New MSB Cascade DAC

[Solecky]

Sadly, I’ve been away and haven’t had a chance to seriously sit down and listen. Hopefully this weekend or next.

Any updated impressions on the cascade?

 

[Brucemck2]

It’s a really nice DAC. Great “solidity and stability” without being artificially illuminated (which gets confused for solidity like too much contrast or an incorrect black point in a photograph). Precise but at the same time not fatigue inducing. I’m spending more time enjoying the music than I am critiquing the DAC, which is new for me.

I’m feeding it with an Antipodes via both USB and AES

 

[Solecky]

It’s a really nice DAC. Great “solidity and stability” without being artificially illuminated (which gets confused for solidity like too much contrast or an incorrect black point in a photograph). Precise but at the same time not fatigue inducing. I’m spending more time enjoying the music than I am critiquing the DAC, which is new for me.

I’m feeding it with an Antipodes via both USB and AES

Thx!

 

[gleeds]

Thank you for the welcome! I appreciate the response.

I do wish Chord would include a USB output on their upcoming higher-end upscaler, but that doesn’t seem to be present on the prototype they showed at Munich. I agree, they’d almost definitely sell many more units if they did make an effort to make them more compatible with other DACs. Looks like there are a few pro DACs that’ve used dual-AES in the past in addition to the Chord and dCS upscalers and DACs, but between Chord and dCS for outboard upscalers and a few pro companies for PCIe transports, there certainly aren’t enough devices out there for a dedicated input module to make business sense. I could probably fashion a solution together with one of these pro PCIe transports just to satisfy my curiosity.

I’m a huge car guy, and I’ll be at Concours d'Elegance if I can make it. I appreciate the invite, and I’d love to stop by! If not me, someone from my team will definitely be there.

Jameson. Welcome to WBF!

It's a great forum; having you as a knowledgeable contributor will be a positive.

Gary Leeds

 

[rau]

I have been using the Cascade over a week now , I look forward to listening most every night to this incredible DAC . I'm sure it will continue to better in the next couple weeks .

 

[itay123]

My next project !

Amazing.

 

[Cincy2]

I have been using the Cascade over a week now , I look forward to listening most every night to this incredible DAC . I'm sure it will continue to better in the next couple weeks .

I found that my Cascade burn in took over a month before the unit showed all that it could do. Paired with a Pink Faun Dual Ultra Server, the presentation is sublime. They are a good pair.

Cincy

 

[Daniel Gullman]

I have been using the Cascade over a week now , I look forward to listening most every night to this incredible DAC . I'm sure it will continue to better in the next couple weeks .

Congrats on the new DAC @rau !

 

[rau]

I found that my Cascade burn in took over a month before the unit showed all that it could do. Paired with a Pink Faun Dual Ultra Server, the presentation is sublime. They are a good pair.

Cincy

I have tried a few diffrent music servers and always went back to my LDMS , rock solid excellent support and great value .