, but the price diffrence is just a figure and many audiophiles think that a machine with the highest price tag and ultra nice internal design most be the better one, but does not tell us in fact which one is the best sounding.

According to Rob Watts when i asked him if he had the ability to hand pick any solution from the Select II or DCS Vivaldi stack, or if he had unlimited budjet up to $100.000 US, if he had then bin able to make an even better DAC, and his fast response was No! He said that after over 30 years of developing and designing DAC chips / build amps / DAC's and programming FPGAś, this is the best sound he had personally heard to this date.

And yes he is not neutral to his statement i know but he is an unnest guy, so i beleve what he is saying to a high grade.

So it had bin very nice to see a review btw David & Goliath

I will in fact in a weeks time have the Select II, the Chord DAVE and the Nagra HD under the roof. Any piece of audio equipment especially the statement ones are an expression of the designers or manufacturers statement piece. I am particularly interested in the DAVE vs the Nagra HD but will also compare them to the Select II.
 
Trouble is I have sold all of my headphones except for the LCD-4's. You sell Bang & Olufsen right? You believe they are the best products in their intended marketplace?  Then you would know all about the price being "just a figure" or not? I am interested in your response.