I've recently auditioned the MSB DAC DAC IV signature and found it pretty amazing in its analog and musical presentation, which was clearly superior to my dCS Puccini. I'm wondering if some of you have compared the more expensive dCS set, the paganini to MSB DAC IV.
I've tried adding the U clock to the Puccini, and it sounded better in a subtle way. I still think the DAV IV is significantly better. Next step is to try the Paganini.
From the latest issue of Hi-Fi Choice, a British publication, the Paganini stack of transport, DAC, upsampler and Master clock won a most enthusiastic review. It is very unlikely you would go wrong with the Paganini. Have fun!
I've auditioned the Paganini DAC and transport today, using the U clock. It is a wonderful set, much better than the Puccini. It plays SACD like no other. However, in redbook CDs the DAC IV was more musical. Hard choices !!!
I am very curious about the performance of MSB 4. The upgradeability sure is a big appeal for MSB. I am considering to get at the signature level but with diamond power supply and volume control. And then upgrade to Diamond chips when funds permit. It will be my first foray to high end DAC. Hope to get more inputs from other MSB users.
I would not recommend the volume control. Although it is pretty good, at that level of performance, a seperate preamplifier sounded better in my system, and actually I felt that the DAC IV without the volume option sounded better compared to the bypass mode.
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