I'm very excited to report that I picked up the MSB stack Wednesday evening from my dealer. I was so anxious to get them that I stopped by the store and picked them up rather than wait for delivery and installation next week! My dealer will be out shortly to listen but through the evaluation process, I've gained much experience in the set-up and options for the Diamond DAC and MSB stack. The Diamond DAC has the Galaxy clock and USB2 options installed. I selected UMT Plus because I have a large number of SACDs so the capability to play SACD was a must have for me. USB2 option and the ability to play DSD files through it is very exciting although I don't own any DSD files yet. I do have hi-res downloads and I'm interested to see how DSD files will play out in the future. The MSB stack replaces the excellent Esoteric P03/D03/G0S combination in my system that I enjoyed for the almost four years I owned them.
A quick fact about me, I'm an amateur drummer. I've played most of my life but was never "touched by God" at birth like the true professionals were. I tend to lock in on the drum track of songs and enjoy jazz from the 50s, 60s, classic rock, and classical music especially the piano concerto format. My listening bias is tilted toward space between instruments, drive of the bass line, realism at the frequency extremes especially the sound of cymbals and hi-hat. Piano must sound real. Make my living as an IT professional for 35 years; EE/CS degree 100 years ago (or so it seems).
After getting the MSB stack home and a 40 minute warm-up, I spent about three hours listening Wednesday night. Here are my initial thoughts. The MSB stack presents instruments in there own space better than anything I've heard in my system. So much so, that I can hear the phrasing of each performer better than ever before. Example: Steely Dan, Babylon Sisters, Gaucho rebook CD, Bernard Purdie's drum track is awesome. With so much space and resolution, I can hear ghost notes that I have not heard with such clarity. The background singers all appear in the sound scape more prevalent than before. I own two SHM-SACDs of the Stones, one is Let it Bleed. Love in Vain is scary real. Guitar and Jagger's voice were fool you real. How many times have you heard Fire and Rain? A million right? This song had new meaning for me through the MSB stack. Russ Kunkel is an incredible drummer. He played the track with brushes. The tom-tom fills between verses jump out of the sound scape. Tonal realism. The bowed double bass during the song growls like never before at the end. Amazing that a standard like this can sound so different. James Taylor's voice hangs in the air as you would expect and sounds wonderful.
The settings I've started with on the Diamond DAC are: up-sampling off, filter F1, analog ground lifted. I do recommend having a display that you can hook up from time to time to the HDMI of the UMT Plus to get the settings correct. Once you do that you don't need the display any longer and I put it in the closet of my listening room. It was helpful though on initial set-up. I will continue to list further listening thoughts since several folks on this forum have asked about this stack. Next chance to listen will be later this weekend. Work keeps getting in the way!
A quick fact about me, I'm an amateur drummer. I've played most of my life but was never "touched by God" at birth like the true professionals were. I tend to lock in on the drum track of songs and enjoy jazz from the 50s, 60s, classic rock, and classical music especially the piano concerto format. My listening bias is tilted toward space between instruments, drive of the bass line, realism at the frequency extremes especially the sound of cymbals and hi-hat. Piano must sound real. Make my living as an IT professional for 35 years; EE/CS degree 100 years ago (or so it seems).
After getting the MSB stack home and a 40 minute warm-up, I spent about three hours listening Wednesday night. Here are my initial thoughts. The MSB stack presents instruments in there own space better than anything I've heard in my system. So much so, that I can hear the phrasing of each performer better than ever before. Example: Steely Dan, Babylon Sisters, Gaucho rebook CD, Bernard Purdie's drum track is awesome. With so much space and resolution, I can hear ghost notes that I have not heard with such clarity. The background singers all appear in the sound scape more prevalent than before. I own two SHM-SACDs of the Stones, one is Let it Bleed. Love in Vain is scary real. Guitar and Jagger's voice were fool you real. How many times have you heard Fire and Rain? A million right? This song had new meaning for me through the MSB stack. Russ Kunkel is an incredible drummer. He played the track with brushes. The tom-tom fills between verses jump out of the sound scape. Tonal realism. The bowed double bass during the song growls like never before at the end. Amazing that a standard like this can sound so different. James Taylor's voice hangs in the air as you would expect and sounds wonderful.
The settings I've started with on the Diamond DAC are: up-sampling off, filter F1, analog ground lifted. I do recommend having a display that you can hook up from time to time to the HDMI of the UMT Plus to get the settings correct. Once you do that you don't need the display any longer and I put it in the closet of my listening room. It was helpful though on initial set-up. I will continue to list further listening thoughts since several folks on this forum have asked about this stack. Next chance to listen will be later this weekend. Work keeps getting in the way!
