I had the chance hear the MSB Select DAC at a local distributors place a couple of weeks back, I've finally gotten the time to write up my listening experiences now and this seemed like the perfect place.
The system I heard it in consisted of my laptop running J River as the source, feeding the MSB Select which was plugged directly into a set of SGR Audio MT3.2 active loud speakers. The DAC was on a SGR Audio stand and there was no power conditioning in the system, with the room having minimal sound treatment with the rear opening into a large living area with 3m vaulted ceilings. So there was a lot of room for sound improvement from power tweaks to room tweaks.
To start off here's a brief summary of my equipment experiences in the HiFi world. My current headphone system consists of a CAD CAT transport, LH DaVinci Dual DAC, Woo Audio WA234's and HEK headphones. For speakers I've currently got a pair of Vienna Acoustic Klimt the Kiss speakers powered by Auralic Merak Monoblocks.
Power conditioning is a Shunyata Triton and Typhon, power cables are a Shunyata Sigma Digital for the DAC and Shunyata Alpha HC's for everything else. Isolation is achieved by some Quadraspire Racks and HRS M3X bases under the 234's, DaVinci and CAT. Interconnects and headphone cables are DHC Spore4 Silver.
I've previously owned the following; JPS Labs Abyss, HD800, T5P, Grado PS1000, LCD XC, Auralic Vega, Woo Audio WA5, Antipodes DS, Antipodes DX and Zu Audio Soul Supreme speakers. I've also spent a good amount of time with the CAD DAC.
Some other gear I've auditioned throughout my journey on the headphone is the LCD 3F, LCD X, SR009, Luxman P-700u, Cavalli LAu, Schiit Ragnarok, Viva Egoista, Cypher Labs Prautes and Vioelectric V281.
For speakers the only other system of note that I'd heard has been some Wilson Audio Alexia's driven by the following; Gryphon Colosseum and Gryphon Pandora, Dan D'Agosinto Integrated, Dan D'Agostino Pre and Monoblocks. With the DAC used being the Gryphon Kalliope and DCS Vivaldi. Though in that system the power, room, isolation and treatment were far from ideal.
Hopefully that gives you a brief insight into my audio experiences and journey so far.
Now on to my thoughts from listening to the system pictured above.
I'll start off with what was apparent first, as soon as I had walked into the room. The build quality, the Select DAC is flawlessly finished, not a single tool mark or blemish anywhere on the chassis or screen. The black finish is consistent throughout and exudes quality. The curves and flowing lines of the chassis make it look smaller in photos than it actually is, the footprint is actually rather large in person. Though the size never becomes overwhelming or boorish, the form factor of the unit is flowing and gentle on the eyes, it draws your attention but never seems out of place. There was nothing I could fault in the chassis design or build.
The speakers, which are hand made and finished locally in Australia, match the MSB perfectly in terms of quality. The surfaces are perfectly polished to a mirror sheen, free of swirls or scratches. No joins are visible and the two speakers are perfectly symmetrical. Easily the finest finishes to a speaker I have ever had the privilege of seeing. I only wish I had a proper camera instead of my phone to properly convey the build quality of the MSB Select and SGR Speakers.
Now on to the sound, I played a variety of music, from electronic to classical, rock, female vocal and even some chillout music. It handled each and every genre with ease.
What struck me initially upon playing music was just how transparent the sound was, everything sounded so natural, so right and effortless. It was a sound free of grit, harshness or brightness, it was so relaxing and enveloping I could listen to it for hours on end without becoming fatigued. In fact during my listening 5 hours had passed by before I had realised it. A big thanks to the local SGR Owner and MSB Distributor, Stuart Ralston, for welcoming me to listen and spend so much time with such an astounding system.
The next thing that stood out was how whole the soundstage was, filled with exacting imaging and placement. The soundstage was completely enveloping, with effects coming from infront, to the sides, behind and even above with crystal clear clarity. There were no spots in the soundstage or presentation that felt empty or hollow, it was presented as a whole which added to the immersion and naturalness of the sound.
Backgrounds for the notes was deep and silent, the most dynamic system I have ever heard, period. The DAC had so much range and the speakers were able to keep up with the transients with ease. During big orchestral pieces it could go from the quietest pianissimo to the loudest fortissimo in an instant effortlessly, no harshness, no stain or clipping.
The quietness of the background also made the sound so much more coherent and clear. No matter how busy or full the recording got the system never sounded congested or confused. Each performer had their own place in the soundstage, without blending into each other or overlapping in a muddled mess. At the same time it still felt like a whole piece musical piece, rather than a combination of multiple individual pieces as with some overly analytical pieces of gear I have heard.
Impact and energy was also conveyed the best I had heard, the notes had plenty of weight to them, without artificially dragging out the decay or boosting the sound throughout the presence region. Violins and strings felt alive, drums had depth and energy to them. It could handle quiet female vocal or acoustic pieces with delicacy and finesse while conveying rock and metal with every ounce of speed and aggression it was recorded with.
Tonally I'd say the system was neutral, no one part of the frequency range stood out to me more than the others. It never sounded bright, the midrange was neither recessed or forward. The bass was extended and impactful without sounding boomy, bloomed or boosted. It handled everything equally well, which I feel comes down to the DAC being so transparent and dynamic and the speakers being of a sealed design with the drivers and inbuilt amplifiers being perfectly paired. Some speakers I've heard use a ported design to get more impact and weight, or to add more musicality. This always led to one part of the frequency standing out more than the rest and caused a slight shift in the soundstage making minute gaps in it. Or messing with the transparency of the music by drawing out the decay. I encountered none of that during my listening.
Now the most important part. Musical enjoyment! I can say with complete and utter certainty that I thoroughly enjoyed each and every second of my listening, I got entirely drawn into the sound, smiling ear to ear wanting nothing more that to continue listening. In fact the only thing that alerted me to the passing time and what brought the session to an unfortunate end was my laptop going flat!
I can say hearing that system was the best sonic experience I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It was the most accurate, musical and natural thing I had heard. I only wish I could've heard the system with a dedicated source, Shunyata for the power and some DHC interconnects to bring out the full potential!
Now I will say; the system was unfamiliar to me so it's hard to pinpoint what piece of the equipment specifically led to the final sound. But from my experiences it takes an incredibly resolving yet musical DAC to produce that type of sound coupled with completely transparent speakers or headphones with absolute control over their drivers to convey the energy and scale being fed to it form the rest of the system. Of which the Select DAC and SGR MT3.2's certainly had.
I hope you enjoyed my write up and hopefully found it useful. I would have liked to write more about the sound, but it was so perfect and ahead of what I had previously heard that it's hard to put into words or have anything to compare it to. And so I will end this tale here, though if you have any questions or queries feel free to drop me a PM. Hopefully the above didn't contain too many spelling mistakes or turn into a complete grammatical mess.
Cheers
-Matt
