The day I thought would never come has arrived. My trusty dCS /Aurender front end (DAC, Clock, Upsampler, Aurender W20) has been bested by the......MSB Select II DAC. Mike Bovaird of Suncoast Audio lent me his demo unit for the weekend. I spent it comparing the two rigs and much to my surprise in my system, in my room, it wasn't even close. The Select II has more resolution, blacker background, sharper images and most surprising of all, the characteristics of a reference class pre-amp. I fed the DAC output direct to the D'Agostino mono blocks and wanted for nothing. Each instrument had greater weight than the Vivaldi output. I spent most of the weekend trying to find a set up where the Vivaldi would compete but I couldn't.
One DAC with simple inputs (ethernet, power) and simple outputs (balanced analogs to my D'Ags) did the job. No upsampling, no filter selections. Vanilla configuration that beat the pants off the system that was the culmination of 15 years of loyalty and upgrades from dCS. I feel guilty I like the MSB so much. In any case, the new Select shows up on Tuesday and I shall be cocooned in my room thereafter coming out only when absolutely necessary.
Set up: Select II DAC with MQA/Roon network renderer, balanced analog output and femto 33 clock module. Two power supply chassis's (one AC, on DC). D'Agostino M400 mono blocks. Magico M3 speakers. Lots of Transparent cabling.
Cincy
One DAC with simple inputs (ethernet, power) and simple outputs (balanced analogs to my D'Ags) did the job. No upsampling, no filter selections. Vanilla configuration that beat the pants off the system that was the culmination of 15 years of loyalty and upgrades from dCS. I feel guilty I like the MSB so much. In any case, the new Select shows up on Tuesday and I shall be cocooned in my room thereafter coming out only when absolutely necessary.
Set up: Select II DAC with MQA/Roon network renderer, balanced analog output and femto 33 clock module. Two power supply chassis's (one AC, on DC). D'Agostino M400 mono blocks. Magico M3 speakers. Lots of Transparent cabling.
Cincy