[bmichels]

  009 tweaking and EQ
I am / was not such a fan of EQ. It seemed to wreck the transparency of the music and reduced the depth / soundstage too much to be worth the effect of frequency tweaking.
 
.... On my system I find I need 2dB of lift starting around 120hz and going on to 20hz. Watch the 0dB reading on the meter, check it doesn't go over. I set it to -1dB. 
 
Perfect, the sound now is so damb good. The 009 really does have great bass and responds so well to tweaks and system upgrades. ... A 2dB 115hz-10hz lift make sit something special, perfect IMO with no loss of transparency or compression as in many EQs I have tried.

 
TotalDAC's BassBoost option may be an elegant solution for those using a TotalDAC

 

[hpz]

Too bad I sold my stax 009 and bhse for an abyss setup or else I'd be all over this and fly up to Brisbane in a heartbeat!

 

[isquirrel]

   
Let me make sure I understand this...
 
Stax?
 
I'll listen to one... one day
I think one of the biggest issues of dealers not really being willing to audition them here is Price Japan - nobody wants to be a free audition centre so people can just go home and buy themselves a pair for half the price online... Oh well, last thing I need is more expensive headphone gear...

Hey mate, I ended having to order the Stax 009, I went straight to the distributor so that hurt less. It will be here on Tuesday, the MSB will be here Wednesday, how about we let them settle in for a while and then catch up for a listening session next weekend?
 
All of the points you have raised I agree with, its not about the expense, I wish it cost a lot less, the notion that the Select is basically the same as the Diamond is well rubbish. For a start the Select does not up-sample in any way and it has no internal amps to drive the output just the purity of the DAC modules themselves. It couldn't be more different to the rest of MSB's gear apart from the Analog DAC and that's only a marginal comparison in terms of topology.
 
For me its about exploring what makes the best sound IMHO. I don't think people have any idea just how remote Brisbane is in terms of High End Audio. Matt as you know is the only other person other than yourself to have a reasonably large Head-Fi system, I have recently made a good friend who shares the same interests and he has a stack of equipment I have bene hanging out to listen to, he will be joining us for the listening sessions. Along with some of his gear.
 
If your amp has arrived we would all love to hear it.

 

[isquirrel]

Too bad I sold my stax 009 and bhse for an abyss setup or else I'd be all over this and fly up to Brisbane in a heartbeat!

You would be welcome !

 

[isquirrel]

  I agree, the Abyss is a breakthrough HP for an new company. It was however the same price as the 009 though. But my other issue with the MSB electrostatic amp is the price. There are a cluster or Stax and DIY electrostatic amps, Woo Audio, Cavalli, who are more or less around the 3k-7K range. Then we are presented with a 37K amplifier from a newbie to this sector. Hardly surprising the response? A price hike of 6 x is a big ask.
 
A question, all the electrostatic amps I had heard or seen emit a good deal of heat. How has MSB solved this? I don't see any heatsinks on the Select case used.
 
Yes, we await a report on how good the amp is, against at least the BHSE and 009s. It really needs to be new territory to justify that price. unless they believe enough loyal buyers will want to complete the Select set anyway, regardless.

Plenty of Heat Sinks on the Select, same chassis is used for the Headphone Amp.
 


As has been pointed out, I will not be able to compare against another Stat Headphone Amp, what I will be able to do is to compare it to TOTL Dynamic and Planar amps, valve & SS.

 

[purk]

 
Plenty of Heat Sinks on the Select, same chassis is used for the Headphone Amp.
 


As has been pointed out, I will not be able to compare against another Stat Headphone Amp, what I will be able to do is to compare it to TOTL Dynamic and Planar amps, valve & SS.

Why not?  The whole point of doing this type of review is to compare apple to apple.  Why not reach out to Headamp for a loaner of their BHSE and make a comparison?

 

[isquirrel]

  Why not?  The whole point of doing this type of review is to compare apple to apple.  Why not reach out to Headamp for a loaner of their BHSE and make a comparison?

That may what you would do and I respect that. It not however what I have been thinking about.  I have already heard the BHSE with 009's. I want to compare it to the best (my subjective choice) of what I already have the Woo 234's, the Goldmund, DAVE and the Nagra HD DAC. This is my objective. Hopefully if the timing aligns, when the distributors BHSE comes available I will compare the MSB to that. 
 
BTW, can anyone give me an idea of burn in time for the Stax 009"s?

 

[chinsettawong]

No burn in time needed for electrostatic phones.

 

[astrostar59]

  BTW, can anyone give me an idea of burn in time for the Stax 009"s?

No birn in time as far as I noticed, but the amp will need some hours on it.

 

[mulveling]

Welp that's the best MSB could've hoped for with their ludicrously expensive amp -- get it in the hands of people/reviewers that are electrostatic newbies who'll be comparing it to dynamic setups or low-end Stax amps, rather than the other top-echelon (but still much more affordable) electrostatic amps (BHSE, Carbon). The merits of 007/009 alone, with even mediocre amping, will probably wow these folks. Basically keeps their amp protected in a nice safe space.
 
I also like how they posture as a high-tech company yet the details on their amp are basically "it's the best!!".

 

[JimL11]

Sound aside their "technical information" doesn't make any sense.  They say "the output of a discrete ladder DAC drives the headphones directly. " HUH?  How does a ladder DAC, which is presumably putting out a few volts, get its output turned into the hundreds of volts needed to drive a stat phone?  If the DAC is driving the phones directly, why do you need an amp?  And if it is driving the headphones through an amp, it isn't directly driving it.  Unless MSB is using a different version of the English language than the one I'm familiar with.  And I'd be curious to know what justifies a cost more than 5X a BHSE, other than the Lamborghini factor.

 

[jibzilla]

  Sound aside their "technical information" doesn't make any sense.  They say "the output of a discrete ladder DAC drives the headphones directly. " HUH?  How does a ladder DAC, which is presumably putting out a few volts, get its output turned into the hundreds of volts needed to drive a stat phone?  If the DAC is driving the phones directly, why do you need an amp?  And if it is driving the headphones through an amp, it isn't directly driving it.  Unless MSB is using a different version of the English language than the one I'm familiar with.  And I'd be curious to know what justifies a cost more than 5X a BHSE, other than the Lamborghini factor.

 
I think you have to buy an uber pre amp to use it. So yeah you spend $37k on a electrostatic amp with no volume control. Smart aint it. That way if you do not like the sound it is the preamps fault, not the $37k electrostatic amp.

 

[astrostar59]

  Sound aside their "technical information" doesn't make any sense.  They say "the output of a discrete ladder DAC drives the headphones directly. " HUH?  How does a ladder DAC, which is presumably putting out a few volts, get its output turned into the hundreds of volts needed to drive a stat phone?  If the DAC is driving the phones directly, why do you need an amp?  And if it is driving the headphones through an amp, it isn't directly driving it.  Unless MSB is using a different version of the English language than the one I'm familiar with.  And I'd be curious to know what justifies a cost more than 5X a BHSE, other than the Lamborghini factor.

Jim
I think they are referring to the DAC board having / creating enough gain / voltage to no need a pre-amp inside the Select. The TotalDAC does the same with the D12. Then the MSB Electrostatic amp as a new unit of gain.
 
I am curious, a Carbon at 3-4K average, BHSE at 5.8K, WOO WES at 6K, LL2 at 4.8K (roughly), a T2 DIY maybe at 8K? Then we have the MSB amp at 37K.
 
So they are basically saying everything before it is trash, and we at MSB slay on others who come before us. They really need to upgrade there basic looking website. I give them credit on their more affordable DACs, the Analogue and the Platinum (now not available though so prices shot up for the current model). But 37K for this amp....
 
Mmm, I find it hard to understand how a smallish company has magically done this. Did they hire the electrostatic designer guy they had on there early webpage? If not, how did they do this and also reinvent the wheel, i.e. beat the rest by 5 x as reflected in the asking price.
 
I also question how it will get rid of all the heat. I know the case has heatsinks, but they look very small.
 
Well, only way to know for sure is to have an experienced user test it against the BHSE or other top amp on the 009s. Next best thing I guess is against the Abyss or Focal with another top amp.
 
If it justifies the price, it will be clearly the best electrostatic amp available to date.

 

[JimL11]

  I think they are referring to the DAC board having / creating enough gain / voltage to no need a pre-amp inside the Select. The TotalDAC does the same with the D12. Then the MSB Electrostatic amp as a new unit of gain.
 
 
I also question how it will get rid of all the heat. I know the case has heatsinks, but they look very small.

Yes, but that's not what they said.  They said that the DAC drives the headphones DIRECTLY, which to me means DAC connected to headphones with nothing intervening.  Unless its translated from another language.
 
Remember the case is 17" X 17" so the heatsinks are probably bigger than they look in the photo.

 

[purk]

 
That may what you would do and I respect that. It not however what I have been thinking about.  I have already heard the BHSE with 009's. I want to compare it to the best (my subjective choice) of what I already have the Woo 234's, the Goldmund, DAVE and the Nagra HD DAC. This is my objective. Hopefully if the timing aligns, when the distributors BHSE comes available I will compare the MSB to that. 
 
BTW, can anyone give me an idea of burn in time for the Stax 009"s?

If you want to hear the KGSSHV Carbon in Australia, I can get you in touch with a gentlemen who own build his own DIY KGSSHV Carbon.  Seriously though, you will do a lot service to folks here and every where if you include the KGSSHV Carbon or BHSE into the review.