[IanB52]

still leaning mpd8....r2r dacs might be a little warm. nothing wrong with that tho.

I did have an MSB Discrete next to my EMM Labs DA2, and the EMM was the better DAC and more to my tastes personally. The Premier is probably more on par, but MSB is a warmer, chunkier, and "gooer" sound. The DSD DACs tend to be more fast and fluid, and smoother, but less warm. The DA2 was much more fast, detailed and spacious, but less rich. And the other DACs like DCS and Chord are sharper and brighter.

Still, I'd love to own an MSB DAC at least at the Premier level.

One thing to be mindful of with headphone amps is the DAC output voltage. My HM1+Susvara had a really hard time with MSB's 3.5v, does well with EMM Labs 7v, and LOVES my Mytek at 10v. On the other hand, some amps like Pathos Inpol Ear overload above 4v! So you do have to match these. I dont think MSB is hot enough for the HM1, but might be perfect for others.

 

[tdx]

still leaning mpd8....r2r dacs might be a little warm. nothing wrong with that tho.

You'd be (pleasantly) surprised by the MSB "R2R"-ness or lack thereof. I've had my fair share of R2R DACs and the Premier is the least R2R sounding DAC I've had. As a matter of fact it's more transparent and clear that a lot of non-R2R DACs out there.

 

[Whazzzup]

Well then )

 

[barbz127]

Has anyone had/heard the discrete and the premier and could comment on how they differ?

Currently running the discrete+dual PSU + proisl USB and curious about upgrading just to the premier power base or upgrading the to the premier dac as well

Thankyou

 

[chesebert]

Cascade looks pretty bad ass, and appears to be well executed and adhere to first principal engineering. You can probably get pretty close to Cascade if you add a ProISL digital input and add a separate digital hub with ProISL output. TBH, digital director makes way more sense than an external clock certain brands are peddling. IMO network to ProISL via digital director is the ideal setup for max dac performance.

 

[tdx]

Cascade looks pretty bad ass, and appears to be well executed and adhere to first principal engineering. You can probably get pretty close to Cascade if you add a ProISL digital input and add a separate digital hub with ProISL output. TBH, digital director makes way more sense than an external clock certain brands are peddling. IMO network to ProISL via digital director is the ideal setup for max dac performance.

Completely agree. I dont have the funds to get it right now but if I did, a Premier DAC + Digital Director combo would make me feel I'm not giving up on much versus the Cascade. of course the Cascade would sound better (for the price it better!) but the fundamental "music path philosophy" would be the same and have the same benefits IMO.

It's funny because when I was doing massive research for an endgame DAC in my budget the MSB didn't really register because of its cost. But then I realized something that made me change my perspective on it: all the other TOTL DACs in that price bracket wither need, or greatly benefit from, an external streamer, DDC, reclocker, server etc. And once you add those, plus the cost of powering them well, the price is actually very close or sometimes greater than the MSB DAC. Once I realized the Pro USB/Fiber connection pretty much negates the need for external sources, I decided to go for the MSB. Now I have it hooked up to my PC via Pro USB and couldn't be happier with the sonic results. Well, i could be happier if I got the Digital Director, so maybe one day...