MSB Select II arrival

[microstrip]

Just to point I am following the thread because I want to read about the experience and opinions of Sellect II users ...
WBF is particularly lucky in having two owners with so different systems.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Just to point I am following the thread because I want to read about the experience and opinions of Sellect II users ...
WBF is particularly lucky in having two owners with so different systems.

thank you Micro, purely my pleasure to share and watch for Priaptor's views too. I am truly under the spell of this dac and it is upsetting my normal time allocation. my email responses and other chores are being 'put off/delayed' and my normal habit of multi-tasking while listening to digital is greatly reduced. the musical pull is much closer to my vinyl in that way. an unexpected development. maybe the switch to the RCA output + Tara Labs GME I.C.'s has moved things up a bit too.

last night, this morning, and now this evening I've filtered Roon to 16-44 files only and have been greatly entertained and captured with these files. there is simply such an 'unprocessed presentation' along with a 'continuousness' to the music. any hint of digital artifacts or even of solid state or really any feeling of the reproduction chain is just absent.

last night I listened to 'Angela Gheorghiu' 'Diva', the whole CD. I could not stop. I kept bracing myself for any sort of 'a bit too much' and it was always so easy and natural even with her frequent fireworks, yet astonishing levels of texture and detail. I've had the Lampi with the Elrog 300b's (and the tubed Nagra HD) and it was never like this, and that is no dig on the Lampi.....but the level of refinement I'm hearing is phenomenal.

right now I'm listening to the 'Purcel Quartet', 'Marin Marais; La Follia', lots of violins, and a prominent harpsichord. OMG the harpsichord is 'sweet' and so sonorous and texturally complex and has this beautiful sheen and vivid projection. no nuance or musical mystery gets missed, and the flair is all there.

harpsichords and full CD's of Aria's is not my typical fare. or at least it had not been before.

note to self---I do not see any tubes anywhere.

 

[Audiocrack]

thank you Micro, purely my pleasure to share and watch for Priaptor's views too. I am truly under the spell of this dac and it is upsetting my normal time allocation. my email responses and other chores are being 'put off/delayed' and my normal habit of multi-tasking while listening to digital is greatly reduced. the musical pull is much closer to my vinyl in that way. an unexpected development. maybe the switch to the RCA output + Tara Labs GME I.C.'s has moved things up a bit too.

last night, this morning, and now this evening I've filtered Roon to 16-44 files only and have been greatly entertained and captured with these files. there is simply such an 'unprocessed presentation' along with a 'continuousness' to the music. any hint of digital artifacts or even of solid state or really any feeling of the reproduction chain is just absent.

last night I listened to 'Angela Gheorghiu' 'Diva', the whole CD. I could not stop. I kept bracing myself for any sort of 'a bit too much' and it was always so easy and natural even with her frequent fireworks, yet astonishing levels of texture and detail. I've had the Lampi with the Elrog 300b's (and the tubed Nagra HD) and it was never like this, and that is no dig on the Lampi.....but the level of refinement I'm hearing is phenomenal.

right now I'm listening to the 'Purcel Quartet', 'Marin Marais; La Follia', lots of violins, and a prominent harpsichord. OMG the harpsichord is 'sweet' and so sonorous and texturally complex and has this beautiful sheen and vivid projection. no nuance or musical mystery gets missed, and the flair is all there.

harpsichords and full CD's of Aria's is not my typical fare. or at least it had not been before.

note to self---I do not see any tubes anywhere.

Your last sentence - not seeing any tubes anywhere - is intriguing. First of all, I have never heard your new dac so cannot compare it to any other dac, including the GG dac. But as regards the latter: were you able to listen to the GG with the special anniversary 45 valves Lukasz/Emission Labs made for it for a serious amount of time?

In my (extremely transparent) LA/Kondo set up these tubes completely transformed the performance of the GG (for the better). We both played the GG for a long time with the Elrog 300b but comparing it with the anniversary 45's made me realise that the former valves are not a real good match with the GG, and this includes - or maybe I should say: this includes in particular - the aspect of refinement.

Furthermore I found out the hard way that the GG - but I suppose the same applies to many or most other high end components - is extremely sensitive as regards the fuses, power cords, ic's, platforms, grounding, footers, etc. being used. So I am wondering: are you sure you got 'the best' out of the GG? I am even after a few years still on a learning curve with it.

Does your last sentence imply: I am not really a 'tube guy'? If that indeed is the case, that is fine of course because in the end it is all a matter of (i) taste and (ii) system synergy.

As mentioned before, my intention is not to comment on your experiences with your new dac (how could I because I have never heard it and undoubtedly it sounds great). Leaving aside the price difference between these two dacs I would like to remark the following, Mike: for many music lovers/audiophiles there might there be more to GG dac than you seem to suggest.

But of course feel completely free to disagree with me on this.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Your last sentence - not seeing any tubes anywhere - is intriguing. First of all, I have never heard your new dac so cannot compare it to any other dac, including the GG dac. But as regards the latter: were you able to listen to the GG with the special anniversary 45 valves Lukasz/Emission Labs made for it for a serious amount of time?

In my (extremely transparent) LA/Kondo set up these tubes completely transformed the performance of the GG (for the better). We both played the GG for a long time with the Elrog 300b but comparing it with the anniversary 45's made me realise that the former valves are not a real good match with the GG, and this includes - or maybe I should say: it includes in particular - the aspect of refinement.

Furthermore I found out the hard way that the GG - but I suppose the same applies to many or most other high end components - is extremely sensitive as regards the fuses, power cords, ic's, platforms, grounding, footers, etc. being used. So I am wondering: are you sure you got 'the best' out of the GG? I am even after a few gears still on a learning curve with it.

Does your last sentence imply: I am not really a 'tube guy'? If that indeed is the case, that is fine of course because in the end it is all a matter of (i) taste and (ii) system synergy.

As mentioned before, my intention is not to comment on your experiences with your new dac (how could I because I have never heard it and undoubtedly it sounds great). Leaving aside the price difference between these two dacs I would like to remark the following, Mike: for many music lovers/audiophiles there might there be more to GG dac than you seem to suggest. But of course feel completely free to disagree with me on this.

Rudolf,

it was a mistake for me to make that last comment, and I'm guilty of projecting the angst of another thread (and my own feelings) into this one, and in doing I can see it will only result in a distraction to this thread.

after owning the GG for 14 months I do think I have a pretty good feel for it.....and I had my GG fully updated prior to moving on from it....and consider that with the SGM server and 512dsd as having found the best of the GG.

I'm not a tube guy or a solid state guy, I'm a music guy. I came to darTZeel because it came closest (12 years ago) to the natural neutrality and purity of the 75 watt Tenor OTL tubed amplifiers, and have walked that thin line since. I've never even considered another solid state amplifier since, but have flirted with many tube amplifiers. so I feel the pull of tubes and fully appreciate what tubes can do, but have tamed my room and system to achieve that without tubes.....or at least that has been my aim. and I consider I've now found a dac which can fully measure up to my approach. which is to capture the tube magic of the music with the technical advantages of solid state.

I meant no slight to the GG; and don't doubt that various tubes can have various characteristics (I owned 5 different sets of output tubes for it).....but the MSB Select level of detail, texture, and refinement is simply a few levels of magnitude beyond the reach of the GG. which transfers to an overall musical connection and transparency which delights.

I have no doubt about the overall effect of your Kondo gear in your equation and don't question your own perspective on that result. I do not see any conflict between your perspective and mine.

to me using the GG to illustrate where the MSB Select II is......compliments the GG.

I do think that our aims should not be dogma on technical methodology but on the sonic results, and that we need to be cautious to be understanding and tolerant of different approaches. but understand how we get into that mind set. and that is what I was commenting on in that last sentence......that 'no tubes' can get all the way there.......and I mean all the way. but I'm not saying tubes can't too.

 

[Audiocrack]

Rudolf,

it was a mistake for me to make that last comment, and I'm guilty of projecting the angst of another thread (and my own feelings) into this one, and in doing I can see it will only result in a distraction to this thread.

after owning the GG for 14 months I do think I have a pretty good feel for it.....and I had my GG fully updated prior to moving on from it....and consider that with the SGM server and 512dsd as having found the best of the GG.

I'm not a tube guy or a solid state guy, I'm a music guy. I came to darTZeel because it came closest (12 years ago) to the natural neutrality and purity of the 75 watt Tenor OTL tubed amplifiers, and have walked that thin line since. I've never even considered another solid state amplifier since, but have flirted with many tube amplifiers. so I feel the pull of tubes and fully appreciate what tubes can do, but have tamed my room and system to achieve that without tubes.....or at least that has been my aim. and I consider I've now found a dac which can fully measure up to my approach. which is to capture the tube magic of the music with the technical advantages of solid state.

I meant no slight to the GG; and don't doubt that various tubes can have various characteristics (I owned 5 different sets of output tubes for it).....but the MSB Select level of detail, texture, and refinement is simply a few levels of magnitude beyond the reach of the GG. which transfers to an overall musical connection and transparency which delights.

I have no doubt about the overall effect of your Kondo gear in your equation and don't question your own perspective on that result. I do not see any conflict between your perspective and mine.

to me using the GG to illustrate where the MSB Select II is......compliments the GG.

I do think that our aims should not be dogma on technology but on the sonic results, and that we need to be cautious to be understanding and tolerant of different approaches. but understand how we get into that mind set. and that is what I was commenting on in that last sentence......that 'no tubes' can get all the way there.......and I mean all the way. but I'm not saying tubes can't too.

Fair enough Mike. So let's get back to the topic of this thread.

 

[wisnon]

AC, I was about to say that too. The Anniv 45s and the 242 as well as the Px4 are very different to 300B. I never heard the Elrogs, just the UK Design Psvane 300B, EML 300B qand a generic pair and they are not my cup of tea. The 3 tubes I first mentioned are. i have a special love for the Anniv tubes too, as they are gorgeous and collectibles.

Of course the combination with the recti matters too. Mike had some nice tubes along the way, but stuck with the Elrogs for too long. LoL

The Select 2 is a lovely Dac as AL and Bob Visintainer can attest to. The Select version 1 was "Meh". ...especially for the price. Fortunately, all SW upgrades are free and made a HUGE difference. Nothing stands still though as all the brands are plotting updates, including the Lampizator.

I dont want to go off topic though, as its enjoyable reading Pri and Mike L enjoy the new toy.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

AC, I was about to say that too. The Anniv 45s and the 242 as well as the Px4 are very different to 300B. I never heard the Elrogs, just the UK Design Psvane 300B, EML 300B qand a generic pair and they are not my cup of tea. The 3 tubes I first mentioned are. i have a special love for the Anniv tubes too, as they are gorgeous and collectibles.

Of course the combination with the recti matters too. Mike had some nice tubes along the way, but stuck with the Elrogs for too long. LoL

The Select 2 is a lovely Dac as AL and Bob Visintainer can attest to. The Select version 1 was "Meh". ...especially for the price. Fortunately, all SW upgrades are free and made a HUGE difference. Nothing stands still though as all the brands are plotting updates, including the Lampizator.

I dont want to go off topic though, as its enjoyable reading Pri and Mike L enjoy the new toy.

I had the '242' switch installed with my upgrades, and did enjoy the KR242's for 2 months with the SGM........and spent quite a bit of time with vintage 45's at the start before I went with the Elrogs's. so I did sample pretty good from the tube choices. also; Ked did bring the 'special' Lampi (Anniv?) 45's for me to hear briefly during his visit. I had three different recti's including the Tak and the 1944 vintage ??.

I purchased uber spendy ($31k list price) Tara Labs GME interconnects to bring out the GG's best.

it's not like I did not hear what the GG could do.

and I'd say that the SGM + GG get's farther than other server choices to a degree too.

the GG had it's shot fairly offered. I did not hold back my efforts to marry it.....in fact likely did more than anyone to find the best of the GG. and this get's into horses for courses. in my system tubes are lovely until they become an artifact to a degree then it's a matter of personal preference. do I want to live with that sort of personality or not?

 

[wisnon]

Taste does matter Mike, and as I said, if you enjoy where you are at, (we)your pals are happy for you.

 

[Legolas]

Taste does matter Mike, and as I said, if you enjoy where you are at, (we)your pals are happy for you.

I can feel how it must be, getting the best sound ever heard in a system, possibly the end game setup but with solid sate. It is a great place to be IMO as less hassle, less heat (usually, though my SS power amp on full bias gets super hot). Just less complication. And lets not forget tubes age, have a peak and tail off later, can blow up and cause damage, pets don't work, and you have to switch them off if you go out, unless you want to come back to a charcoal dwelling that is.

Maybe I am exaggerating? But you get my point. I now 'only' have tubes in my DAC, I dropped out of the tube pre-amplifier and tube power amplifier a few years back. It just wasn't user friendly enough for my lifestyle.

BUT in my system, and in my (limited) exposure to other high end gear, I love / need some mechanism to tune my sound to balance the rest of my system. If a point is reached where it is nigh on perfect with solid state, job done. But if not, a bit of brightness, coldness, bass bloat, anything that doesn't quite fit, that is an issue for me, as it will mean gear change all over again, and around we go again back on Agon.

Putting aside tubes are 'tone controls' I think they do timbre differently between types / vintage which is my interest in them. I also have a theory, quite possibly SETs or big tube amps do certain types of music better than other gendre, and solid state major in areas that they struggle? I guess that is possible. For example most big modern speakers are down to 4 ohms or less especially in the bass regions and efficiency below 90dB. Tubes seem to crave efficient designs to perform their best. Stick then in front of a big hungry 4 way and they will not be at their best. It is an interesting and hot subject, and I wonder if ironically SS amps are catching up with tubes finally after 67 years of development (300B amps of the 40s).

I digress. The Select II seems like it is up to the hype and price. Fascinating posts here guys. Wonder if there is any other DAC to touch it?

On the Redbook and Select, I do believe it is best to feed any DAC as resident sample rate, at least if said DAC is well designed. It is what I have been doing in my previous 5 DACs. I got attacked for not using HQP or up sampling at that time.

 

[Priaptor]

I can feel how it must be, getting the best sound ever heard in a system, possibly the end game setup but with solid sate. It is a great place to be IMO as less hassle, less heat (usually, though my SS power amp on full bias gets super hot). Just less complication. And lets not forget tubes age, have a peak and tail off later, can blow up and cause damage, pets don't work, and you have to switch them off if you go out, unless you want to come back to a charcoal dwelling that is.

Maybe I am exaggerating? But you get my point. I now 'only' have tubes in my DAC, I dropped out of the tube pre-amplifier and tube power amplifier a few years back. It just wasn't user friendly enough for my lifestyle.

BUT in my system, and in my (limited) exposure to other high end gear, I love / need some mechanism to tune my sound to balance the rest of my system. If a point is reached where it is nigh on perfect with solid state, job done. But if not, a bit of brightness, coldness, bass bloat, anything that doesn't quite fit, that is an issue for me, as it will mean gear change all over again, and around we go again back on Agon.

Putting aside tubes are 'tone controls' I think they do timbre differently between types / vintage which is my interest in them. I also have a theory, quite possibly SETs or big tube amps do certain types of music better than other gendre, and solid state major in areas that they struggle? I guess that is possible. For example most big modern speakers are down to 4 ohms or less especially in the bass regions and efficiency below 90dB. Tubes seem to crave efficient designs to perform their best. Stick then in front of a big hungry 4 way and they will not be at their best. It is an interesting and hot subject, and I wonder if ironically SS amps are catching up with tubes finally after 67 years of development (300B amps of the 40s).

I digress. The Select II seems like it is up to the hype and price. Fascinating posts here guys. Wonder if there is any other DAC to touch it?

On the Redbook and Select, I do believe it is best to feed any DAC as resident sample rate, at least if said DAC is well designed. It is what I have been doing in my previous 5 DACs. I got attacked for not using HQP or up sampling at that time.

I am still in Montana so nothing to add from my experiences YET and now just waiting for the sun to come out here in Montana.

However, I can say, IMO, the Select II with redbook is truly astounding. I have never heard redbook on any of my previous DACs sound so good. In fact, as many have stated here and elsewhere, WHEN redbook is done so well as it is on the Select II, maybe the hype of high res is indeed overdone.

One other point I meant to make. Vince gave me his thing about "listen to 3 DSD albums in a row and then change from Native to Optimized and back and forth and tell me what you think". Before I left I didn't really have the patience or time to do the 3 albums in a row and switch back and forth as time was limited BUT changing to Optimized was a no brainer. I didn't need the back and forth comparisons. Not even close. IMHO they should just get rid of the "Native DSD" setting.

Mike I am sure will chime in on this.

 

[RBFC]

In fact, as many have stated here and elsewhere, WHEN redbook is done so well as it is on the Select II, maybe the hype of high res is indeed overdone.

Just to spark a different discussion: Do you feel that hi-res digital behaves as a "patch" for what is wrong with most DACs playing redbook?

We can start a separate discussion here if anyone would like to address this.

Lee

 

[microstrip]

(...) However, I can say, IMO, the Select II with redbook is truly astounding. I have never heard redbook on any of my previous DACs sound so good. In fact, as many have stated here and elsewhere, WHEN redbook is done so well as it is on the Select II, maybe the hype of high res is indeed overdone. (...)

I felt the same when I started listening to my DAC after burn-in. However when I was able to listen to the LaFolia SACD versus CD or several AliaVox Jordi Saval recordings in CD and SACD layer I changed my mind. DSD seemed to sound better. Surely as we can't know the exact details about each version, nothing 100% sure can concluded about it.

And good DXD sounds better than redbook. Should we think that the recording industry manipulates the data conversion from DXD to be sure that CD sounds worst than the HiREz?

 

[Al M.]

Just to spark a different discussion: Do you feel that hi-res digital behaves as a "patch" for what is wrong with most DACs playing redbook?

I have felt that way since quite a while. Studying digital theory in a bit more detail (especially with the help of some knowledgeable WBF posters) has convinced me that Redbook theory is essentially correct, with perhaps just a few relatively minor issues on the margins (influence of quantization errors etc.). I am not asserting that even under the theoretically best encoding/decoding conditions Redbook will give the same result as the best hi-rez, but I am quite confident that Redbook is much closer to theoretical perfection than it is usually claimed. SOTA (or close-to-SOTA) listening experiences have confirmed this for me. And yes, hi-res is often a "patch" for what is wrong with many DACs playing Redbook. Worse, I have heard that, at least on some cheaper modern DACs, the decoding is optimized for hi-res at the expense of proper Redbook decoding. No wonder hi-res then sounds better!

I have often thought that Redbook was limited in this or that fashion, and advances in playback have proven me wrong time and again. Even in my own system which, even though I and others think is very good, is not as resolving as the best.

 

[Legolas]

On the above comments, I agree Redbook has many inner strengths that have been lost or forgotten in the rush to DS chip designs in the last 20 years IMO. I have not heard every top end DAC, but the ones I like best are in the R-2R camp and the absolute best to my ears are the ones that don't mess with the data. So no oversampling, no filter, just pure data, then any filtering done in the analogue stage. I think we were conned TBH by the saga of x2, x4 and x8 up sampling. The very method of DS creates the issues of the filter in the first place, which then has to be 'fixed' by apodizing and quantisation wizardry (messing it up IMO). As in many audio components sometimes going back to basics and simplicity gains more insight and integrity than over egging the methods. Obsessions with lab results back then didn't help, as we know, perfect graphs don't equate to perfect sound.

I heard the CH Precision C1 last year, purported to be an R-2R DAC. It upsampled everything and had a filter. As did the MSB Platinum I also heard, and the Esoteric K-01 (a DS DAC). All those DACs to me sounded synthetic.

If the Select is doing no up sampling all I say is good news .....

YMMV and accept there are DS die hards who will talk forever on the opposite side of this argument. Who is right? I don't care, only want my ears to be happy.

 

[microstrip]

(...) If the Select is doing no up sampling all I say is good news ... (...)

Where can we find a detailed technical description of the Select II DAC?

 

[asiufy]

Where can we find a detailed technical description of the Select II DAC?

Francisco,

There's some information here:

http://www.msbtechnology.com/dacs/select-features/

There's also a video here with some more insights:

MSB Select Manufacturing

But if you have specific questions, let me know and I'll get the MSB guys to help, in case it's beyond my reach

Howie,

That's exactly what I told Vince, once we did an AxB on the two DSD modes. "Why bother with the "Native", just leave the "Optimized" in there".

astrostar59,

The MSB Platinum/Signature/Diamond, going all the way back, always allowed for upsampling as an OPTION. You don't have to use it, and matter of fact, I almost never did.



cheers,
alex

 

[Priaptor]

Francisco,

There's some information here:

http://www.msbtechnology.com/dacs/select-features/

There's also a video here with some more insights:

MSB Select Manufacturing

But if you have specific questions, let me know and I'll get the MSB guys to help, in case it's beyond my reach

Howie,

That's exactly what I told Vince, once we did an AxB on the two DSD modes. "Why bother with the "Native", just leave the "Optimized" in there".

astrostar59,

The MSB Platinum/Signature/Diamond, going all the way back, always allowed for upsampling as an OPTION. You don't have to use it, and matter of fact, I almost never did.


cheers,
alex

Agree. I never used the upsampling either with the IV or V

As to the "optimized" thing I couldn't agree more. As I told Vince it's not subtle.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I can feel how it must be, getting the best sound ever heard in a system, possibly the end game setup but with solid sate. It is a great place to be IMO as less hassle, less heat (usually, though my SS power amp on full bias gets super hot). Just less complication. And lets not forget tubes age, have a peak and tail off later, can blow up and cause damage, pets don't work, and you have to switch them off if you go out, unless you want to come back to a charcoal dwelling that is.

Maybe I am exaggerating? But you get my point. I now 'only' have tubes in my DAC, I dropped out of the tube pre-amplifier and tube power amplifier a few years back. It just wasn't user friendly enough for my lifestyle.

BUT in my system, and in my (limited) exposure to other high end gear, I love / need some mechanism to tune my sound to balance the rest of my system. If a point is reached where it is nigh on perfect with solid state, job done. But if not, a bit of brightness, coldness, bass bloat, anything that doesn't quite fit, that is an issue for me, as it will mean gear change all over again, and around we go again back on Agon.

Putting aside tubes are 'tone controls' I think they do timbre differently between types / vintage which is my interest in them. I also have a theory, quite possibly SETs or big tube amps do certain types of music better than other gendre, and solid state major in areas that they struggle? I guess that is possible. For example most big modern speakers are down to 4 ohms or less especially in the bass regions and efficiency below 90dB. Tubes seem to crave efficient designs to perform their best. Stick then in front of a big hungry 4 way and they will not be at their best. It is an interesting and hot subject, and I wonder if ironically SS amps are catching up with tubes finally after 67 years of development (300B amps of the 40s).

I digress. The Select II seems like it is up to the hype and price. Fascinating posts here guys. Wonder if there is any other DAC to touch it?

On the Redbook and Select, I do believe it is best to feed any DAC as resident sample rate, at least if said DAC is well designed. It is what I have been doing in my previous 5 DACs. I got attacked for not using HQP or up sampling at that time.

thanks Astro, for the very kind comments. I do not take my system for granted.

a few hours ago I composed a long response to your post addressing the whole idea of your first paragraph related to tubes and solid state. but; then had second thoughts and did not want this thread to get dug in with that direction.....so deleted it. that topic deserves it's own thread and I will comment if someone opens one related to your ideas.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I am still in Montana so nothing to add from my experiences YET and now just waiting for the sun to come out here in Montana.

However, I can say, IMO, the Select II with redbook is truly astounding. I have never heard redbook on any of my previous DACs sound so good. In fact, as many have stated here and elsewhere, WHEN redbook is done so well as it is on the Select II, maybe the hype of high res is indeed overdone.

++++1 on redbook as I've written above.

OTOH in my experience higher rez takes a step up from there depending on the native resolution of the file. I have likely 12 terabytes of higher rez (PCM and dsd) and it is 'better' than redbook in general. but I've not done enough comparisons to get specific quite yet. and you can throw MQA into the mix and there are many truths to uncover.

maybe the hype part is that redbook is deficient in some way; it turns out the that it's the implementation of the hardware when playing redbook that can be deficient, not the format.

One other point I meant to make. Vince gave me his thing about "listen to 3 DSD albums in a row and then change from Native to Optimized and back and forth and tell me what you think". Before I left I didn't really have the patience or time to do the 3 albums in a row and switch back and forth as time was limited BUT changing to Optimized was a no brainer. I didn't need the back and forth comparisons. Not even close. IMHO they should just get rid of the "Native DSD" setting.

Mike I am sure will chime in on this.

I also thought that the 'dsd Optimizer' is a no-brainer. Vince demonstrated it at the L.A. Show and it was easy to pick up on as an obvious step up. my Select II came with the Optimizer selected and I've not yet got far enough to even try it 'native'. maybe at some point I will and then will try to quantitate the differences.

 

[bibo01]

Francisco,

There's some information here:

http://www.msbtechnology.com/dacs/select-features/

There's also a video here with some more insights:

MSB Select Manufacturing

But if you have specific questions, let me know and I'll get the MSB guys to help, in case it's beyond my reach

Howie,

That's exactly what I told Vince, once we did an AxB on the two DSD modes. "Why bother with the "Native", just leave the "Optimized" in there".

astrostar59,

The MSB Platinum/Signature/Diamond, going all the way back, always allowed for upsampling as an OPTION. You don't have to use it, and matter of fact, I almost never did.



cheers,
alex

What does Optimize function actually do? Dither?!

If I am not mistaken, Diamond 4 D/A modules native resolution is about 1.5 GHz. Is Select 8 modules native resolution 3 GHz?