MSB select II vs all dacs ?

David,

oh yes, loved those Found Music 2a3 amps. too bad i did not have the right speakers for them. still on my short list of favorite amps. congrats on owning those. a local friend, member jazdoc, has a 40+ watt set of Found Music mono block amps i do get to hear on a regular basis, and they always sound superb.

i’ll see Scott Sheaffer (Found Music builder/designer) next week. he is almost done with a new DIN cable for my new Durand Tosca tone arm. can’t wait to hear it in the system......and see Scott.

This is a dealers email comment to me about comparisons he did. So take it for what it is. He liked the Mola Mola Tambaqui over these others listed below.

$90K+ MSB, dCS Vivaldi, Playback Design, Lampizator, D1 Esoteric, Mytek, Berkeley, Aqua , Weiss and a few more I am sure I am forgetting of course PS AUDIO and Auralic Vega

Mike, Scott has been absolutely wonderful in his support, despite my purchasing the Found-Music 2A3s used (from Art S.)  He has visited once and is planning another visit after the trip your way.

For those of you that may not know Scott Sheaffer of Found-Music, or his work, I encourage you to look him up should you have an interest in analog setup, cabling, SE amps, etc.

@mikelavigne --MIke, I thought I saw that you had an Aqua Formula xHD DAC at one point in your system. Am I remembering that correctly? And if so, how did you think it held up in your system?

@astewart8944--two years ago in Feb of 17’ i did audition the original Formula dac in my system directly compared to the Lampizator GG 1.5 and the Nagra HD and preferred the Formula for it’s greater space, lower noise, and more neutral and fast presentation. it just complimented my system better than those other two.

at that point i owned the GG1.5, and expected to buy the Nagra HD. but the Formula (one of the first to be imported into the North America), surprised me. i owned that Formula until that June, when i finally gave in to my ears and acquired the Select II.

i could easily live with that Formula dac and still consider it a ’giant-killer’ if a $14k list price dac can be considered a bargain. it did everything right to my ears and i found nothing that bothered me. coming from the GG1.5, and having the Nagra HD there too, the Formula stayed on the natural side of the neutrality line, but never sounded colored......or veiled.

i never did hear the Formula xHD version in my system. my understanding is that the xHD version is a bit less transparent, and more toward ’lush’. for my system, that might not be how i would like it. but i’m just speculating,