Heard three pricey DACs today on probably the best system in Atlanta which had EAR 912 preamp, EAR 890 amp and Marten Coltrane speakers. Digital source for the system was an EAR Acute CD Player/DAC and my friend Howard brought in a Bricasti M1 (latest version) and MSB Analog DAC, both around $8K. Also we added in the MSB Powerbase which had five (!) power tranformers ($3K) versus two for the standard model. We used a Macbook Pro (i7 chip, 8gb RAM) feeding digits into the DACS over an Audioquest Diamond USB Cable. Files were both 16/44 and hirez of various sampling rates. The music player was Amarra 2.6 using the Playlist function. Later we went to a second location and compared the Analog DAC on another fine sounding system (Katana speakers) against the AMR 777 DAC
Overall the winner was the outstanding MSB Analog DAC with Powerbase but it probably just edged the EAR DAC. The AMR and Bricasti were not even close to the sound from these two DACs.
The build quality and sound from the EAR and Analog are spectacular. Musical and detailed. Just wonderful. The MSB Analog is a bit more versatile on connections however.
Couple of observations...
**Power supplies really matter. The Analog DAC does not sound nearly as good without the Powerbase.
**Really good digital is really amazing. Wide, deep soundstages. Coherence from the highs to the lows.
**Computer audio setup is a gigantic pain in the butt. Each item seemed to have its own quirks. We had an Exasound DAC on hand but the driver software is so quirky and the stupid thing has a mini-USB input (really?). We finally gave up on the Exasound.
**Power cables matter. Adding good ac cords made a difference.
**We had to move some files around but had a mac harddrive (Ministack) with firewire. Firewire rules. Super-fast file moving.
**We had some really well done needledrops in hirez that each of us had done from LPs. They sounded sooo good.
All in all, great company and a terrific way to listen to great tunes and learn about digital. Icing on the cake was lunch at Galaxy Diner which had a car show in the parking lot.
Good times.
Overall the winner was the outstanding MSB Analog DAC with Powerbase but it probably just edged the EAR DAC. The AMR and Bricasti were not even close to the sound from these two DACs.
The build quality and sound from the EAR and Analog are spectacular. Musical and detailed. Just wonderful. The MSB Analog is a bit more versatile on connections however.
Couple of observations...
**Power supplies really matter. The Analog DAC does not sound nearly as good without the Powerbase.
**Really good digital is really amazing. Wide, deep soundstages. Coherence from the highs to the lows.
**Computer audio setup is a gigantic pain in the butt. Each item seemed to have its own quirks. We had an Exasound DAC on hand but the driver software is so quirky and the stupid thing has a mini-USB input (really?). We finally gave up on the Exasound.
**Power cables matter. Adding good ac cords made a difference.
**We had to move some files around but had a mac harddrive (Ministack) with firewire. Firewire rules. Super-fast file moving.
**We had some really well done needledrops in hirez that each of us had done from LPs. They sounded sooo good.
All in all, great company and a terrific way to listen to great tunes and learn about digital. Icing on the cake was lunch at Galaxy Diner which had a car show in the parking lot.
Good times.
