MSB Technology Premier DAC
REFERENCE AUDIO – WITHAM ESSEX
BOB’s Review Series - No 46 – MSB Technology Premier DAC
Introduction – I guess it’s fair to say that I like MSB products as this is the fourth item I’ve reviewed and the third DAC as I work my way through their current line-up. The Premier is the second one up the ladder in their range of DACs sitting above the Discrete DAC (Review No 3) and below the Reference DAC (Review No 38), but at the summit of their range sits the Select DAC a six-figure investment so a review will have to wait for another time. The Premier DAC is a two-box unit with an entry retail price of £26,200 but as is usual with MSB DACs it is designed around modular inputs enabling an owner to specify the units they want installed at the time of purchase or later as their system grows or technology changes. This means that owning an MSB DAC is a futureproof investment. The review sample came with two modules additional to the standard unit, the Renderer and USB input modules taking its price up to £29,290.
MSB Technology products are designed and manufactured in the American Silicon Valley and all use variations of their in-house designed Discrete Ladder DAC Technology based on their Prime and Hybrid DAC Modules operating in fully balanced mode. The Premier DAC using four of these Prime Modules. MSB stands for ‘Most Significant Bit’ and they have been making Ladder DACs since 1999. Well executed Ladder DACs are expensive to design and manufacture, hence the high entry level price for an MSB DAC.
Technology – Not so long ago the entry price point for the Premier DAC was around £19,800 but at that time (a year or two ago) the Premier Powerbase PSU was an optional extra with a price of £7,500 as was the Femto 93 Clock at £4,150 but both now come as standard. With the entry price now increased to £26,200 it offers a saving of more than £5,000 over earlier options built to this spec. as noted above the review unit came with an added Renderer and Standard USB modules taking the price up to £29,290. When ordering this DAC a customer can specify if they want single ended RCA or balanced XLR outputs and it comes as standard with one AES/EBU, two Toslink and a single RCA Coax input. The Premier DAC supports data at 44.1 to 3,072 kHz and up to 32 bits. This is available on Toslink optical up to 96kHz and on Coax up to 192kHz but this is normal for most DACs as these connections don’t allow for higher data rates. The standard USB input goes to 768kHz and 24 bits whereas the Render increases this to 768kHz and 32 bits. It supports MQA x 8 to 352.8kHz and DSD x 8.
To understand where the Premier DAC fits within the MSB range here is a short comparison:
DAC | DAC Modules | Clock | PSU |
Discrete | 2 Prime | On Board Clock | 1 Discrete PSU |
Premier | 4 Prime | Femto 93 | 1 Premier Power base |
Reference | 4 Hybrid | Femto 33 | 1 Reference Power Base |
Select | 8 Hybrid | Femto 33 | 2 Select Power Bases |
All MSB DACs are Roon Endpoints which means they work fully with Roon providing they can see a Roon Core somewhere else on the same network. This could be on a computer or a Roon Nucleus or in my case the Innuos Statement running in Roon Core mode.
MSB also make an upgraded optical USB input called the Pro ISL interface comprising a glass fibre optical module and a Pro USB Input device that converts a standard USB feed into an optical feed that gives 100% electrical isolation. Together they cost £2,080 and I can testify to their astounding capability having used them when reviewing the Reference DAC, unfortunately they weren’t available for this review.
System Components used in this Review:
Pre Amp: Gryphon Essence
Power Amp: Gryphon Essence
Streamer: Innuos Statement
Compact Disc: Shanling SCD-T200 CD Player
Music Streaming: Tidal, Qobuz, Roon
DAC: PS Audio Direct Stream DAC
Analogue Sources: Sansui TU-719 Tuner
Speakers: Marten Mingus Quintet
Cables: Jorma Cables throughout
Performance – Effortless, open, detailed and with a richness of tone is probably the best way I can describe this DAC. Recently I’ve been playing the ‘Barton Hollow’ album by The Civil Wars quite a bit and I know what to expect when listening on CD or streaming and right away the MSB Premier DAC showed its skill set with a rewarding experience better than most other DACs I’ve heard recently. This album has great vocals and a dynamic sound that the Premier DAC resolved by bringing out all the nuances and detail but without showing any reticence giving a relaxed yet fully engaging sound.
Having recent experience of the Reference DAC I know how good it can sound and how it seems to enhance the performance of other components in a system. But the Premier DAC is no slouch and it may just be the sweet spot in the MSB catalogue bringing great sound without the stratospheric costs involved in going further up the range.
It has an organic presentation showing just how much these expensive modern DACs have closed the gap between digital and analogue replay to the point where differences are now academic and down to personal taste only. This hold true whatever the source whether it be streamed or from a CD transport and the Premier DAC was never anything less than fully engaging. Who would have thought that red-book CD had so much still to offer 40 years after it first surfaced?
The Stockfish record label always seems to release high quality well recorded albums full of detail without overuse of compression and when listening to James Taylor’s album ‘All is One’ (44.1kHz – 24-bit download) via the Premier DAC his distinctive vocals and the backing band were very much in the room with me. DACs at this price point do seem to have much more to offer.
I’ve been listening to Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ from the day it was released when I was a student back in 1979 and since then I must have played it more than a thousand times, so I know how it sounds and as my system has changed and improved over all those years, the album just gets better and better. At the end of the track ‘Another Brick in the Wall Pt2’ and before the start of ‘Mother’, Roger Waters takes in and lets out a deep breath and the Premier DAC made it possible to almost feel his breath in the room. Only listening via Martin Logan CLS speakers many years ago did it sound better; I remember the plant behind those speakers moving in the breeze. I ended my listening session with the Premier DAC by listening to ‘Eye in The Sky’ by Alan Parsons also from 40 years ago and this is another album that gets better with better replay equipment and the MSB Premier DAC gave it more life and depth than I’ve heard before seemingly darker, more vibrant and lush. The brightness or brittleness of some of these early Parson’s albums was tamed better by the premier DAC than by most other I have heard.
Conclusion – The modular construction and updateable firmware of all MSB DACs means that they won’t become obsolete any time soon and it also means that an owner can add or change input modules themselves in just a couple of minutes. Before serious listening its good to let the Premier DAC warm up for a couple of hours as in standby mode it is effectively turned off, probably best to leave it powered up as I did whilst it was in my system.
Not quite the match of the MSB Reference DAC but getting very close and at around half the price it should definitely be on your shortlist if you are in the market for a DAC around £20k - £30k. I loved it.
Bob – Team Reference Audio