MSB SELECT DAC Video - Factory tour

[asiufy]

The point of the video was not to tell you how it sounds. That can't be done with a video (IMHO). The point was to introduce the product, the technology, the company, and the factory behind it. That's all.

After watching the video, if you want to know how the unit sounds, you can go to your dealer. Same as if you had watched a video about the production process of a Ferrari... You wouldn't know how a Ferrari or a Lambo drives by watching a factory tour...

And you know what's funny? MSB got flack before for being spartan in their cases, with external heatsinks, etc. Now that they stepped up their game, investing a good chunk of money, people compain that it looks too slick? Can't win in this game, I guess

Oh, and I heard it a few times. But I guess I don't count!

 

[MadFloyd]

from the (killer) video, it seems like the DAC is really designed to be used as a preamp - so its two boxes in one. not that it justifies the price, but its a bit more palatable. this seems to be for digital only folks in asia who don't have 100k vinyl setups.

on the analog side, we now have 50k+ phono stages now (Pass, Vac, Soulution, Boulder, etc) - phono stages! i think that's more mindblowing.

Pass doesn't have a 50k phono stage. You, sir, are mistaken! It's only 45k!

 

[mikem]

Actually, according to the MSB site, it's not free upgrades. Upgrades at cost difference - for 10 years.

 

[Ken Newton]

The best thing about that $89,950 price is that MSB set it at $50 short of an even $90k. To take advantage of that common marketing psychology practice, no doubt. Apparently, buyers of $90,000 DACs want to be able to tell say they got a good deal to boot, the same as we mere mortals want to be able to do with our $995 components.

"But, Honey, I paid LESS than $90,000 for it! By the way, here's a new diamond Rollex for you."

 

[amirm]

We're expecting to have another go at it with the SELECT in the store in about 2 weeks... Everybody's welcome to stop by and check it out!

THanks for the impressions. Who is the typical customer for such a product? Audiophiles or wealthy individuals?

 

[KeithR]

THanks for the impressions. Who is the typical customer for such a product? Audiophiles or wealthy individuals?

probably the same folks who buy 100k projectors

 

[edorr]

probably the same folks who buy 100k projectors

The HT crowd would probably opt for the 125K MCH MSB DAC....

http://www.msbtech.com/products/master.php?Page=platinumHome

 

[Mike Lavigne]

The HT crowd would probably opt for the 125K MCH MSB DAC....

http://www.msbtech.com/products/master.php?Page=platinumHome

this product is aimed at (1) Asian mega buck market, and (2) other very serious digital 2 channel people in other markets.

anything goes in Asia; so you might see it there in a HT/MC environment as the most extravagant choice. it gets points for the high price. in other markets it is more your highest end non analog 2 channel systems. maybe replacing the highest end dCS or Esoteric. those systems already are in that retail price point. so those people would view this as simply another choice. better performance, fewer boxes, fewer cables. you could pay much of the cost of this just in saved highest level interconnects and power cables compared to those other highest level offerings.

 

[edorr]

this product is aimed at (1) Asian mega buck market, and (2) other very serious digital 2 channel people in other markets.

anything goes in Asia; so you might see it there in a HT/MC environment as the most extravagant choice. it gets points for the high price. in other markets it is more your highest end non analog 2 channel systems. maybe replacing the highest end dCS or Esoteric. those systems already are in that retail price point. so those people would view this as simply another choice. better performance, fewer boxes, fewer cables. you could pay much of the cost of this just in saved highest level interconnects and power cables compared to those other highest level offerings.

Not sure about the cabling savings. In fact, this is a stand alone MCH dac with no post processing or DRC. Anyone setting up a SOTA HT wants those features, so you need other digital boxes to interface with this DAC. I believe at some point MSB OEM'ed a $40K server (it appears to have been dropped - one user on WBF reported it was unstable). Bottom line, with the MSB MCH architecture, you'll end up needing more boxes / cables, not fewer. I believe it is dead in the water for this very reason. Spend a fortune on a MCH DAC, and you still need all sorts of other digital boxes to piece togther a MCH system.

 

[andromedaaudio]

With all respect to this company , all those high $$ prices for miniscule digital gains , nobody has the guts in this industry to make a todays up to date standard analogue r2r machine .
High end development is getting really boring , thats why i pretty much stopped posting

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Not sure about the cabling savings. In fact, this is a stand alone MCH dac with no post processing or DRC. Anyone setting up a SOTA HT wants those features, so you need other digital boxes to interface with this DAC. I believe at some point MSB OEM'ed a $40K server (it appears to have been dropped - one user on WBF reported it was unstable). Bottom line, with the MSB MCH architecture, you'll end up needing more boxes / cables, not fewer. I believe it is dead in the water for this very reason. Spend a fortune on a MCH DAC, and you still need all sorts of other digital boxes to piece togther a MCH system.

MCH is not what is relevant to this product. and neither is any dsp. that stuff is not found on the highest level systems where this gear lives.

why would anyone pay for the best sound and then dumb it down?

consider a dCS 2-channel 4 box top-of-line Vivaldi full tilt boogie digital front end. you are using Odin 2 or Transparent Magnum Opus cables. if you save a couple sets of interconnects and a couple power cables that could be $75k+ at retail. and less rack space.

that can add up.

at these levels that is exactly what happens.

 

[edorr]

consider a dCS 4 box top-of-line Vivaldi full tilt boogie digital front end. you are using Odin 2 or Transparent Magnum Opus cables. if you save a couple sets of interconnects and a couple power cables that could be $75k+ at retail. and less rack space.

that can add up.

at these levels that is exactly what happens.

But this would be a 2 channel setup. I thought we were talking MCH.

The link I showed was to the 125K MCH DAC. Obviously for 2 channel the Select is the contender, going toe to toe against DcS.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

But this would be a 2 channel setup. I thought we were talking MCH.

no; you were talking multi-channel.

I was talking fewer boxes and money saved on cables.

and that the buyers for this are not MCH users

 

[edorr]

no; you were talking multi-channel.

I was talking fewer boxes and money saved on cables.

and that the buyers for this are not MCH users

We had a different DAC in mind. I send a link to the MSB 8-Channel DAC, not the "Select", which would obviously be a MCH application.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

With all respect to this company , all those high $$ prices for miniscule digital gains , nobody has the guts in this industry to make a todays up to date standard analogue r2r machine .
High end development is getting really boring , thats why i pretty much stopped posting

It is becoming increasingly more exclusionary.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Becoming more BS you mean

It is becoming increasingly more exclusionary.

 

[edorr]

It is becoming increasingly more exclusionary.

The "value" of the $90K DAC is primarily it's excusivity, not its sonic performance.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Becoming more BS you mean

Not sure if I'd go that far as I think there is a need for those products for that segment of the market who can afford them.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

The "value" of the $90K DAC is primarily it's excusivity, not its sonic performance.

Oh, I understand that.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Not sure if I'd go that far as I think there is a need for those products for that segment of the market who can afford them.

Sure just as there is a market for a 100.000 $$ watch which shows the same time as a 10 $$ one