[IanB52]

still leaning mpd8....r2r dacs might be a little warm. nothing wrong with that tho.

I did have an MSB Discrete next to my EMM Labs DA2, and the EMM was the better DAC and more to my tastes personally. The Premier is probably more on par, but MSB is a warmer, chunkier, and "gooer" sound. The DSD DACs tend to be more fast and fluid, and smoother, but less warm. The DA2 was much more fast, detailed and spacious, but less rich. And the other DACs like DCS and Chord are sharper and brighter.

Still, I'd love to own an MSB DAC at least at the Premier level.

One thing to be mindful of with headphone amps is the DAC output voltage. My HM1+Susvara had a really hard time with MSB's 3.5v, does well with EMM Labs 7v, and LOVES my Mytek at 10v. On the other hand, some amps like Pathos Inpol Ear overload above 4v! So you do have to match these. I dont think MSB is hot enough for the HM1, but might be perfect for others.

 

[tdx]

still leaning mpd8....r2r dacs might be a little warm. nothing wrong with that tho.

You'd be (pleasantly) surprised by the MSB "R2R"-ness or lack thereof. I've had my fair share of R2R DACs and the Premier is the least R2R sounding DAC I've had. As a matter of fact it's more transparent and clear that a lot of non-R2R DACs out there.

 

[Whazzzup]

Well then )

 

[barbz127]

Has anyone had/heard the discrete and the premier and could comment on how they differ?

Currently running the discrete+dual PSU + proisl USB and curious about upgrading just to the premier power base or upgrading the to the premier dac as well

Thankyou

 

[chesebert]

Cascade looks pretty bad ass, and appears to be well executed and adhere to first principal engineering. You can probably get pretty close to Cascade if you add a ProISL digital input and add a separate digital hub with ProISL output. TBH, digital director makes way more sense than an external clock certain brands are peddling. IMO network to ProISL via digital director is the ideal setup for max dac performance.

 

[tdx]

Cascade looks pretty bad ass, and appears to be well executed and adhere to first principal engineering. You can probably get pretty close to Cascade if you add a ProISL digital input and add a separate digital hub with ProISL output. TBH, digital director makes way more sense than an external clock certain brands are peddling. IMO network to ProISL via digital director is the ideal setup for max dac performance.

Completely agree. I dont have the funds to get it right now but if I did, a Premier DAC + Digital Director combo would make me feel I'm not giving up on much versus the Cascade. of course the Cascade would sound better (for the price it better!) but the fundamental "music path philosophy" would be the same and have the same benefits IMO.

It's funny because when I was doing massive research for an endgame DAC in my budget the MSB didn't really register because of its cost. But then I realized something that made me change my perspective on it: all the other TOTL DACs in that price bracket wither need, or greatly benefit from, an external streamer, DDC, reclocker, server etc. And once you add those, plus the cost of powering them well, the price is actually very close or sometimes greater than the MSB DAC. Once I realized the Pro USB/Fiber connection pretty much negates the need for external sources, I decided to go for the MSB. Now I have it hooked up to my PC via Pro USB and couldn't be happier with the sonic results. Well, i could be happier if I got the Digital Director, so maybe one day...

 

[tdx]

A long but interesting video. I love listening to Vince Galbo talk about audio. I've talked to him numerous times with questions about my Premier and he is just as nice and knowledgeable IRL as in that video.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

Advice/assistance needed and I figured real MSB owners are the right people to ask.

I am looking to buy the MSB Premiere DAC/Director with the Network Renderer to drive a MSB S202 Amp, and from everything I have read this is a simply fantastic sounding system, my question has nothing to do with the sound quality it's about first world problems.

The Powerbase has 2 12v triggers but I am unable to find documentation on how the Premiere enters and exits standby mode, so I am hoping somebody that has one can tell me based on experience (or test it for me).

What I am hoping is that after a time period with no input signal to the network renderer the system automatically enters standby mode and triggers the amp to do the same (using the 50K resistor) and then when it receives an input signal it wakes up and wakes up the amp as well, so my question is does it work this way? If not how does it work?

I am hoping not to leave everything running at idle power 7/24 as it's over 300W but so far other than manually engaging standby I haven't found a way to do it without changing to an external streamer (the NAD M50.2 would work but esthetically it's not a nice fit and sonically the MSB renderer will outperform it).


So all of you that have a Premiere is there a wake up/sleep capability and can it via the powerbase trigger the amp automatically?

 

[chesebert]

Advice/assistance needed and I figured real MSB owners are the right people to ask.

I am looking to buy the MSB Premiere DAC/Director with the Network Renderer to drive a MSB S202 Amp, and from everything I have read this is a simply fantastic sounding system, my question has nothing to do with the sound quality it's about first world problems.

The Powerbase has 2 12v triggers but I am unable to find documentation on how the Premiere enters and exits standby mode, so I am hoping somebody that has one can tell me based on experience (or test it for me).

What I am hoping is that after a time period with no input signal to the network renderer the system automatically enters standby mode and triggers the amp to do the same (using the 50K resistor) and then when it receives an input signal it wakes up and wakes up the amp as well, so my question is does it work this way? If not how does it work?

I am hoping not to leave everything running at idle power 7/24 as it's over 300W but so far other than manually engaging standby I haven't found a way to do it without changing to an external streamer (the NAD M50.2 would work but esthetically it's not a nice fit and sonically the MSB renderer will outperform it).


So all of you that have a Premiere is there a wake up/sleep capability and can it via the powerbase trigger the amp automatically?

You are buying blind? Do you even like MSB sound signature? Some people find MSB too “clear”, “too much detail” and sometimes too analytical.

 

[tdx]

Advice/assistance needed and I figured real MSB owners are the right people to ask.

I am looking to buy the MSB Premiere DAC/Director with the Network Renderer to drive a MSB S202 Amp, and from everything I have read this is a simply fantastic sounding system, my question has nothing to do with the sound quality it's about first world problems.

The Powerbase has 2 12v triggers but I am unable to find documentation on how the Premiere enters and exits standby mode, so I am hoping somebody that has one can tell me based on experience (or test it for me).

What I am hoping is that after a time period with no input signal to the network renderer the system automatically enters standby mode and triggers the amp to do the same (using the 50K resistor) and then when it receives an input signal it wakes up and wakes up the amp as well, so my question is does it work this way? If not how does it work?

I am hoping not to leave everything running at idle power 7/24 as it's over 300W but so far other than manually engaging standby I haven't found a way to do it without changing to an external streamer (the NAD M50.2 would work but esthetically it's not a nice fit and sonically the MSB renderer will outperform it).


So all of you that have a Premiere is there a wake up/sleep capability and can it via the powerbase trigger the amp automatically?

I wish I could answer this but unfortunately I only have the MSB Premier (which I highly highly recommend BTW) and not their matching amp. So i couldn't say if they have a trigger handshake to turn on/off. But the Premier DAC itself doesn't have any timed shutdown option as far as I can tell. So even if the amp and DAC talk to each other I'm not sure if any of them would go to sleep after a period of not receiving a signal.

I think your best bet is to ask this question directly to MSB, they are super responsive and genuinely helpful. They will not give you vague answers to try to make you buy their gear, they are much more honest for that. Vince Galbo is their resident sales guru and he's great to talk to. Drop me a pm if you want his email.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

You are buying blind? Do you even like MSB sound signature? Some people find MSB too “clear”, “too much detail” and sometimes too analytical.

No I am going to listen to the setup, but I live 3hrs flight away so I want to ensure it will work the way I want before the demo, so I can adjust the config or expectations in advance.

The reality is I am buying a whole system including speakers, cable, rack, power conditioning etc. and it's a rather major expense (at least for my budget) so yes @chesebert I plan on listening to it rather extensively.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

I wish I could answer this but unfortunately I only have the MSB Premier (which I highly highly recommend BTW) and not their matching amp. So i couldn't say if they have a trigger handshake to turn on/off. But the Premier DAC itself doesn't have any timed shutdown option as far as I can tell. So even if the amp and DAC talk to each other I'm not sure if any of them would go to sleep after a period of not receiving a signal.

I think your best bet is to ask this question directly to MSB, they are super responsive and genuinely helpful. They will not give you vague answers to try to make you buy their gear, they are much more honest for that. Vince Galbo is their resident sales guru and he's great to talk to. Drop me a pm if you want his email.

Sadly you have answered my question, unless the amp has a sleep function on it's own (which is unlikely) the trigger would have to be the DAC or Director and you eliminated the DAC. Thank you @tdx I will reach out to Vince.

 

[chesebert]

No I am going to listen to the setup, but I live 3hrs flight away so I want to ensure it will work the way I want before the demo, so I can adjust the config or expectations in advance.

The reality is I am buying a whole system including speakers, cable, rack, power conditioning etc. and it's a rather major expense (at least for my budget) so yes @chesebert I plan on listening to it rather extensively.

Perfect. I keep my dacs on 24/7 unless they are tubes. I suggest you do the same for better sound quality.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

Perfect. I keep my dacs on 24/7 unless they are tubes. I suggest you do the same for better sound quality.

I was planning to keep the DAC on, but I wanted to put the amp into standby, sadly I only get a chance to enjoy 1-2 songs a day most of the time, then life seems to get in the way, ok the stereo is on as background music maybe 1-2hrs a day but really enjoying the music is sadly rare.

But I have to be honest this is a nice to have not a deal breaker, after all what is 300w of power compared to the cost of the system we are talking about, my bigger issue is will be convincing my wife to use Roon.

 

[chesebert]

I was planning to keep the DAC on, but I wanted to put the amp into standby, sadly I only get a chance to enjoy 1-2 songs a day most of the time, then life seems to get in the way, ok the stereo is on as background music maybe 1-2hrs a day but really enjoying the music is sadly rare.

I also keep my class AB amp on 24/7 unless I won’t use it for a few weeks then I put it in standby mode.