Correct. Good chance I will be selling it along with server and my Core Tech Kaia linear power supply.
Of course now Jesus will be releasing his ultraRendu and with the new renderer for the Select it never ends
MSB Select II arrival
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
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Correct. Good chance I will be selling it along with server and my Core Tech Kaia linear power supply.
Of course now Jesus will be releasing his ultraRendu and with the new renderer for the Select it never ends
just spent over 2 hours sampling MQA Masters through Tidal on the MQA equipped MSB Select II.
previous reports about this through the Select II were very positive.
my perception is provisionally quite mixed. I liked the MQA of Neil Young's Harvest a lot, which is where I started. I have a master tape of this one and a very good pressing, and it's a favorite of mine. I was impressed by this MQA master. most of these are 24-192, although the 'Stairway to Heaven' was 24-96 (likely contractual). the more I listened there is a 'processed' aspect to the sound that I started to pick up on like it's been run through a loudness contour and then had it's mids and bass boosted. but I did not stop to grab any regular files to compare. the net effect might be very positive, or it might be something that does not work on a system like mine where it's all laid bare.
I liked the list of music, and so made a play list and just set back and listened.
recalling my 5 hours with redbook yesterday, I'd say that was overall more impressive. but this is just a data point so far. I will revisit this later and do some deeper investigating. most of what I played was analog tape based, and that could be the issue. maybe native digital files might fare better......but I might not have listened to even one.
my intension here is not to throw cold water on MQA. but only that since the previous feedback was in contrast to my session I thought I should bring it up.
at the LA Show I had 2 positive demos of MQA; one in the Wilson room with Peter McGrath off a file on a Meridian dac, and another one from Vince in the MSB room on the Select II from a file. so I need to get deeper into this and discover what is doing what.
previous reports about this through the Select II were very positive.
my perception is provisionally quite mixed. I liked the MQA of Neil Young's Harvest a lot, which is where I started. I have a master tape of this one and a very good pressing, and it's a favorite of mine. I was impressed by this MQA master. most of these are 24-192, although the 'Stairway to Heaven' was 24-96 (likely contractual). the more I listened there is a 'processed' aspect to the sound that I started to pick up on like it's been run through a loudness contour and then had it's mids and bass boosted. but I did not stop to grab any regular files to compare. the net effect might be very positive, or it might be something that does not work on a system like mine where it's all laid bare.
I liked the list of music, and so made a play list and just set back and listened.
recalling my 5 hours with redbook yesterday, I'd say that was overall more impressive. but this is just a data point so far. I will revisit this later and do some deeper investigating. most of what I played was analog tape based, and that could be the issue. maybe native digital files might fare better......but I might not have listened to even one.
my intension here is not to throw cold water on MQA. but only that since the previous feedback was in contrast to my session I thought I should bring it up.
at the LA Show I had 2 positive demos of MQA; one in the Wilson room with Peter McGrath off a file on a Meridian dac, and another one from Vince in the MSB room on the Select II from a file. so I need to get deeper into this and discover what is doing what.
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Thanks very much, great input. And I assume removing the mRendu (USB direct from your PC to the Aqua) yields a loss in quality? I'm wondering if it makes sense to sell the SOTM USB card, buy the mRendu and then run in NAA mode.
The great advantage of mrendu, besides its amazing SQ, is to keep the computer out of the room, isolating noise and whatever it brings in to the sound. So I bought a very powerful computer that is built for games, nothing special in terms of audio, and it is placed in another room of the house. I can control it using my Ipad and VSN software.
The advantage I see in the Ethernet solution for audio is the complete isolation of computer noises.
I never tested my Windows computer directly to the DAC. But I had before a MacBookPro, and there is no comparison with the mrendu.
If you want to go to mrendu, maybe it is worth to wait for the launch of the ultraRendu. It is about to come. Or you can buy an used one while waiting.
To avoid the noise and provide a nice solution to digital music having a computer directly connected to the DAC, leads to very expensive machines like the amazingly good SGM.
Sorry Mike for the OT.
Just a word of "caution". Jesus is soon releasing the "ultraRendu". Not sure of the differences with the microRendu.
Mike,
I haven't really been keeping up with the MQA thing but does streaming "MQA Masters" from Tidal do the full "unfold" or do you need an actual MQA encoded file to get the full hardware benefit.
I lost track of this.
Off to the airport. Enjoy the Select II while I try to enjoy what is open of Glacier NP.
Howie
no worries. feeding these beasts is very relevant and plenty of SGM talk here too.
enjoy Glacier!
btw, this morning I tried more MQA and went just with newer digitally sourced recordings and it was better and not as perceivably processed sounding. again; I've not taken the time to compare source files. most of these are not 16-44 anyway so hard to track down various high rez sources.
this will be a long term investigation.....no quick conclusions.
Great to hear you are enjoying your new gear, always exciting. It will be very interesting to get your final assessment once it's fully broken in and best settings are applied.
Thanks guys for your input, much appreciated. I may wait for the ultra rendu as suggested which sounds like it will be available soon.
Also, I found this video about the MSB select II DAC. That is some, machine chassis + electricals...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW6QOcZ7Ijs
Also, I found this video about the MSB select II DAC. That is some, machine chassis + electricals...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW6QOcZ7Ijs
Just to point that yesterday evening I returned to the REF40 - and although there is less air, it is more what we get in a concert hall or in an auditorium. The dynamics are much more natural with the REF40 inserted in the system. The layering without preamplifier was better, but the direct connection was loosing in part the room acoustics of the recording and its real power. Probably turning to something like Valhalla2 or Odin could when using the preamplifier. I once hosted a full loom of Odin and it was much more revelatory of layering than my current Crystal Dreamline.
For MQA, being a lossy format, you may want to compare it to the master file in order to "discover" differences, rather than 16/44.1 files of dubious provenance. At 2L download site you will find plenty of those. Usually the master track is a PCM DXD file.
WOW!!! I do not attend the forum for a week and you add this truly piece of technological art into your amazing "barn" ?
Congratulations Mike
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Micro....Forgive me If we have covered my query before, have you tube rolled your REF40 since in your possession?
I have found that replacing the factory power regulators with NOS measuring GE 6550A 's not only improve upon air and layering, they evolve the sound in all criteria with perhaps a caviat in the speed of low base where the Sovtek's might edge it, however the tonal dencity and texture of the GE's is still IMHO an improvement upon the factory valve.
thank you for that information, I did not know where to look. when I get the chance I will pursue doing that.
thank you Paolo.
I am really enjoying the Select II, and having a hard time pulling myself away from listening.
I think this comes down to the line stage in the DAC or pre-amplifier. A decent pre-amplifier has a much more powerful power supply and current reserves, so naturally in most cases it is going to add dynamics and weight to the sound. Also in the case of the MSB or any solid state DAC, adding a tube gain stage will change things, and that may suit, or not. The extra device in the chain will loose some plankton and micro detail, it would be unavoidable IMO. My own DAC is maybe bit of an oddball, as essentially an M6 pre-amplifier with a digital board in it. I have tried direct and with an M5 and I preferred direct. But it needs short interconnects and care with a passive (in my case). And the impedance on the power amplifier is also key (has to be at least 50X).
in my case, I'm using the newest version of the darTZeel NHB-18NS as a preamp with the MSB Select II. I've not yet tried the Select II 'direct' to my amps. for a number of reasons, I suspect that the dart pre will perform better than direct. first off, i have 8 meter interconnects between my sources and pre and the amplifiers. second, i use the BNC 'zeel' 50 ohm interface between my pre and amps which has advantages over any conventional interconnects and is particularly synergistic in my system. thirdly; my dart pre is battery powered and extremely low noise and the volume attenuator in the dart pre is exceptional.
even with the previous version of the dart pre, the dart pre seemed superior to going direct from a source. 5 years ago i had some very high level headphone gear, including the Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition with it's own volume control, and the Stax 009 electrostatic headphones. i figured it would be better to run my Playback Designs MPS-5 direct into the BHSE......which i did. but then i also tried it into the regular source plugs on the dart pre and out the fixed output of the dart pre. it was not close; the dart pre in the signal path was much better. and this is with likely the most detailed of any headphones....and very short RCA outputs from the dart pre into the BHSE.
Interesting. Yes the BHSE and 009s is very transparent. I have the 009s and the KGSShv Carbon amp. Maybe the line stage in the Playback Designs MPS-5 was a rather simple stage? I think it is unusual to see a really well thought out line stage in any DAC TBH. Many DACs have simple opp amps for space reasons and cost, some even have switching power supplies (My goodness!). It isn't difficult to get 2V line out, but more costly to do it as good as a top pre-amplifier, which technically it should be really if in the 20K+ range. I think it should be expected really, especially as many users now only have one source. A manufacture of both DACs and Pre-amps would of course, want us to buy both boxes. And I can understand there is little interest in a top line stage in a DAC, most folk are still either not thinking about it as a pre-amplifier with a digital board, more a line level device that 'requires' a pre-amplifier because that is how it always was.
But I bet your Dart is one super pre-amp Mike.
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