[Beolab]

Quest:

Can somebody send me the SW 1.7 for the MSB Analog would be very nice.

PM me for e-mail adress

 

[negura]

I've sent it.

 

[phaeton70]

New happy owner of an MSB Analog here 

 
Would like to ask what's the general consensus around fw, I seem to understand from some of the last posts that 1.7 is best, while
2.1 seems to give a more "digital" imprint.
 
I'm a little bit lazy, and do not like to mess with flashing too many fws just to do testing, so would like to just flash what everyone consider the best.
 
TIA
 
mike

 

[Beolab]

New happy owner of an MSB Analog here 

Would like to ask what's the general consensus around fw, I seem to understand from some of the last posts that 1.7 is best, while
2.1 seems to give a more "digital" imprint.

I'm a little bit lazy, and do not like to mess with flashing too many fws just to do testing, so would like to just flash what everyone consider the best.

TIA

mike

Here is a answear from the developer him self when i asked him if he could send me the SW 1.7 because i taught it sounded more analog:

Hello Fredrik,

Yes, I’ve found that thread interesting. As far as reports directly to me, you are the first to say the 1.7 is better and I’ve been told verbally or via email at least a dozen times how much better version 2.1 is.

The reason for version 2.1 is we found a error in all of version 1.x’s that it was possible for the L and R channels to be miss-aligned by a clock cycle (the super-fast MHz clock, not the sample rate clock). The new code always maintains the alignment. Apart from that, there is no difference between the two. The digital audio processing had no update.

Best regards,
Jonathan Gullman
MSB Technology Corporation,

 

[phaeton70]

Thanks for the reply.
 
So I will install 2.1
 
rgrds
mike

 

[DACLadder]

Here is a answear from the developer him self when i asked him if he could send me the SW 1.7 because i taught it sounded more analog:

Hello Fredrik,

Yes, I’ve found that thread interesting. As far as reports directly to me, you are the first to say the 1.7 is better and I’ve been told verbally or via email at least a dozen times how much better version 2.1 is.

The reason for version 2.1 is we found a error in all of version 1.x’s that it was possible for the L and R channels to be miss-aligned by a clock cycle (the super-fast MHz clock, not the sample rate clock). The new code always maintains the alignment. Apart from that, there is no difference between the two. The digital audio processing had no update.

Best regards,
Jonathan Gullman
MSB Technology Corporation,

Hmm..  I've had the Analog about 3 weeks and using FW 2.1 with Quad USB experienced 44.1kHz files playing back at 88.2kHz.   The previous song was 88.2 and did not switch sampling rates.  Happened once.  I rebooted the Analog and worked OK.
 
Yesterday I had USB audio drop out during the middle of a song.  Happened about four times in a row after many hours of operation.   Noticed the Analog display had two letters in a column on the left side.  Can't remember what they were but again an Analog restart restored operation.  

 

[meraias]

Here is a answear from the developer him self when i asked him if he could send me the SW 1.7 because i taught it sounded more analog:

Hello Fredrik,

Yes, I’ve found that thread interesting. As far as reports directly to me, you are the first to say the 1.7 is better and I’ve been told verbally or via email at least a dozen times how much better version 2.1 is.

The reason for version 2.1 is we found a error in all of version 1.x’s that it was possible for the L and R channels to be miss-aligned by a clock cycle (the super-fast MHz clock, not the sample rate clock). The new code always maintains the alignment. Apart from that, there is no difference between the two. The digital audio processing had no update.

Best regards,
Jonathan Gullman
MSB Technology Corporation,

  Thanks for the reply.
 
So I will install 2.1
 
rgrds
mike

 
 
 
how about... ... try it for yourself 

 

[sjay]

finally got my hands on one of these babies to replace my M51, came with power base and quad usb and spdif interfaces on the second hand market.
 
Prior to this upgrade I was running my macair into a jkenny spdif converter to reduce noise but using the USB direct into the MSB DAC is now 100% OK. I did have a slight noise issue using direct usb at first but replaced my 5 dollar usb cable with another equally cheap usb cable and the noise went away.
 
Although the jkenny was very much needed with the m51 to my ears,  its not needed with the Analog DAC because to my ears direct usb sounds better, fuller i guess.
 
its only been in my 2 chan rig for a few days so far but i am very happy already with the upgrade. I will comment further in a month or two after i give it the full run in and pump it with all formats i can get my hands on including DSD which is new to me.
 
thanks for posting all the feedback!
 
Oh here in the money shot for all you fiends
 

 

[phaeton70]

congrats for the new toy!!
 
After a month of intensive use, I can say this is one incredible dac, really analog but not in the sense of being excessively euphonic, actually this is one of the most transparent and dynamic dac I have ever heard. And, yes, USB input is working very well (I'm using the USB2, but already planning to go with the Quad USB in the future)

 

[negura]

  finally got my hands on one of these babies to replace my M51, came with power base and quad usb and spdif interfaces on the second hand market.
 
Prior to this upgrade I was running my macair into a jkenny spdif converter to reduce noise but using the USB direct into the MSB DAC is now 100% OK. I did have a slight noise issue using direct usb at first but replaced my 5 dollar usb cable with another equally cheap usb cable and the noise went away.
 
Although the jkenny was very much needed with the m51 to my ears,  its not needed with the Analog DAC because to my ears direct usb sounds better, fuller i guess.
 
its only been in my 2 chan rig for a few days so far but i am very happy already with the upgrade. I will comment further in a month or two after i give it the full run in and pump it with all formats i can get my hands on including DSD which is new to me.
 
thanks for posting all the feedback!
 
Oh here in the money shot for all you fiends
 

 
Grats - I bet it's quite an improvement to the NAD! Those PMC MB2Ss are some exceptional speakers and more than able to reward the source upgrade. It's amusing they are so honking huge that although they are a stand mounted design, they look completely normal size wise sitting on the floor.

 

[sjay]

   
Grats - I bet it's quite an improvement to the NAD! Those PMC MB2Ss are some exceptional speakers and more than able to reward the source upgrade. It's amusing they are so honking huge that although they are a stand mounted design, they look completely normal size wise sitting on the floor.

 
Yes they sure are plump speakers and although they are meant to be stand mounted they sound just dandy where they are.  There is a futon at the back of the room thats used as a listening position so although not perfect it still sounds awesome.
 
My next upgrade was scheduled to be stands for the speakers but the DAC popped up after years of waiting so I jumped on it. Stands will need to wait a few months now until my wallet recovers from the DAC damage.

 

[ccschua]

yesterday I plug in the USB2 quad rate and fire up the module. The quad rate being new has clearly won the battle.
 
I sit and glued to my seat and wait for the songs to complete and remained poised that MSB has done a good job with digital circuits.
 
however I am unable to play DSD with foobar. PCM playing via Infinity Blade is another step up. I couldnt get DSD 256 to play via foobar and will try today.

 

[sjay]

This DAC appears to have made my Ayre KX5 and ARC Ref 3 pre-amps redundant, as is my beloved Jkenny MK3 SPDIF converter.
 
 The quad USB is very much the way to fly and coupled with A+ 2.5.2 upsampling to DSD 128 using both my FLAC library and Tidal is quite simply music to my ears.
 
I have not been able to detect any digititious in my good recordings, however bad recordings still sound poor. In fact poor masterings are more so evident than before when I had the M51 in rotation.
 
Its got oodles of detail , yet its not artificial sounding, wonderful control, pace, and clarity without sounding sterile. I don't understand why many people say MSB sounds sterile, its anything but that.  It sounds very natural to my ears but hey I might have stuffed mine with cloth over the years so YMMV.
 
All in all very pleased with this upgrade, and feel free to drop me a PM if you are interested in taking my pre amps or Jkenny off my hands. 230v models located in .au.

 

[negura]

What just came in. Wow - this is a big boy and so are the boxes. HE-6 headphones included for reference.
 
The PSU section alone - weighs in a nice 20.6kg. The DAC 16kg.
 

 

[negura]

In the rack and playing music: