MSB Select II arrival
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
it was a tape sourced 384-24 dxd.
I have that 15ips 1/4' tape, and the 45rpm vinyl too. we did not play either.
Commercial release or private rip? I have read so many comments on this Oscar Peterson recording referring to "my rip" that I take them with many grains of salt.
Private Rip from the same source as my tape.
Very excellent tape. One of a handful of my best sounding tapes.
I don't want to speak for jazdoc, but I think his point was that it was in the realm of very good vinyl. Jazdoc did not know what format it was.
When you get into the highest Rez files and they are done right the boundaries blurr between formats with the Select II. I earlier commented on the Itin Debussy solo piano Quad file. This is why the highest Rez matters. The limits of digital get removed.
Milke
This product seems to bring a paradigm shift to your audiophile existence. I am by no means saying you will henceforth prefer digital to analog but it seems to me that with knowledge removed this would be near impossible ( I could take away the "near" if you allow) to distinguish the MSB reproduction from even the highest form of analog... Am I reading you right or is my (digital) bias showing?
I can see you exercising restraint not to proclaim this the equal of Vinyl but this last post, coming from you, tells me that digital in your opinion has arrived... Am I correct to think so?
Frantz,
yes; the very best of digital has indeed taken a big step. arrived infers we all agree on what point we are trying to achieve. we don't.
there is some of what you are describing going on, but for me, I must be specific. not sure you will ever read me proclaiming anything. we must keep this as a narrow data point, and not get greedy to diminish the credibility of it.
at this point what I'm hearing is that with the best digital files on the MSB Select II as currently used with the SGM in my system, which almost exclusively means the higher/highest resolutions, we are on an equivalent level with good vinyl. but not great vinyl.....although it touches that level in some ways but does not reach it. vinyl in my system is clearly on another level, but not two levels above. unless we talk about the best direct to disc, original pressing, or 45 rpm....then it is 2 levels above the MSB Select II in my system (trying to give some sort of feel to this).
sorry but it's just not so simple to describe.
which begs the question can my vinyl get much better? it's a question. we are not dealing with fixed points here. these references move. understand I'm only referring to my experience in my system.
give me a few weeks to enjoy the change with these grounding cables, and the addition of the one sitting in my car i'll plug in tonight. I reserve the right for my viewpoint to evolve. it already has over these last 3 months which is why I'm trying to go at my own speed on this subject.
it is a heady time for digital. but broad brushes are not helpful in my opinion.....as much as everyone wants to read those. i'll leave that to others.
IMHO there is no such thing as knowledge removed when comparing digital to analog, unless you purposely limit digital ...
People seem too worried on knowing Mike preference - something that I appreciate to read about, but IMHO only really means something for those who have listened to his system. Again IMHO, one of the more interesting, but disturbing, questions to debate is why this particular and very expensive digital player manages such good results in his system.
better I die a fiery death.....
added note; that's not really fair, as Dirac is an effective tool in some pretty/very good high end systems. and did not mean to offend anyone.
only that I have worked so hard to avoid digitizing (or re-digitizing) my wonderful signal path that it seems a sacrilege (sin against God) to even think about it.
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Your beautiful Clark Kent barn
Thanks again for doing expensive works and share your experiences in uber digital. Its been educational and fun watching your progress.
Kind regards,
Tang
hi Tang,
thank you for the kind words about my barn. and that is what I thought too, that living out in the mountains away from the city, away from industry, with great clean hydro power, in a housing development with 5 acre lots and new construction and infrastructure and my own transformer on the street, and my room in a separate building from my house, would all result in a clean A/C power grid. and so when I built my room, and did build it thinking later at some point I might add an isolation transformer (that my acoustical designer recommended), I organized all the lines into the standard panel in a spot ready to switch, just in case. and.......for 6 years I thought I had clean, low noise power. then in 2010 I did decide to install the Equi=tech 10WQ 10kva Wall Panel balanced Isolation transformer into that spot.
it was much better in every way; lower noise, more dynamic, better flow and ease. a transforming change to my system. I have dirty outlets on the regular panel next to 'clean' outlets on the Equi-tech; not close at all.
I still do get a great environment and a quiet place; but even with all those advantages I got lots of gain from the isolation transformer. and I have the Furutech NCF outlets and plugs.....and it seems my power grid is better than ok. so I should likely not hear those 'uber' power cords, or I might be tempted.
best regards,
Mike
the 1 meter Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference grounding cable arrived today; I installed it 2 hours ago on the dart pre, connected to the Tripoint Troy Sig. I have the other Thor SE MR on the Select II.
from the first note this was something different, but over the first 30 minutes it was changing constantly in degrees.....then seemed to come up on plane.....with gradual deepening of effect, now seems to be in a pretty solid place.
this thing pegs the reality meter big time, deepens and supercharges the bass, opens up textures, more holographic and dimensional, adds that sexy nuance to all the little 'tells' and adds an unreal propulsion and note development to the music. some sort of line has been crossed into another level, but i'm trying to just enjoy and not work too hard with words.
the music calls to me.
I have to agree with Audiocrack; 1 + 1 Thor SE Master Reference grounding cables = much > than only 2.
why would a silly 1 meter long grounding cable have such an effect? maybe things were close to a perceptual breakthrough and this tipped it over?
I must be delusional.
from the first note this was something different, but over the first 30 minutes it was changing constantly in degrees.....then seemed to come up on plane.....with gradual deepening of effect, now seems to be in a pretty solid place.
this thing pegs the reality meter big time, deepens and supercharges the bass, opens up textures, more holographic and dimensional, adds that sexy nuance to all the little 'tells' and adds an unreal propulsion and note development to the music. some sort of line has been crossed into another level, but i'm trying to just enjoy and not work too hard with words.
the music calls to me.
I have to agree with Audiocrack; 1 + 1 Thor SE Master Reference grounding cables = much > than only 2.
why would a silly 1 meter long grounding cable have such an effect? maybe things were close to a perceptual breakthrough and this tipped it over?
I must be delusional.
I have 2 x stage 3 concept leviathan pc feeding the mono powerbases - bringing out all the details... (before that I used shunyata sigma)
the 1 meter Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference grounding cable arrived today; I installed it 2 hours ago on the dart pre, connected to the Tripoint Troy Sig. I have the other Thor SE MR on the Select II.
from the first note this was something different, but over the first 30 minutes it was changing constantly in degrees.....then seemed to come up on plane.....with gradual deepening of effect, now seems to be in a pretty solid place.
this thing pegs the reality meter big time, deepens and supercharges the bass, opens up textures, more holographic and dimensional, adds that sexy nuance to all the little 'tells' and adds an unreal propulsion and note development to the music. some sort of line has been crossed into another level, but i'm trying to just enjoy and not work too hard with words.
the music calls to me.
I have to agree with Audiocrack; 1 + 1 Thor SE Master Reference grounding cables = much > than only 2.
why would a silly 1 meter long grounding cable have such an effect? maybe things were close to a perceptual breakthrough and this tipped it over?
I must be delusional.
With high resolution systems the benefits of adding (more) Tripoint components are obvious ... had no doubts at all that you would love the second Tripoint Thor se. Now what about grounding your other sources like the turntable and your tapedecks? 1+1+1 = .... well you get it!
Members who have not yet experienced the Tripoint grounding solution in their systems have no idea what they are missing. Miguel is really on to something with his grounding units and grounding cables.
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This one for the monos.
This one for the Pre, TTs and Tape.
This one for the speaker.
They altogether increase realism and organicness to a surprising level.
Kind regards,
Tang
the 1 meter Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference grounding cable arrived today; I installed it 2 hours ago on the dart pre, connected to the Tripoint Troy Sig. I have the other Thor SE MR on the Select II.
from the first note this was something different, but over the first 30 minutes it was changing constantly in degrees.....then seemed to come up on plane.....with gradual deepening of effect, now seems to be in a pretty solid place.
this thing pegs the reality meter big time, deepens and supercharges the bass, opens up textures, more holographic and dimensional, adds that sexy nuance to all the little 'tells' and adds an unreal propulsion and note development to the music. some sort of line has been crossed into another level, but i'm trying to just enjoy and not work too hard with words.
the music calls to me.
I have to agree with Audiocrack; 1 + 1 Thor SE Master Reference grounding cables = much > than only 2.
why would a silly 1 meter long grounding cable have such an effect? maybe things were close to a perceptual breakthrough and this tipped it over?
I must be delusional.
Your words were great, Mike! Enjoy!
See this WBF thread. http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?11905-Tripoint-troy-signature-grounding-device&p=329757&viewfull=1#post329757
Unfortunately it does not add anything, as no one know what is exactly the physics behind these devices - or the similar Entreq's btw.
thank you Tang. beautiful. lots of Tripoint reality there for sure. heading that way as I can rationalize doing so.
my next Tripoint step will be another box for the speaker area. could be the Empress, but I already have the Entreq working well with my bass amp chassis grounding and negative outputs of my mono blocks. I know the Empress would take that to a higher level. maybe for the chassis ground on the mono blocks.
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