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

[CKKeung]

The Mono And Stereo 2023 Editors Choice Award :

MSB Technology Digital Director Review

Mono & Stereo High-End Audio Magazine: Magico - Nagra - Tidal Audio - Wilson Audio - MSB - Totaldac - Living Voice - Taiko Audio - Aries Cerat -Thrax

www.monoandstereo.com

 

[GSOphile]

The Mono And Stereo 2023 Editors Choice Award :

MSB Technology Digital Director Review

Mono & Stereo High-End Audio Magazine: Magico - Nagra - Tidal Audio - Wilson Audio - MSB - Totaldac - Living Voice - Taiko Audio - Aries Cerat -Thrax

www.monoandstereo.com

View attachment 108446

Gushing

 

[Alrainbow]

Wow I wonder why he does not get an implant placed.

Bro why would you make such a comment in a forums. geez what’s wrong with you man.
I know him and have met him in person a very kind and smart man.
In fact at axpona his room was amazing
on magico speakers the rest was there stuff. just blew my teeth out maybe this is what happened to him. but jokes aside not cool to say and the room was excellent.
be kind to all atleast on forums you are making it personal.

 

[Alrainbow]

His transport played a cd while I was there what a sound. magico done right wish they had the Krell and Msb in the estolon room like last year. The moment I walked in last year it was Msb heaven and the new old looking Krell was super too. Great looking speakers

 

[Jeffy]

I never said he was not nice or does not know what he’s saying. Please don’t put words in my mouth.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...a bit of a drive, but I will finally pick up a Reference DD for a demo tomorrow. I did the dac firmware today. Any gotchas or best practice not described in the info on the MSB site page? Any tips/guidance appreciated. Thanks.

 

[CKKeung]

...a bit of a drive, but I will finally pick up a Reference DD for a demo tomorrow. I did the dac firmware today. Any gotchas or best practice not described in the info on the MSB site page? Any tips/guidance appreciated. Thanks.

The chief editor of Audionet of Taiwan reviewd the MSB Reference DD.
A rave review!
Please read with google translate.

MSB Reference Digital Director ???????

MSB??????????????????1987??????????????????????????????????????????DAC??????DAC???????????DAC?????????????????????????????????2022???????????????????????????Digita ...

www.audionet.com.tw

 

[ICUToo]

Hi divertiti: DAC is a Reference.
Listening impressions, as best I can express them, are still to come. I will finally be able to listen to the DAC again starting early next week. Can’t wait!

Any thoughts to share, Popspin?

 

[Alpinist]

I am going to make a shameless plug here. The money you save purchasing my mint condition MSB Select II DAC from the Seller Forum here on WBF will cover the cost of the Select Digital Director and still leave you money left over. I will hand deliver to anyone within a 400 mile radius of New York City or ship anywhere in the Contiguous USA. PM me for further details.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[bryans]

I am going to make a shameless plug here. The money you save purchasing my mint condition MSB Select II DAC from the Seller Forum here on WBF will cover the cost of the Select Digital Director and still leave you money left over. I will hand deliver to anyone within a 400 mile radius of New York City or ship anywhere in the Contiguous USA. PM me for further details.

Thanks,
Ken

Now that is one awesome deal!

 

[gds7368]

I am going to make a shameless plug here. The money you save purchasing my mint condition MSB Select II DAC from the Seller Forum here on WBF will cover the cost of the Select Digital Director and still leave you money left over. I will hand deliver to anyone within a 400 mile radius of New York City or ship anywhere in the Contiguous USA. PM me for further details.

Thanks,
Ken

why selling?

 

[Alpinist]

why selling?

My wife and I recently purchased a retirement townhouse in Colorado and I will need to significantly downsize my audio system to fit in the new place. The Select II DAC is the finest audiophile component I have owned by a long shot in 30 years of enjoying high end audio.

Ken

 

[Popspin]

Any thoughts to share, Popspin?

I first heard the DD at the FL Audio Expo in Vince’s room. I made arrangements to get one. Thanks, Vince.
The Reference DD was added to a Reference DAC. The differences were significant. The changes totally raise the level of the Reference. It takes the listener to a new level of the “you are there” sense. The presence of a vocalist, horn player or violin can be sensed as in the room coming from such a black background on a larger, clearer soundstage, with a tonality devoid of a digital character. I prefer this new filter in the DD. It sounds right to me. I am enjoying more detail with deeper and better defined bass. I haven’t been able to stop listening.
No question the expense is significant. Fortunately, so is the improvement the DD brings to the DAC.

 

[Armsan]

I first heard the DD at the FL Audio Expo in Vince’s room. I made arrangements to get one. Thanks, Vince.
The Reference DD was added to a Reference DAC. The differences were significant. The changes totally raise the level of the Reference. It takes the listener to a new level of the “you are there” sense. The presence of a vocalist, horn player or violin can be sensed as in the room coming from such a black background on a larger, clearer soundstage, with a tonality devoid of a digital character. I prefer this new filter in the DD. It sounds right to me. I am enjoying more detail with deeper and better defined bass. I haven’t been able to stop listening.
No question the expense is significant. Fortunately, so is the improvement the DD brings to the DAC.

Thanks for sharing.
With which module have you reached this conclusions?

 

[Popspin]

Thanks for sharing.
With which module have you reached this conclusions?

Thanks for sharing.
With which module have you reached this conclusions?

USB. ProISL.
Listening briefly this morning. Wow! Stunning presence and natural tonality.

 

[tomas329]

USB. ProISL.
Listening briefly this morning. Wow! Stunning presence and natural tonality.

Hello,

What server/player are you or other digital director owners using to ply your music? I have the select director and i was finally able to do some comparative listening. When i originally compared my renderer to prousb module (pre DD) i thought the renderer was more detailed and softer in presentation while the prousb had better bass and spaciousness (not sure if thats the right word to describe what i heard). so i had been using the renderer for classical and some jazz and the prousb for rock and edm. after adding the digital director, both renderer and Proisl sound better but the renderer seems to have received greater enhancement. It feels like the renderer is now 2x as good vs the prousb is 1.5x. I still find the usb to have better sounding bass and spaciousness but it is much closer now and the detail in the renderer is just way better in my system.

Thus my original question, which servers are you guys using? I'm in the market and i'm not sure if i should go with a usb server or something with ethernet and i'm curious to hear impressions from people with something better than a roon nucleus.

Thanks

 

[CKKeung]

Hello,

What server/player are you or other digital director owners using to ply your music? I have the select director and i was finally able to do some comparative listening. When i originally compared my renderer to prousb module (pre DD) i thought the renderer was more detailed and softer in presentation while the prousb had better bass and spaciousness (not sure if thats the right word to describe what i heard). so i had been using the renderer for classical and some jazz and the prousb for rock and edm. after adding the digital director, both renderer and Proisl sound better but the renderer seems to have received greater enhancement. It feels like the renderer is now 2x as good vs the prousb is 1.5x. I still find the usb to have better sounding bass and spaciousness but it is much closer now and the detail in the renderer is just way better in my system.

Thus my original question, which servers are you guys using? I'm in the market and i'm not sure if i should go with a usb server or something with ethernet and i'm curious to hear impressions from people with something better than a roon nucleus.

Thanks

Hi Tomas,
The Taiko Audio Extreme Server is IMHO the best CAS server in the market.
I'm using it and so are many of my frds in Hong Kong.

MSB Select Digital Director and Westminster Lab upgrade dc cables : The throne of MSB Select DAC secured!

During the past 3+ years of pandemic, hi-end audio manufacturers have not stayed status quo. There are either new lines or new upgrades launched for their flagship models : CH Precision - C1.2 Upgrade. dCS - Apex Upgrade. Totaldac - the new series of Unity/Triunity/Sublime DACs. Lampizator - the...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[Armsan]

Hello,

What server/player are you or other digital director owners using to ply your music? I have the select director and i was finally able to do some comparative listening. When i originally compared my renderer to prousb module (pre DD) i thought the renderer was more detailed and softer in presentation while the prousb had better bass and spaciousness (not sure if thats the right word to describe what i heard). so i had been using the renderer for classical and some jazz and the prousb for rock and edm. after adding the digital director, both renderer and Proisl sound better but the renderer seems to have received greater enhancement. It feels like the renderer is now 2x as good vs the prousb is 1.5x. I still find the usb to have better sounding bass and spaciousness but it is much closer now and the detail in the renderer is just way better in my system.

Thus my original question, which servers are you guys using? I'm in the market and i'm not sure if i should go with a usb server or something with ethernet and i'm curious to hear impressions from people with something better than a roon nucleus.

Thanks

Taiko Extreme, Taiko USB card, netcard and switch.
MSB in collaboration with Taiko will in near future develop a daughter card for a new and different audio interface to connect with ProISL module. This will substitute the USB connection. More info at Taiko thread.

 

[CKKeung]

MSB in collaboration with Taiko will in near future develop a daughter card for a new and different audio interface to connect with ProISL module. This will substitute the USB connection. More info at Taiko thread.

https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/TACDA-TACDD-DAC-Interface-Summary_v21.pdf

 

[Young Skywalker]

Hi Tomas,

I am streaming from a lowly Roon Nucleus Plus over my home network (using a centrally located commercial grade router and switch in a data rack via cat6 copper cabling) to the Renderer module in a Reference Digital Director.

Do I find anything objectionable about the sonic presentation on any music, audiophile or otherwise? Absolutely not, my digital is as enjoyable as my serious vinyl setup.

Can it be even better with a dedicated music server like the Taiko or Pink Faun? Possibly. Can I afford to find out? No, not in the foreseeable future. Can I rationalise how it could be better, to the extent that justifies spending around 43,000 Australian dollars? Absolutely not, unless the Digital Director provides less than absolute immunity from noise transmission and/or these fancy music servers are applying some (sonically pleasing) processing, i.e., they are no longer bit perfect. Am I losing any sleep over this? No, life is short and I want to spend more time enjoying what I have.

As I have matured I have learned that there is no absolute/objective “what’s best” in the highly subjective arena that is hi-fi music playback. There is however, a “what’s best” for me, as difficult as it is for an otherwise insatiable perfectionist to admit.