MSB Select II arrival

[Mike Lavigne]

'

I was fortunate enough to get an fraction of a glimpse of what Mike is experiencing there, as today I installed an MSB SELECT II, paired with a darTZeel NHB-108 and Evolution Acoustics MMthree speakers.
I've heard the 108/MMthree combo many times, and I know what it can do. But what I heard today was next level up. It was surreal. It actually reminded me of that notorious session with the Zeppelin tape!
Since no preamp was available, we went direct, and the Zeel inputs (using BNC/RCA adapters) were actually slightly better too!

nice to hear another dart-EA user is enjoying the MSB Select II......it seems like a natural pairing. please congratulate the lucky buyer for me.

it seems like the ethos of darTZeel with it's minimalist circuitry, is an excellent match for the MSB, as is the EA also being efficient and a neutral transducer. just a good musical equation for total involvement. I also found that the MSB direct into the dart mono's using the 'zeel' and those rca/bnc adpaters was excellent; it was just a bit better with the dart preamp. the passive pre in the MSB had no trouble driving the dart mono's even with a 7.5 meter EA zeel set of interconnects.

 

[Priaptor]

'

nice to hear another dart-EA user is enjoying the MSB Select II......it seems like a natural pairing. please congratulate the lucky buyer for me.

it seems like the ethos of darTZeel with it's minimalist circuitry, is an excellent match for the MSB, as is the EA also being efficient and a neutral transducer. just a good musical equation for total involvement. I also found that the MSB direct into the dart mono's using the 'zeel' and those rca/bnc adpaters was excellent; it was just a bit better with the dart preamp. the passive pre in the MSB had no trouble driving the dart mono's even with a 7.5 meter EA zeel set of interconnects.

Mike,

I haven't reported in awhile. Unfortunately Irma wreaked some havoc with my roof so the $$ that were going to go to the second power supply has gone to the roof BUT soon I'm hoping.

However, I have had the opportunity to change out my Nordost Valhalla 2 cables for Gobel cables (don't have them all yet) a couple of weeks ago, which my buddy Elliot in FL will distributing (in addition to Gobel speakers). I can only say the system is at a whole different level. USB cable is amazing. Speaker cables and power cords; I wont bore with the amazing details. These are not cheap but definitely worth giving a trial when Elliot is all setup. As he won't have his studio finished with speakers, cables, etc up for another few months there is no way he is getting them out of my hands.

Like you I am waiting for the new renderer. Gobel also has an ethernet cable which I will try when the renderer comes out. I highly recommend you try these things.

It never ends!

Howie

 

[Priaptor]

Sorry double post. Not sure what happened

 

[Joe Pittman]

My first time jumping onto this thread. I heard Mike's system yesterday and his latest digital set up with MSB and SGM was the best digital I have heard by a wide margin. It has really closed the gap on the best vinyl playback. I've been lucky enough to hear Mike's digital journey since before he moved to the barn and his improvements have been continuous. I was looking forward to hearing his MSB DAC and it did not disappoint.

I was talking to Mike about the gap between digital and vinyl and have not been able to understand how the audio industry in general has not been able to do it, until now. It looks (sounds) like MSB has figured it out. Unfortunately for me it is out of my price range, but good to know what the true state-of-the-art is. SOTA being a term used too often but not hitting the mark. Mike's digital is SOTA in my opinion.

It's ironic that Paul McGowan' Paul's Post: Why vinyl? today got me going. Today’s Paul’s Post reinforces my frustration with current audio manufacturer’s/designers and makes me laugh. Why can’t they design digital that closes the gap on vinyl. Yet they congratulate themselves on making digital they think is superior. I want to kick their ass.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

My first time jumping onto this thread. I heard Mike's system yesterday and his latest digital set up with MSB and SGM was the best digital I have heard by a wide margin. It has really closed the gap on the best vinyl playback. I've been lucky enough to hear Mike's digital journey since before he moved to the barn and his improvements have been continuous. I was looking forward to hearing his MSB DAC and it did not disappoint.

I was talking to Mike about the gap between digital and vinyl and have not been able to understand how the audio industry in general has not been able to do it, until now. It looks (sounds) like MSB has figured it out. Unfortunately for me it is out of my price range, but good to know what the true state-of-the-art is. SOTA being a term used too often but not hitting the mark. Mike's digital is SOTA in my opinion.

It's ironic that Paul McGowan' Paul's Post: Why vinyl? today got me going. Today’s Paul’s Post reinforces my frustration with current audio manufacturer’s/designers and makes me laugh. Why can’t they design digital that closes the gap on vinyl. Yet they congratulate themselves on making digital they think is superior. I want to kick their ass.

Joe,

thank you for attending yesterday, and thank you for the kind words about the system and the MSB and SGM performance. it is remarkable and hard to relate just how far it goes with the music, and how unique it is for digital in my experience. I know you are a thru and thru analog guy, and very familiar with my system, so coming from you it really hits home. it's fun for me to observe someone hear familiar digital recordings in my system and see them react to how it has now been transformed to something more.

our friend Jazdoc stopped by later in the evening after your guys left; and had the same reaction to how the digital is now sounding. he just now stopped by the dealership and gave me 10 of his CD's he wants me to rip into my hard drive so he can hear how they sound in my system.

it's fun to have gear built and supported with the same uncompromising relentless approach I have toward my system building.

 

[microstrip]

(...) It's ironic that Paul McGowan' Paul's Post: Why vinyl? today got me going. Today’s Paul’s Post reinforces my frustration with current audio manufacturer’s/designers and makes me laugh. Why can’t they design digital that closes the gap on vinyl. Yet they congratulate themselves on making digital they think is superior. I want to kick their ass.

Paul's post is a waste of time - just one more saying that what counts is the mastering and the music. But yes, he is not alone in thinking that in some aspects top digital sounds better than vinyl. IMHO it is a question of preference and system.

 

[jazdoc]

Joe,

thank you for attending yesterday, and thank you for the kind words about the system and the MSB and SGM performance. it is remarkable and hard to relate just how far it goes with the music, and how unique it is for digital in my experience. I know you are a thru and thru analog guy, and very familiar with my system, so coming from you it really hits home. it's fun for me to observe someone hear familiar digital recordings in my system and see them react to how it has now been transformed to something more.

our friend Jazdoc stopped by later in the evening after your guys left; and had the same reaction to how the digital is now sounding. he just now stopped by the dealership and gave me 10 of his CD's he wants me to rip into my hard drive so he can hear how they sound in my system.

it's fun to have gear built and supported with the same uncompromising relentless approach I have toward my system building.

It sounds fantastic! Can’t wait to hear some of those CD rips

 

[Kingsrule]

So what are the 10 cd titles?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

So what are the 10 cd titles?

there was 12. i'll let Jazdoc detail these (in a music thread) as he has heard most of these artists live; I sampled each one and liked them all. they mostly have that 'dark, weird, jazdoc vibe'.....in a good way.

sorry about the orientation but had to use my cell phone (and the glare from the overhead lights in my office made me use the angle), then I fixed it there, but it reverted to sideways somehow now.

added note; I see now that the pictures are oriented correctly when viewed on my phone, but not when viewed on my desk computer. oh well.

 

[Kingsrule]

Thanks!

 

[jazdoc]

there was 12. i'll let Jazdoc detail these (in a music thread) as he has heard most of these artists live; I sampled each one and liked them all. they mostly have that 'dark, weird, jazdoc vibe'.....in a good way.

sorry about the orientation but had to use my cell phone (and the glare from the overhead lights in my office made me use the angle), then I fixed it there, but it reverted to sideways somehow now.

added note; I see now that the pictures are oriented correctly when viewed on my phone, but not when viewed on my desk computer. oh well.

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A few quick comments:
Avishai Cohen "Dark Nights" -- Bad ass trumpeter who is Anat Cohen's brother. One of the best CDs of 2014 with cool noir vibe.

Omer Avital "New Song" -- Another one of the best of 2014. Part of the Israeli jazz mafia. His new LP is terrific

Renaud Garcia-Fons "La Linea del Sur" -- Tremendous double bassist. A reference quality disc for bass tone and texture

Brian Adres & Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel "This Could Be That" -- SF based drummer. Excellent percussion recording

Tootie Heath "Philadelphia Beat" -- Heath, Ben Street and Ethan Iverson (pianist of The Bad Plus) have released a series of excellent recordings. The lead track is a special cover of "Bags Groove"

JD Allen "Americana" -- IMO, the best 2016 jazz CD. Amazing adaptation of the blues into the jazz oeuvre.

Buck Hill "Relax" -- Very underrated saxophonist aka "The Wailin' Mailman". Excellent recording. Look for his 1980's vinyl releases which are uniformly excellent.

Jimmy Greene "Beautiful Life" -- This one stands out for the music. But if you know that it is dedicated to his young daughter who was killed at Sandy Hook, it becomes much more. I've had more than one visitor in tears upon hearing his cover of "Where is Love" from Oliver!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

A few quick comments:
Avishai Cohen "Dark Nights" -- Bad ass trumpeter who is Anat Cohen's brother. One of the best CDs of 2014 with cool noir vibe.

Omer Avital "New Song" -- Another one of the best of 2014. Part of the Israeli jazz mafia. His new LP is terrific

Renaud Garcia-Fons "La Linea del Sur" -- Tremendous double bassist. A reference quality disc for bass tone and texture

Brian Adres & Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel "This Could Be That" -- SF based drummer. Excellent percussion recording

Tootie Heath "Philadelphia Beat" -- Heath, Ben Street and Ethan Iverson (pianist of The Bad Plus) have released a series of excellent recordings. The lead track is a special cover of "Bags Groove"

JD Allen "Americana" -- IMO, the best 2016 jazz CD. Amazing adaptation of the blues into the jazz oeuvre.

Buck Hill "Relax" -- Very underrated saxophonist aka "The Wailin' Mailman". Excellent recording. Look for his 1980's vinyl releases which are uniformly excellent.

Jimmy Greene "Beautiful Life" -- This one stands out for the music. But if you know that it is dedicated to his young daughter who was killed at Sandy Hook, it becomes much more. I've had more than one visitor in tears upon hearing his cover of "Where is Love" from Oliver!

thanks Jaz, for the details. I've been getting to know these CD's little by little, and appreciate them more with deeper dives. lots of substance to this music.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

updated pictures of my MSB Select II and two power supplies. I've moved my racks around to allow for each power supply to have it's own shelf.



and some new footers I've added for the power supply and SGM server. these footers + the new shelf arraignment has taken the performance up a few notches.

 

[koalakoala]

In case you haven't noticed, the new Reference Transport is added to the MSB website
us$18500
(photos were shown on Mono & Stereo earlier)

 

[asiufy]

MSB's Vince Galbo was at the factory yesterday, listening to the new transports... All I got from him is a simple "INSANE"... I guess he liked it!

Apparently, there's more life in the spinning silver disc than we previously thought possible...

 

[spiritofmusic]

Alex, I could have told you that LOL.

 

[asiufy]

Ha! I knew that was coming!
If this transport beat a good server and/or an Ethernet card, I'm prepared to eat a healthy chunk of crow

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Ha! I knew that was coming!
If this transport beat a good server and/or an Ethernet card, I'm prepared to eat a healthy chunk of crow

that chapter has yet to be written. I hope that the new MSB Select transport is better than my SGM will be when it's updated in Jan 18'. that would be good for everyone.

 

[spiritofmusic]

With the help of Alex, I’m edging twds a streaming option (despite some disagreement on dac choices).
I’ve found Lundahl and Jensen transformer devices that will enable me to go balanced out of dac/single ended in to preamp.
But no way do I ever give up on my cd collection or a cdp.
If I can get a reasonable dac/streamer that isn’t embarrassed when compared to my exemplary Eera cdp and analog, I’ll be more than happy.
Sorry to go OT.
But a good transport as Mike says means everyone smiles.

 

[asiufy]

One interesting thing is that the new transports are based on Oppo 20x series, and they just got Roon certified.
If MSB leaves that functionality intact, you'll be able to have you killer transport, and a killer Roon endpoint, both using MSB's new interface.