Rhapsody is now a MSB dealer

[asiufy]

Mike,

My bad, I should've taken my Aurender (from one of our rooms) and brought it to Vince's room... The cool thing about the SELECT is that it completely moves the performance "entry point". You'll still get that exhilarating kick out of hi-res (PCM or DSD), but Redbook will sound so good that all of a sudden you won't need to pick only hi-res to demonstrate, for instance.

That is one of the reasons Vince mostly shows with Redbook, even when he breaks out the ol' PC and plays stuff through the USB.

Bob,

Congrats on picking up MSB, a fantastic brand! If I may suggest, you should try the entry-level MSB Analog DAC next, if only so you can see/hear how incredibly good it is!



cheers,
alex

 

[Rhapsody]

Mike,

My bad, I should've taken my Aurender (from one of our rooms) and brought it to Vince's room... The cool thing about the SELECT is that it completely moves the performance "entry point". You'll still get that exhilarating kick out of hi-res (PCM or DSD), but Redbook will sound so good that all of a sudden you won't need to pick only hi-res to demonstrate, for instance.

That is one of the reasons Vince mostly shows with Redbook, even when he breaks out the ol' PC and plays stuff through the USB.

Bob,

Congrats on picking up MSB, a fantastic brand! If I may suggest, you should try the entry-level MSB Analog DAC next, if only so you can see/hear how incredibly good it is!



cheers,
alex

Thx Alex. I have the Analog DAC, UMT, stereo and mono amps coming.

 

[Rhapsody]

thanks Bob. that is the feedback I'm looking for....and that is what I heard on my Trinity. and I fully expect the MSB Select II to be better. hirez PCM is really great stuff. if you get a chance to hear native dxd on it I would love to get that feedback too. some of the Challenge Classic native dxd downloads are suppose to be amazing. from what I've heard it's even better than Quad dsd with the right dac.

I would have loved to hear that at the Newport Show.

Hi Mike,

Ok after having a few days/hours on the Select Dac and having had listened to many dsd and hi res pcm AND Aurender AND redbook cd's my initial thoughts are that no doubt about it the hi res, either pcm or DSD sounds way over the top vs. redbook or especially Tidal streaming. The hi res through the Select is off the charts to me. Of course all of this is both user (me in this case) and recording dependent.

The "kicker" is that if you put on a redbook cd or EVEN Tidal streaming it sounds so good that I don't have a desire to switch to the hi res recordings. If you do switch to a high res recording the sonics are a big step up, but again even though a few steps down sonically the level of the cd's and Tidal streaming reach the "magical" zone for me. This allows me to become emotionally attached to the recording I am listening to. As long as I get there I could care less if something "sounds better", I am more interested in the music that I am listening to and being encompassed by it to be thinking about something else sounding better.

So far my overall experience is now I have another source in addition to tape, vinyl, redbook cd, streaming etc. The high res in it's sonic glory is something I did not have prior at the level that the Select Dac delivers.

I understand that a lot of hi res users of a lot of great hi res dacs have been doing this for quite some time now and I have enjoyed hi res on some former dac's that I've owned/listened to but not like this Select DAC. I'm sure the Trinity though probably a bit different delivers the same type of experience. As well as the Lampi dacs as well.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike,

Ok after having a few days/hours on the Select Dac and having had listened to many dsd and hi res pcm AND Aurender AND redbook cd's my initial thoughts are that no doubt about it the hi res, either pcm or DSD sounds way over the top vs. redbook or especially Tidal streaming. The hi res through the Select is off the charts to me. Of course all of this is both user (me in this case) and recording dependent.

The "kicker" is that if you put on a redbook cd or EVEN Tidal streaming it sounds so good that I don't have a desire to switch to the hi res recordings. If you do switch to a high res recording the sonics are a big step up, but again even though a few steps down sonically the level of the cd's and Tidal streaming reach the "magical" zone for me. This allows me to become emotionally attached to the recording I am listening to. As long as I get there I could care less if something "sounds better", I am more interested in the music that I am listening to and being encompassed by to be thinking about something else sounding better.

So far my overall experience is now I have another source in addition to tape, vinyl, redbook cd, streaming etc. The high res in it's sonic glory is something I did not have prior at the level that the Select Dac delivers.

I understand that a lot of hi res users of a lot of great hi res dacs have been doing this for quite some time now and I have enjoyed hi res on some former dac's that I've owned/listened to but not like this Select DAC. I'm sure the Trinity though probably a bit different delivers the same type of experience. As well as the Lampi dacs as well.

Bob,

thanks.

yes......the Trinity dac did the same thing for me. I had been a big dsd believer for many years with the Playback Designs MPS-5. but redbook and PCM hirez had been just ok for me.....and my 3000 CD's had become marginal to me.

with the Trinity I found that redbook and any PCM rose to the level of dsd and even had some attributes I preferred to dsd. and hirez PCM went to even a higher level. and the biggest truth I found was that it made clear that when playback is optimized, listening to any recording in it's native format was always best. I have 16 terabytes of PCM and dsd files, about half and half. I have many where I have them in multiple formats, some are dsd sourced, and some are PCM sourced. with the Trinity, it was always easy to hear how much better PCM sourced files were than their dsd upsampled versions. in many case surprising to me after years of assuming the dsd version was the ideal.

I've yet to get into any streaming. I can imagine what the MSB Select might do for that.

and I became much more format agnostic. PCM was now something I could go to from my vinyl and it was closer and more similarly spacious 'of a piece'.....like dsd.

I've not heard dsd through the MSB Select II and don't have a sense of how it compares to other top level dsd dacs. I'm assuming it's right up there. but to me the hard part is PCM as it takes heroic efforts to overcome it's inherent nasties and go where the Trinity and MSB Select have gone with it.

 

[Rhapsody]

Bob,

yes......the Trinity dac did the same thing for me. I had been a big dsd believer for many years with the Playback Designs MPS-5. but redbook and PCM hirez had been just ok for me.....and my 3000 CD's had become marginal to me.

with the Trinity I found that redbook and any PCM rose to the level of dsd and even had some attributes I preferred to dsd. and hirez PCM went to even a higher level. and the biggest truth I found was that it made clear that when playback is optimized, listening to any recording in it's native format was always best. I have 16 terabytes of PCM and dsd files, about half and half. I have many where I have them in multiple formats, some are dsd sourced, and some are PCM sourced. with the Trinity, it was always easy to hear how much better PCM sourced files were than their dsd upsampled versions. in many case surprising to me after years of assuming the dsd version was the ideal.

and I became much more format agnostic. PCM was now something I could go to from my vinyl and it was closer and more similarly spacious 'of a piece'.....like dsd.

I've not heard dsd through the MSB Select II and don't have a sense of how it compares to other top level dsd dacs. I'm assuming it's right up there. but to me the hard part is PCM as it takes heroic efforts to overcome it's inherent nasties and go where the Trinity and MSB Select have gone with it.

Fun, fun, fun until her Daddy took the T-Bird away.....enjoy while we can, tomorrow is no guarantee! Thx Mike for helping me to understand what I am currently experiencing.

 

[Rhapsody]

Talk about a 180- After 3-4 days and a BUNCH of Native DSD downloads and also non native DSD downloads I now have a hard time going back to listen to anything on Tidal. I was totally happy listening to Tidal even over my Tape and Vinyl. I loved the selection of music and the ease of use and the sonics, as I've said prior Tidal was good enough sonically to "get into the magic zone".

The DSD on the MSB Select is better than anything I have ever heard. It does things with soundstaging and realism that floor me and pretty much on any of the 200 DSD tracks or so that I now have. I downloaded several albums mostly from Acoustic Sounds and DSDfile.com The Opus Samplers in native dsd for Jazz are all that I could ever want with images hanging way out on the outsides of the speakers, I have never experienced a soundstage like I have encountered in this new sonic episode for me.

I was quite surprised when I downloaded Miles Davis "In a Silent Way" a recording originally recorded six blocks from me on 30th Street in that magical year of 1969, that I have loved on Tidal and on Tape. I personally thought it was the max sonically and the DSD64 Download is an entirely different and no doubt about it significantly superior experience....all I can say it I am happily flabbergasted.

This will probably ware off, everything does, but for now Tidal will be getting a rest and long live DSD with many hours of future listening.

Btw, I had heard DSD recordings on previous DAC that I have owned/sold or at shows and some were good and some were just ok for me, what I am hearing now trumps anything I have ever heard anywhere.

Not saying in any way that the MSB Select Dac is "better" (I don't subscribe to better) than the other top tier dacs. I understand about Trinity, Lampi, DCS etc. To me they are all great products that can have incredible systems built around them. It's a lot more than any one of these DAC's, it's the entire system that delivers the end magic.

For me, it's just the first time hearing native dsd and even non native dsd on a top tier dsd dac. I have not been a proponent of dsd, my bad, live and learn, I'm glad now that I've found it.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Talk about a 180- After 3-4 days and a BUNCH of Native DSD downloads and also non native DSD downloads I now have a hard time going back to listen to anything on Tidal. I was totally happy listening to Tidal even over my Tape and Vinyl. I loved the selection of music and the ease of use and the sonics, as I've said prior Tidal was good enough sonically to "get into the magic zone".

The DSD on the MSB Select is better than anything I have ever heard. It does things with soundstaging and realism that floor me and pretty much on any of the 200 DSD tracks or so that I now have. I downloaded several albums mostly from Acoustic Sounds and DSDfile.com The Opus Samplers in native dsd for Jazz are all that I could ever want with images hanging way out on the outsides of the speakers, I have never experienced a soundstage like I have encountered in this new sonic episode for me.

I was quite surprised when I downloaded Miles Davis "In a Silent Way" a recording originally recorded six blocks from me on 30th Street in that magical year of 1969, that I have loved on Tidal and on Tape. I personally thought it was the max sonically and the DSD64 Download is an entirely different and no doubt about it significantly superior experience....all I can say it I am happily flabbergasted.

This will probably ware off, everything does, but for now Tidal will be getting a rest and long live DSD with many hours of future listening.

Btw, I had heard DSD recordings on previous DAC that I have owned/sold or at shows and some were good and some were just ok for me, what I am hearing now trumps anything I have ever heard anywhere.

Not saying in any way that the MSB Select Dac is "better" (I don't subscribe to better) than the other top tier dacs. I understand about Trinity, Lampi, DCS etc. To me they are all great products that can have incredible systems built around them. It's a lot more than any one of these DAC's, it's the entire system that delivers the end magic.

For me, it's just the first time hearing native dsd and even non native dsd on a top tier dsd dac. I have not been a proponent of dsd, my bad, live and learn, I'm glad now that I've found it.

now you are talking. I have 60 Quad dsd files, and about half are native Quad.

I assume you have seen this.

 

[Rhapsody]

now you are talking. I have 60 Quad dsd files, and about half are native Quad.

I assume you have seen this.

Thx Mike, I had not seen your earlier thread....I'm just late to party ( and it is a grand party) on this one, but glad I have arrived. I have not yet gone through the hi rez pcm vs the dsd files etc. and for the moment I am handcuffed with the Aurender N10 only supporting single and dual dsd files, so I haven't even heard 256 or 512 files.....I'm blown away by 64 and 128 dsds which is all I can listen to right now. I have to now experiment with the hirez pcm. And I used to love Tidal so much....it's hard for me to get my head around it all

 

[witchdoctor]

If you need to clear out space, I can hold one of your tape decks

+1

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Thx Mike, I had not seen your earlier thread....I'm just late to party ( and it is a grand party) on this one, but glad I have arrived. I have not yet gone through the hi rez pcm vs the dsd files etc. and for the moment I am handcuffed with the Aurender N10 only supporting single and dual dsd files, so I haven't even heard 256 or 512 files.....I'm blown away by 64 and 128 dsds which is all I can listen to right now. I have to now experiment with the hirez pcm. And I used to love Tidal so much....it's hard for me to get my head around it all

you need to listen to native Quad dsd and native dxd thru the MSB Select II.

those both are a significant jump up in space and nuance.

but certainly enjoy where you are at.

 

[witchdoctor]

Thx Mike, I had not seen your earlier thread....I'm just late to party ( and it is a grand party) on this one, but glad I have arrived. I have not yet gone through the hi rez pcm vs the dsd files etc. and for the moment I am handcuffed with the Aurender N10 only supporting single and dual dsd files, so I haven't even heard 256 or 512 files.....I'm blown away by 64 and 128 dsds which is all I can listen to right now. I have to now experiment with the hirez pcm. And I used to love Tidal so much....it's hard for me to get my head around it all

If you want to experiment with hirez PCM and are using a PC try the Asus Xonar U7 soundcard, it is awesome and less than $100:
https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/

 

[microstrip]

(...) Not saying in any way that the MSB Select Dac is "better" (I don't subscribe to better) than the other top tier dacs. I understand about Trinity, Lampi, DCS etc. To me they are all great products that can have incredible systems built around (...)

The words of wisdom in this hobby ... +1!

 

[witchdoctor]

Hi- for me "image density" means that the images that are produced on a 3D holographic soundstage. Sometimes the "images" have a "silhouette" sense to them. Sometimes the images are vague, sometimes they have a stronger "presence" than at other times.

It's not just resolution as with video the greater the resolution usually means greater image clarity and greater image density.....more pixels, more real looking. It's more about each voice and each instrument is very, very solid, more solid than I've ever heard from digital, or maybe anything.

I think of it as if you have an image of a face and you color it with a crayon lightly, that is what I normally feel like the images on the soundstage are like. But with this Select Dac it seems like someone took a heavy magic marker and completely filled the image of the same face and made it's visual presence very strong.

I often wonder about how different "carbon life forms" perceive 3D holographic soundstages. I know from experience some people can sit and listen and don't even see a holographic sound stage and another person can sit in front of the same system and feel like they are looking at a holographic presentation.

Try Auro 3D upmixer if you want a 3D soundstage, it works

 

[Rhapsody]

you need to listen to native Quad dsd and native dxd thru the MSB Select II.

those both are a significant jump up in space and nuance.

but certainly enjoy where you are at.

Thx Mike, will do. I have the UMT media server coming from MSB in a week and I will get some quad dsd albums on a NAS and play them through the UMT.

 

[Rhapsody]

Try Auro 3D upmixer if you want a 3D soundstage, it works

I've had 3D holographic soundstages for 40 years But not with the palpability and believability and solidity of each image as with the current set up.

I've always had VERY holographic 3D soundstages with tube electronics, BUT I would say that for me personally the "tube induced" 3D soundstage was more like a "holographic illusion". This is the first time with all SS electronics I have even more of a holographic 3D soundstage than with tubes regarding depth and especially width, but the individual images have much more body and space around each one of them. The harmonics coming off pianos, horns and Xylophones are unreal.

 

[Steve williams]

I've had 3D holographic soundstages for 40 years But not with the palpability and believability and solidity of each image as with the current set up.

I've always had VERY holographic 3D soundstages with tube electronics, BUT I would say that for me personally the "tube induced" 3D soundstage was more like a "holographic illusion". This is the first time with all SS electronics I have even more of a holographic 3D soundstage than with tubes regarding depth and especially width, but the individual images have much more body and space around each one of them. The harmonics coming off pianos, horns and Xylophones are unreal.

That's what I heard as well Bob

It was a revelation for me when I heard the DAC

 

[Rhapsody]

That's what I heard as well Bob

It was a revelation for me when I heard the DAC

Thx Steve, for the confirmation....I thought someone slipped something into my coffee....although if they did I want some more of it!

 

[Rhapsody]

If you want to experiment with hirez PCM and are using a PC try the Asus Xonar U7 soundcard, it is awesome and less than $100:
https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U7/

Thx, but I am into the Aurender and the MSB UMT, although I'm sure you can get GREAT SOUND from a pc as well with this card.

 

[witchdoctor]

I've had 3D holographic soundstages for 40 years But not with the palpability and believability and solidity of each image as with the current set up.

I've always had VERY holographic 3D soundstages with tube electronics, BUT I would say that for me personally the "tube induced" 3D soundstage was more like a "holographic illusion". This is the first time with all SS electronics I have even more of a holographic 3D soundstage than with tubes regarding depth and especially width, but the individual images have much more body and space around each one of them. The harmonics coming off pianos, horns and Xylophones are unreal.

It sounds like you have reached the "point of arrival" , congrats! If you go to CEDIA check out the Auro 3D booth, I would enjoy getting your impressions.

 

[Audiocrack]

Talk about a 180- After 3-4 days and a BUNCH of Native DSD downloads and also non native DSD downloads I now have a hard time going back to listen to anything on Tidal. I was totally happy listening to Tidal even over my Tape and Vinyl. I loved the selection of music and the ease of use and the sonics, as I've said prior Tidal was good enough sonically to "get into the magic zone".

The DSD on the MSB Select is better than anything I have ever heard. It does things with soundstaging and realism that floor me and pretty much on any of the 200 DSD tracks or so that I now have. I downloaded several albums mostly from Acoustic Sounds and DSDfile.com The Opus Samplers in native dsd for Jazz are all that I could ever want with images hanging way out on the outsides of the speakers, I have never experienced a soundstage like I have encountered in this new sonic episode for me.

I was quite surprised when I downloaded Miles Davis "In a Silent Way" a recording originally recorded six blocks from me on 30th Street in that magical year of 1969, that I have loved on Tidal and on Tape. I personally thought it was the max sonically and the DSD64 Download is an entirely different and no doubt about it significantly superior experience....all I can say it I am happily flabbergasted.

This will probably ware off, everything does, but for now Tidal will be getting a rest and long live DSD with many hours of future listening.

Btw, I had heard DSD recordings on previous DAC that I have owned/sold or at shows and some were good and some were just ok for me, what I am hearing now trumps anything I have ever heard anywhere.

Not saying in any way that the MSB Select Dac is "better" (I don't subscribe to better) than the other top tier dacs. I understand about Trinity, Lampi, DCS etc. To me they are all great products that can have incredible systems built around them. It's a lot more than any one of these DAC's, it's the entire system that delivers the end magic.

For me, it's just the first time hearing native dsd and even non native dsd on a top tier dsd dac. I have not been a proponent of dsd, my bad, live and learn, I'm glad now that I've found it.

Glad to hear that you are really starting to like/love native dsd. Do yourself a favor and buy some Challenge Classics dsd 256 and dxd files and you will be in for a real treat. In the Challenge Classics thread I started on WBF you can fibd some stunning sounding CC files.

One question: how would you compare native dsd played on your MSB dac to tape and vinyl reproduction from a sonic perspective?