The Digital Director - A new MSB product improving everything from the source to the output

[Armsan]

Hello Vince,
Can you please tell us, which are the 4 input modules accepted by the Digital Director, besides the Renderer?
For instance, is the Quad USB module one of them?
Thank you.

 

[bryans]

That is a great question. I'm "assuming" all digital input modules are supported. Now of course I'm not Vince and I'm sure Vince will pass along the official wording. We do know what "assume" tends to stand for

For me I would move my ProISL input module from my Premier DAC. Now my super important question is cost. I would have to weigh how close will my Premier w/DD be to a Reference w/o DD. Only time will tell I guess.

I tell you all of these digital upgrades are hurting my pocketbook! I guess this is the price you pay in this crazy hobby.

 

[divertiti]

So for current users of the ProISL/Pro USB input module, they would already be getting the benefit of an external input module, optically isolated from the DAC

 

[QuadDiffuser]

How does the Director's Control Link's TOSLINK cable connect to the DAC? A visual schematic, please!

 

[bryans]

How does the Director's Control Link's TOSLINK cable connect to the DAC? A visual schematic, please!

From the info that Vince posted. The DAC has a control link module that is included when you purchase the director. You just install it in your DAC and connect with the fiber cable to the director.

 

[DMSB]

How does the Director's Control Link's TOSLINK cable connect to the DAC? A visual schematic, please

The Digital Director is designed to maximize the conversion potential of any current MSB DAC. It does this in three ways, by providing perfect digital isolation, offloading processing from the DAC itself, and re-clocking all incoming data regardless of the input format. It supports all of our Digital Input Modules. When you add the Digital Director the MSB DAC needs to be able to command the Digital Director to switch to the correct input, process the DATA correctly and send commands upstream to servers and other sources (volume, mute, play, pause, etc). The Digital Director comes with a "Toslink" cable based fiber control interface and a ProISL input module for audio data. The control interface is not actually Toslink but a packet based serial interface that uses Toslink cabling. It is only active when the DAC needs to command the Digital Director. These modules are both installed in the DAC. All of the DACs current input modules are removed and installed in the Digital Director. A single-mode glass fiber cable and a Toslink cable are then connected from the DAC to the Digital Director. Digital Audio and information that needs to be passed to the DAC streams over the ProISL interface. The "Toslink" Control interface is used infrequently such as when the DAC powers on and need to configure the Digital Directors processing parameters, when the input needs to change or when new volume info needs to be sent to an upstream server. The quality of this cabling is unimportant, any Toslink cable will do (plastic or glass is fine). We found it was very important for ultimate quality to have no wires (other than power and analog audio) run to the DAC at all. This was necessary to completely break the noise coupling paths from upstream products. We considered wire and hybrid fiber/wire interfaces but found there were always some circumstances where substantial noise could be coupled over the wire portion of the interface depending upon upstream conditions. Even with the ProUSB there are substantial improvements in quality because of the offloaded processing and substantially better power provided to the ProISL transmitter in the Digital Director.

 

[divertiti]

The Digital Director is designed to maximize the conversion potential of any current MSB DAC. It does this in three ways, by providing perfect digital isolation, offloading processing from the DAC itself, and re-clocking all incoming data regardless of the input format. It supports all of our Digital Input Modules. When you add the Digital Director the MSB DAC needs to be able to command the Digital Director to switch to the correct input, process the DATA correctly and send commands upstream to servers and other sources (volume, mute, play, pause, etc). The Digital Director comes with a "Toslink" cable based fiber control interface and a ProISL input module for audio data. The control interface is not actually Toslink but a packet based serial interface that uses Toslink cabling. It is only active when the DAC needs to command the Digital Director. These modules are both installed in the DAC. All of the DACs current input modules are removed and installed in the Digital Director. A single-mode glass fiber cable and a Toslink cable are then connected from the DAC to the Digital Director. Digital Audio and information that needs to be passed to the DAC streams over the ProISL interface. The "Toslink" Control interface is used infrequently such as when the DAC powers on and need to configure the Digital Directors processing parameters, when the input needs to change or when new volume info needs to be sent to an upstream server. The quality of this cabling is unimportant, any Toslink cable will do (plastic or glass is fine). We found it was very important for ultimate quality to have no wires (other than power and analog audio) run to the DAC at all. This was necessary to completely break the noise coupling paths from upstream products. We considered wire and hybrid fiber/wire interfaces but found there were always some circumstances where substantial noise could be coupled over the wire portion of the interface depending upon upstream conditions. Even with the ProUSB there are substantial improvements in quality because of the offloaded processing and substantially better power provided to the ProISL transmitter in the Digital Director.

Thank you for the very helpful insights, especially in the context of the existing ProUSB. Can you elaborate a bit on:
1. What improvements the added processing power has brought to the digital filters and how that translates into sonic performance?

2. When you say the DD reclocks all incoming signal, does it leverage the Femto clock inside the existing dac, or does it have its own clock in the new chassis?

 

[DMSB]

Thank you for the very helpful insights, especially in the context of the existing ProUSB. Can you elaborate a bit on:
1. What improvements the added processing power has brought to the digital filters and how that translates into sonic performance?

2. When you say the DD reclocks all incoming signal, does it leverage the Femto clock inside the existing dac, or does it have its own clock in the new chassis?

Right now some input data such as the data from S/PDIF inputs come into the DAC not synchronous to the DACs clock. They are buffered in the onboard memory in the DAC and then played back from local storage. The Digital Director takes over this task and sends all data to the DAC synchronously using the DACs onboard Femto Clock which is transmited on a dedicated fiber from the DAC to the Digital Director. Other ProISL sources such as our Transport and ProUSB do this already but the Digital Director does this for all sources.

 

[bryans]

Right now some input data such as the data from S/PDIF inputs come into the DAC not synchronous to the DACs clock. They are buffered in the onboard memory in the DAC and then played back from local storage. The Digital Director takes over this task and sends all data to the DAC synchronously using the DACs onboard Femto Clock which is transmited on a dedicated fiber from the DAC to the Digital Director. Other ProISL sources such as our Transport and ProUSB do this already but the Digital Director does this for all sources.

When will you announce prices for the directors?

 

[djsina2]

When will you announce prices for the directors?

From another forum…

The Select Digital Director > $27,500
The Reference Digital Director > $24,500
The Premier Digital Director > $14,500

 

[bryans]

From another forum…

The Select Digital Director > $27,500
The Reference Digital Director > $24,500
The Premier Digital Director > $14,500

Thanks for the info. All I can say is . I guess this is the price to play with the big dogs. And yes I want one

 

[divertiti]

From another forum…

The Select Digital Director > $27,500
The Reference Digital Director > $24,500
The Premier Digital Director > $14,500

That's the price of a whole new Premier DAC, or a Taiko extreme server, the improvement must be mind blowing

 

[Young Skywalker]

That's the price of a whole new Premier DAC, or a Taiko extreme server, the improvement must be mind blowing

If the Digital Director upgrade elevates ALL digital input sources (including the Network Renderer V2) to the level of MSB's Pro-USB/Pro-ISL combination AND improves on the already stellar sonic performance of the company's DACs (without increasing the gear footprint for those who stack the chassis) then that is quite an achievement. Is that hypothetical gain worth a good portion of an ultra-high end music server's asking price? Only the end user can say.

My understanding is that the sonic performance of digital audio (excluding the DAC itself, clock and analog output stage, where relevant) relates to: 1. isolation from electrical noise (network traffic, switching power supplies, etc.); 2. data integrity (bit-perfect data stream), and 3. digital signal processing/digital filters. If the first two are fully taken care of by the introduction of the Digital Director, why would the sound not be VERY similar between the MSB Network Renderer V2 and a Taiko Extreme (as an example)?

 

[matthias]

Other ProISL sources such as our Transport and ProUSB do this already but the Digital Director does this for all sources.

When someone is using USB only as input is there an advantage in SQ using the Director in comparison to ProUSB?
Thanks

Matt

 

[bryans]

If the first two are fully taken care of by the introduction of the Digital Director, why would the sound not be VERY similar between the MSB Network Renderer V2 and a Taiko Extreme (as an example)?

I expect the Digital Director to improve on all fronts. Now obviously I need to listen to one to know for sure. But I don't expect the Digital Director to make the Network Renderer V2 sound similar to a high-end server. Now this is just me as I believe a system is only as good as the source. I would expect a server utilizing a ProISL/ProUSB going into a Digital Director to sound better than the Network Renderer V2 into the same Digital Director. But who knows????

 

[matthias]

...why would the sound not be VERY similar between the MSB Network Renderer V2 and a Taiko Extreme (as an example)?

So we have roughly the same price for:

1.) Select Digital Director with MSB Renderer V2
2.) Taiko Extreme with MSB ProUSB

both into the same MSB DAC. I would be VERY surprised if 1.) is superior or even on par.

Matt

 

[Young Skywalker]

So we have roughly the same price for:

1.) Select Digital Director with MSB Renderer V2
2.) Taiko Extreme with MSB ProUSB

both into the same MSB DAC. I would be VERY surprised if 1.) is superior or even on par.

Matt

The question is, WHY would the Renderer V2 into the Digital Director not sound the "same" (assuming bit-perfect playback) as a Taiko Extreme with Pro-USB connection? By moving the Renderer module to the Digital Director (where there is additional processing capacity and another dedicated power supply) the electrical and thermal noise is far removed from the DAC and clock via total galvanic isolation.

One might also ask why the Taiko Extreme would sound different to a Roon Nucleus Plus with their respective USB interfaces routed through the Digital Director, assuming bit-perfect output from both. Any electrical noise generated upstream (be it large or very small) is stripped out between the Digital Director and an MSB DAC, no?

These questions are all hypothetical and the final proof is in the listening, I am just trying to approach this rationally and scientifically, particularly given the sums of money involved.

 

[matthias]

These questions are all hypothetical and the final proof is in the listening

Exactly,
hopefully MSB will offer at HE Munich comparisons between with and without Director and hopefully they answer my question if Director offers a superior SQ than ProUSB for USB only sources

Matt

 

[bryans]

Exactly,
hopefully MSB will offer at HE Munich comparisons between with and without Director and hopefully they answer my question if Director offers a superior SQ than ProUSB for USB only sources

Matt

Are you interested in a ProUSB into the Director with a Taiko/Aurender/etc?

 

[matthias]

ProUSB into the Director

What is that?