Anyone have experience with MSB Technology products compared to dCS?

A few years ago I happened to compare MSB Select II to a DCS flagship (Scarlatti?) -- i.e. not the models you are looking into. For what it's worth, I went with the Select and it was, subjectively, an easy choice. Not bashing the excellent DCS, I just liked the other one better.

Lower on the food chain, but I have a dCS Bartok and MSB Analog DAC. Comparing house sounds, they are both really great but different. I’ve heard the Vivaldi One + clock and used to have a Network Bridge + Paganini DAC. There is a common house sound. Haven’t heard the newer MSB stuff. I find dCS to sound more like live music and a little more detailed and dynamic, but MSB more cohesive and analog sounding (it’s in the name of my particular DAC, afterall). I find my listening habits with dCS are more analytical, picking out the sounds of individual performers, whereas with MSB I tend to get more lost in the music.

If you have a decent set of headphones I recommend checking out Jay’s Audio Lab MSB Reference vs. dCS Rossini shootout on Youtube to get some idea of their respective sound characteristics.

If you decide to go MSB, I just posted a Network Renderer module for sale here on Audiogon. I was going to look at getting a Discrete DAC to pit against the Bartok, but ultimately decided I’d like having some variety and I like the streaming options with dCS better. MSB doesn’t seem to care to support streaming services aside from Roon, but dCS updates its Mosaic platform occasionally. For example, in the last couple of months they added support for Tidal Connect. I like that business model and think it’s really important when it comes to streaming.

I have compared the MSB Select II and DCS full Vivaldi stack in the same system (~$600K), and preferred MSB by a long shot. I forgot to take notes and evaluate the sound when the MSB was playing, just got lost in the music. It was tonally rich, yet really detailed and insightful. Playing the same songs on the DCS system was analytical, more artificial, less natural, less analog. Half way through the songs I would just want to switch back to the MSB. It was the difference between hearing a performance and hearing hifi if that makes sense. Also heard the MSB Discrete vs. Bartok, similar results.

@divertiti Great Feedback!  Curious how you have your MSB connected to your system.  I was told in order to connect I would need to get something like an Aurender N10.  Thanks!

Woots

@woots, A decision to purchase a DAC at this price range requires research, many conversations, auditions, and more auditions.  I auditioned several DAC ‘s and decided, for me, I liked the sound of the MSB Premier ladder R2R DAC and the supporting implementation.   Yes, I made mistakes during the way but learned valuable lessons.  I wanted a USA company that supported their products with excellent customer support.  

I own the MSB Premier DAC, Premier Powerbase and Femto 93 clock and like it very much. The addition of this DAC substantially improved my audio system sound quality.  The Premier has four prime R2R DAC’s, 2 per side, a separate power supply and many other features. The Premier Powerbase offers two dual-link power connectors, supplying four isolated power supplies.  “MSB brochure say they use no off-the-shelf DAC chips, but instead makes their own converters.  Each of the four Prime DACs at the heart of the Premier is a fully balanced, discrete, ladder DAC.   MSB’s ladder DACs use precision-reconfigurable networks of resistors and switches to precisely convert your digital files into music”.

The MSB DAC connects to my Aurender N20 server using the Femto 93 clock to control the data transfer.  I use the Analysis Plus Digital Crystal cable for the word transfer, so my DAC controls the data transfer from my Aurender Music Server.  This word transfer from the DAC to my Aurender improves the sound quality.  

I also experimented with an USB and AES/EBU connections for 2 weeks.  After lots of switching back and forth, I prefer the AES/EBU connection.  This is the only option on my MSB DAC.  MSB offers several other options that you need to review and discuss with your retailer.  

The addition of the MSB Premier DAC substantially improved the sound quality of my audio system.  To my ears, everything sounds truly outstanding.  The music is clearer, less dark, better bass and sounds more like music.   I hope this helps.