Beautiful DACs

[VintageFlanker]

You can even (just barely) make out the brand name top left of the front panel to narrow the search.

Someone that would "just barely" be able to distinguish the brand name would need new glasses ASAP...

Joke aside, being unable to Google it is a lot more questioning.

 

[granosalis]

No doubt:

 

[jae]

I would buy this if it measured better:

CMA Fifteen - Questyle

CMA Fifteen Flagship DAC / Headphone Amplifier Wondering where you can get CMA Fifteen? Contact us Concept Evolution never stops. We as humans have never stopped questing, and neither should a true flagship device. With an outstanding performance level, and all the ingredients for a new...

www.questyle.com

 

[Goodsound]

Msb DAC are the most beautiful ones for my taste. But as far as I know all them have very large amount of intermodulation distortion. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there are no high-quality reliable measurements for them, such as thd on small signals, imd depending on the signal level, etc.

What are the sources for your claim? Do you really think MSB could be selling their gear between $ 15K and 100K and offering bad measurements? They would have been pretty soon out of business if that was true (I guess).

 

[xaviescacs]

What are the sources for your claim? Do you really think MSB could be selling their gear between $ 15K and 100K and offering bad measurements? They would have been pretty soon out of business if that was true.

I don't see any performance measurement on their website. Other "high-end" companies publish measurements (dCs, Soulution, Esoteric, Luxman,...), so it's a bit odd indeed.

 

[Music1969]

I love the look of MSB stuff. Very Apple like.

If you're a Windoze/Linux person I imagine you'll hate it LOL

 

[FrantzM]

What are the sources for your claim? Do you really think MSB could be selling their gear between $ 15K and 100K and offering bad measurements? They would have been pretty soon out of business if that was true.

It could well be true but that hasn't stopped or caused many HEA companies to sell products whose performances are borderline bad. We have the case here of the TotalDAC at $15,000.oo whose performance is bettered by the Apple dongle at $9.95....
On the side of amplifiers, I know O.T, we have the various SET amplifers who can barely hit 30 watts while producing 10% THD (yes) and cost $130,000.oo or my favorite of all times, a Wavac amplifier costing.... (pause for dramatic effect )... ... ... in the neighborhood of $400,000.oo (NO TYPO) and whose measurements read like an horror novel..

Please, click here to be entertained.

Peace.

 

[JSmith]

The DCS Bartok looks great... just not $20K great;

JSmith

 

[Goodsound]

It could well be true but that hasn't stopped or caused many HEA to sell products whose performance is borderline bad. We have the case here of the TotalDAC at $15,000.oo whose performance is bettered by the Apple dongle at $9.95....
On the side of amplifiers, I know O.T, we have the various SET amplifers who can barely hit 30 watts while producing 10% THD (yes) and cost $130,000.oo or my favorite of all times, a Wavac amplifier costing.... (pause for dramatic effect )... ... ... in the neighborhood of $400,000.oo (NO TYPO) and whose measurements read like an horror novel..

Please, click here to be entertained.

Peace.

Interesting read, thanks.
Here is my pick of a beautiful DAC (a streaming one, if you allow this stretch): Linn Klimax DSM (Organik)

 

[Damned]

so just for fun right. To me this design has always been one the best, it's shouting high end audio in a classy way, the switzerland way

 

[threni]

What are the sources for your claim? Do you really think MSB could be selling their gear between $ 15K and 100K and offering bad measurements? They would have been pretty soon out of business if that was true (I guess).

Guess again. And welcome to ASR!

 

[threni]

so just for fun right. To me this design has always been one the best, it's shouting high end audio in a classy way, the switzerland way

My washing machine never gives me that error!

 

[staticV3]

What are the sources for your claim? Do you really think MSB could be selling their gear between $ 15K and 100K and offering bad measurements?

Here's a scatter plot of power amplifiers, with their price in USD on the x-axis and their SINAD at 5W 4Ω on the y-axis:

Here's the accompanying spreadsheet with all the data, curated by ASR member Matias:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZlTOYxmPs938gqHjtDABkWS-MApu7uJjzIGnJ2Elm6Y/edit?usp=sharing

Do you see a correlation between price and performance? (because I don't)

Unfortunately I don't have such a graph for DACs, but spend some time reading reviews here and on L7Audiolab, and you'll find that it the graph would look just as chaotic as the one above.

Sadly, boutique manufacturers don't need well performing gear to find customers willing to pay $10-100K for it. They just need to have a good story and lack of conscience.

 

[JSmith]

What are the sources for your claim?

MSB DACs measurements

I wonder if @amirm 's test would confirm these impressive numbers that MSB has once shared about its R2R DACs. Comments?

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

 

[Martin]

Resolution Audio Cantata DAC:

Martin

 

[sjeesjie]

Resolution Audio Cantata DAC:

Martin

Ooh I really like this one! I like it a lot!

 

[FrantzM]

MSB DACs measurements

I wonder if @amirm 's test would confirm these impressive numbers that MSB has once shared about its R2R DACs. Comments?

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

Ouch!

 

[paddycrow]

so just for fun right. To me this design has always been one the best, it's shouting high end audio in a classy way, the switzerland way

$$$$!

 

[AlmaAtaKZ]

 

[AlmaAtaKZ]