Top level Audio Note digital vs. MSB? What are the sonic differences?

microstrip

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Legolas

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Very organic and dynamic

Like an audio note dac on steroids with a groove pill :)

Kassandra-main-photo.jpg

I have owned the AN UK DAC 3.1, 4.1 a heavily modded 4.1 Kit (Canada) and the AN UK DAC 5 with upgraded capacitors on the coupling stage. I now have the Kassandra. It is more than steroids or groove pill, it is like starting again and doing it right this time. The AN DACs do get close to realism and accurate timbre, less digital than pretty much all DACs i have heard. BUT they sacrifice dynamics and can sound congested when the going gets tough. The Kassandra is an animal unleashed, yet also delicate and perfect timing, a hard to achieve thing in any DAC IMO.
A lot of this I believe is the none upsampling, no filter, use of transformers in the I/V stage and transformers on the output. It also has a high 10v output. Mate that with a powerful tube gain stage and there you have it, a fantastic combination for digital conversion, and on steroids as well....

PM me if anyone is interested. If you are in Spain or Portugal, you are very welcome to come in listen to our system. I will shortly have the Aries Cerat Genus SET in our demo system.
 

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Ajay556

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I compared msb with innos 15k
To CD player with preamp 12k
Hands down no match … the CD player with preamp had smooth, dynamic, accurate, and rich sound . The msb was capable of throwing a wider soundstage but lacked in every other respect ..
 

caesar

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Since I started this thread, I have heard MSB in many systems and compared them to many other DACs in systems I am familiar with.

MSB is an excellent DAC with a very musical sonic signature. But I get bored of it after about 90 seconds...

It's too hi fi sounding to my ears - there's your soundstage, there's your presence, there's your vocalist in a booth in London and threre's your guitarist in a booth in Vegas, and there's your pinpoint imaging. In short, it's an excellent DAC for those with traditional audiophile tastes, and is much better than the likes of dCS, who are also competing for that consumer.

But the top of the line MSB just can't convey emotion like the entry model of TotalDAC, Lampizator, or a 15 year old Audio Note. If you aren't a traditional audiophile and want emotion over audiophile vocabulary in your listening experience, stay away from MSB.
 
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Jeffy

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What are you kidding. I had the total dac and Lampiztor in my system. My Bricasti 21 killed the other two not even close. I did like the Lampizator, but the Total was the worst. The MSB that I heard a week ago with ethernet was even better than the Bricasti.
 

Al M.

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What are you kidding. I had the total dac and Lampiztor in my system. My Bricasti 21 killed the other two not even close. I did like the Lampizator, but the Total was the worst. The MSB that I heard a week ago with ethernet was even better than the Bricasti.

Don't worry, Caesar's opinions are as much of a particular taste as they are strong. Very entertaining, no doubt. Nothing to get upset about.
 

caesar

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Hahahaha! So many audiophiles are completely miserable because they trust an "expert" with decades in the hobby who has heard "everything", a (mis-incentivized) authority/ "audio journalist", or the internet mob.

And after picking up potential misinformation, these guys are onto the next fallacy: confirming their biases.

For those of us with contrary data points, we must never fail to vocalize our judgments on the gear we hear. It's a serious responsibility to make this hobby better. :)
 

Al M.

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Hahahaha! So many audiophiles are completely miserable because they trust an "expert" with decades in the hobby who has heard "everything", a (mis-incentivized) authority/ "audio journalist", or the internet mob.

And after picking up potential misinformation, these guys are onto the next fallacy: confirming their biases.

For those of us with contrary data points, we must never fail to vocalize our judgments on the gear we hear. It's a serious responsibility to make this hobby better. :)

Sure, the proud voice of the Prophet in the Wilderness ;).
 

Al M.

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Al M.

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Thank you. Maybe then we should work toward making the audiophile culture less disgusting and refrain from making personal comments?

Sure. Including refraining from degrading comments about allegedly herd-following "audiophiles", contrasting them with putatively enlightened views of "those of us with contrary data points" -- which often are, let's be honest, just about different personal tastes.
 
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caesar

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Sure. Including refraining from degrading comments about allegedly herd-following "audiophiles", contrasting them with putatively enlightened views of "those of us with contrary data points" -- which often are, let's be honest, just about different personal tastes.

Analyzing the audiophile culture , and all its problems, using behavioral science and applying reason to solve problems is different than making personal comments about fellow forum members. But we can agree to disagree. Enjoy the disgusting audiophile culture you help create. Have a great X-mas!
 

Al M.

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Analyzing the audiophile culture , and all its problems, using behavioral science and applying reason to solve problems is different than making personal comments about fellow forum members. But we can agree to disagree. Enjoy the disgusting audiophile culture you help create. Have a great X-mas!

"Enjoy the disgusting audiophile culture you help create."

Yup, nice personal comment, wonderful.
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Since I started this thread, I have heard MSB in many systems and compared them to many other DACs in systems I am familiar with.

MSB is an excellent DAC with a very musical sonic signature. But I get bored of it after about 90 seconds...

It's too hi fi sounding to my ears - there's your soundstage, there's your presence, there's your vocalist in a booth in London and threre's your guitarist in a booth in Vegas, and there's your pinpoint imaging. In short, it's an excellent DAC for those with traditional audiophile tastes, and is much better than the likes of dCS, who are also competing for that consumer.

But the top of the line MSB just can't convey emotion like the entry model of TotalDAC, Lampizator, or a 15 year old Audio Note. If you aren't a traditional audiophile and want emotion over audiophile vocabulary in your listening experience, stay away from MSB.
the right MSB dac, fed appropriately, gets out of the way, and let's the music through. it does not inject a flavor to spice things up or any beautiful sameness.

depending on your system, and personal taste, those attributes are one's desired.

note that in my 30 hours of listening a week, at least 20 of those is with my MSB. and it does allow the music to be what it is and why i enjoy it. the MSB has a musical continuousness and human presentation that i connect with. the system also get's out of the way and has lots of headroom to not limit the music. there may be other choices that do these things, but none i've heard do it better.
 

caesar

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May 30, 2010
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the right MSB dac, fed appropriately, gets out of the way, and let's the music through. it does not inject a flavor to spice things up or any beautiful sameness.

depending on your system, and personal taste, those attributes are one's desired.

note that in my 30 hours of listening a week, at least 20 of those is with my MSB. and it does allow the music to be what it is and why i enjoy it. the MSB has a musical continuousness and human presentation that i connect with. the system also get's out of the way and has lots of headroom to not limit the music. there may be other choices that do these things, but none i've heard do it better.
Hi Mike,
I am sincerely happy for you. But we all get acclimated to a certain sound. And for me MSB does get in the way, unfortunately, as I described above. (And I really wanted to like it.)

But the other 5 DACs I own, do not, just as you describe. Everything has a sound. This is the nature of the subjectivity in our hobby.
All the best
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Hi Mike,
I am sincerely happy for you. But we all get acclimated to a certain sound. And for me MSB does get in the way, unfortunately, as I described above. (And I really wanted to like it.)

But the other 5 DACs I own, do not, just as you describe. Everything has a sound. This is the nature of the subjectivity in our hobby.
All the best
well. i guess we all have our own references for "not getting in the way of the music" in our systems. and our opinions about what sort of sound draws attention to it that it is (more or less) reproduced.

i play the long (listening) game with my choice of dac's. i tried a number of dac's too. Trinity, Lampizator, Nagra HD, Aqua....none were quick samples...all were years, months, weeks of listening. they had to compete with lots of vinyl and tapes. every day.

btw; those were all great dacs, but succeeded at these things in degrees. none failed.

YMMV.
 
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