not Ric's first 'out of left field' thread post.
Ric is a well meaning digital Pied Piper and I respect his digital viewpoints. so no, not an intentional joke.
MSB Select II arrival
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
not Ric's first 'out of left field' thread post.
Ric is a well meaning digital Pied Piper and I respect his digital viewpoints. so no, not an intentional joke.
Then I am astounded. I was actually laughing because I really thought it was a satirical commentary.
Won't fan those flames.
Best
Howie
People thought if you sailed west you would fall off the earth.......
If you think you "know everything" then what is the fun. The fun is discovering what you don't know. If you want to keep your head in the hole then fine. But if you want to discover what the possibilities are then you must explore unknown territory. For maybe one of you out there I have lite the fire of desire for better downloads and possibly way better sound. One of you will try what I suggest and then you will know something you do not know now. And maybe you will be surprised and amazed and giddy as a child. How much does it cost to put a super power supply on your modem and a great Ethernet cable to your downloader? Can't afford it? $100,000 DACs being fed by distorted downloads?.......now this is a joke for sure. Hey, maybe I am wrong. Maybe all downloads are equal and you can use any crappy noisy switching supply on your modem and not damp the Ethernet cables at both ends and not use a great Ethernet cable. But I would not bet against me.......I think you would lose. Any betters?
Here is a "left field" thang I discovered about usb sticks: I downloaded the 24/192 file for Tea for the Tillerman from HD tracks a few years ago....supposedly transferred from original master using t the MSB super A to D converter. I loaded the info onto a usb stick and put it into the front of my modded Oppo 95 player......sounded like a 1970 transistor radio.......so then I plugged it into the usb port on the back which is closer to the processor and does not have the extra cable.......somewhat better sound......more like a 1970 tube radio. I noticed the usb stick had a plastic case that was rattling and also there was a blinking LED on it. So I took another usb stick of the exact type and broke off the plastic case and removed the LED. I burned it using the computer but also had a piece of constrained layer damping material down the side of the usb stick and onto the computer. When I plugged it into the back of the Oppo I also used the same damping material to damp it into the usb slot. The sound was now amazing........At least 24/96 good. Every single thing you do to the digital signal affects the sound. Do you really think you modem/router and Ethernet cable do nothing to the sound? Here is an interesting review of some expensive cables where the guy thought the Ethernet one was "the" one to get: http://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/gobel-lacorde-statement-cables/ The reviewer is already using a good Ethernet cable from the router but the review sample was to short to try there.
If you think you "know everything" then what is the fun. The fun is discovering what you don't know. If you want to keep your head in the hole then fine. But if you want to discover what the possibilities are then you must explore unknown territory. For maybe one of you out there I have lite the fire of desire for better downloads and possibly way better sound. One of you will try what I suggest and then you will know something you do not know now. And maybe you will be surprised and amazed and giddy as a child. How much does it cost to put a super power supply on your modem and a great Ethernet cable to your downloader? Can't afford it? $100,000 DACs being fed by distorted downloads?.......now this is a joke for sure. Hey, maybe I am wrong. Maybe all downloads are equal and you can use any crappy noisy switching supply on your modem and not damp the Ethernet cables at both ends and not use a great Ethernet cable. But I would not bet against me.......I think you would lose. Any betters?
Here is a "left field" thang I discovered about usb sticks: I downloaded the 24/192 file for Tea for the Tillerman from HD tracks a few years ago....supposedly transferred from original master using t the MSB super A to D converter. I loaded the info onto a usb stick and put it into the front of my modded Oppo 95 player......sounded like a 1970 transistor radio.......so then I plugged it into the usb port on the back which is closer to the processor and does not have the extra cable.......somewhat better sound......more like a 1970 tube radio. I noticed the usb stick had a plastic case that was rattling and also there was a blinking LED on it. So I took another usb stick of the exact type and broke off the plastic case and removed the LED. I burned it using the computer but also had a piece of constrained layer damping material down the side of the usb stick and onto the computer. When I plugged it into the back of the Oppo I also used the same damping material to damp it into the usb slot. The sound was now amazing........At least 24/96 good. Every single thing you do to the digital signal affects the sound. Do you really think you modem/router and Ethernet cable do nothing to the sound? Here is an interesting review of some expensive cables where the guy thought the Ethernet one was "the" one to get: http://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/gobel-lacorde-statement-cables/ The reviewer is already using a good Ethernet cable from the router but the review sample was to short to try there.
I skipped this from Rick Shultz and then came back, couldn't resist ;-)
When you buy a 45 rpm record from the same pressing you get the same very low distortion sound as everyone else buying this disc (close to master tape sound).
What data do you have proving all manufactured pressing sound equal? I have heard anecdotally that this is far from true. Also, how can and / or have you verified “close to master tape sound”?
When you download a high rez file (no way a 16/44 can ever sound as good as analog) what are you getting?
According to whom? As good as analog on what analog steup, system? Room? Ears?
How many computers, cables, etc. has the signal gone through to get to your computer? Does your cable company sound as good as another? Have you tried super linear power supplies on your modem or router? Do you have the world's best Ethernet cable from your modem to your download device? Have you treated the connections and also damped them? If you have not done all the above then how good is your download? Has anyone tried any of this?
Analog has no cables suddenly? Cart (mech to elec energy transfer) -> phono pre (elec impedance/gain selection + gain stage) -> preamp. Plus all the power cables required. Plus all the mechanical isolation requirements. Net – both are far from native playback from the data to your ears.
Have any one of you actually recorded live using high rez digital and played the master directly back into your system? My sense is that it is out of this world crazy good.
Yes I have. The experience is completely different being uncompressed, unmixed/unmastered and usually on a completely different system. Apples vs. celery
Laser read discs are not even worth mentioning. You have to sand the edges, black the edges and the whole top, apply CD enhancement fluids to them and then demagnetize them and de-static them…..and then the de-static/demagnetizing effects only last about 10 minutes as the spinning CD creates more static on it
Won’t touch this other than to say I have heard CDs + SACDs +Blu Ray discs sound exceptional, better than many non - portable storage devices.
If you could receive a direct copy of high rez burned to an SD card by the recording company on a super low jitter battery powered server and then mailed directly to you then you would have the equivalent of a 45 rpm record or even a master tape. You could play back this card using a SD card player built into your MSB DAC.....now we are talking!!!!!!
Batteries also have noise and aren’t perfect. SD card like any storage format package data in different ways with different I/O interfaces = sound different, not necessarily better or worse.
When you buy a 45 rpm record from the same pressing you get the same very low distortion sound as everyone else buying this disc (close to master tape sound).
What data do you have proving all manufactured pressing sound equal? I have heard anecdotally that this is far from true. Also, how can and / or have you verified “close to master tape sound”?
When you download a high rez file (no way a 16/44 can ever sound as good as analog) what are you getting?
According to whom? As good as analog on what analog steup, system? Room? Ears?
How many computers, cables, etc. has the signal gone through to get to your computer? Does your cable company sound as good as another? Have you tried super linear power supplies on your modem or router? Do you have the world's best Ethernet cable from your modem to your download device? Have you treated the connections and also damped them? If you have not done all the above then how good is your download? Has anyone tried any of this?
Analog has no cables suddenly? Cart (mech to elec energy transfer) -> phono pre (elec impedance/gain selection + gain stage) -> preamp. Plus all the power cables required. Plus all the mechanical isolation requirements. Net – both are far from native playback from the data to your ears.
Have any one of you actually recorded live using high rez digital and played the master directly back into your system? My sense is that it is out of this world crazy good.
Yes I have. The experience is completely different being uncompressed, unmixed/unmastered and usually on a completely different system. Apples vs. celery
Laser read discs are not even worth mentioning. You have to sand the edges, black the edges and the whole top, apply CD enhancement fluids to them and then demagnetize them and de-static them…..and then the de-static/demagnetizing effects only last about 10 minutes as the spinning CD creates more static on it
Won’t touch this other than to say I have heard CDs + SACDs +Blu Ray discs sound exceptional, better than many non - portable storage devices.
If you could receive a direct copy of high rez burned to an SD card by the recording company on a super low jitter battery powered server and then mailed directly to you then you would have the equivalent of a 45 rpm record or even a master tape. You could play back this card using a SD card player built into your MSB DAC.....now we are talking!!!!!!
Batteries also have noise and aren’t perfect. SD card like any storage format package data in different ways with different I/O interfaces = sound different, not necessarily better or worse.
Have you studied what's inside your typical SD card? If you'd done some research you'd find its far from being a 'pure memory' device. A pure memory device would be something like an SRAM. An SD card has a CPU on-board to manage it because its so far from being 'pure memory' it would be hard to come up with something even further from 'pure memory' in solid-state form.
I'm also a big fan of SD cards but not because I'm under some mistaken impression they're 'pure memory', rather because they allow very low power digital sources to be built and low power corresponds to low noise.
Totally agree Mike--this fellow has nix to add the thread --Pity he means well--I think?:b
BruceD
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As the owner of the SGM server Bill borrowed for review a year ago, I should mention that it has undergone a couple of step-change level improvements since that time. These have come from enhancements to the HQ Player software, some of which are rather technically demanding in respect of computational power / heat dissipation / low RF emissions platform.
My experience of the past year is that software is the gift that keeps on giving. Anyhow, time to give this thread back to the MSB Select.
Do you know if the enhancements are exclusive to SGM or available for all owners of HQP?
Hi SB06, It could be a case of YMMV depending on the processing capabilities and RF noise levels of your server. Feel free to send me an email and I'll flip you some screen dumps of filter settings to try
Congrats Mike on the Select 2!
Must admit I dismissed this DAC due to its crazy pricing but am intruiged by its ability to act a a reference pre-amp. This certainly adds some value to the equation.
Have you had a chance to compare Select2 directly to your power amps? Sorry if this has been brought up already.
Cheers
Must admit I dismissed this DAC due to its crazy pricing but am intruiged by its ability to act a a reference pre-amp. This certainly adds some value to the equation.
Have you had a chance to compare Select2 directly to your power amps? Sorry if this has been brought up already.
Cheers
Does the Select II have an analog input so that one can use it with a vinyl front end and skip a conventional pre-amp?
not tried that yet.....it has been discussed generally here. my IC's from my pre to my amps are the Evolution Acoustics 'zeel' 50 ohm BNC's. so if I went direct I'd need to use an 8 meter set of RCA's or an adapter with the BNC's for my RCA output module on my Select II. MSB has encouraged me to try and their opinion is that the output module has the juice to drive my 50 ohm cable.
I do plan on trying both of those methods maybe this week. somehow I keep listening and not experimenting.
yes and no.
when the last few HQ Player software upgrades were implemented, SGM found that there were additional opportunities to tweak their on board OS software for more gains along side the HQP gains. sort of like HQP uncovering an OS doorway not seen previously.
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