I'll try to even out the count here. So far, it looks like MSB is winning : )
Honestly though, i would go for a REASONABLY priced DAC at this point in time. With that in mind, i prefer the CAL Alpha or Sigma over the MSB's. While it is a matter of personal taste / system synergy, i really don't think that there is much competition between the two. Keep in mind that i'm talking about STOCK unmodified units and not "hand tweaked" units.
If you wanted to get into the expense of buying a mass produced unit and then tweaking it, why not just start with a unit that was "tweaked" from the ground up like an EVS Millennium II ??? It offers all of the resolution of a SS DAC with the liquidity and smoothness of tubes. On top of this, it upsamples and has the switch selectable option of phase reversal.
Most of the other DAC's at this price point are using chips that cost less than $5 apiece ( including the MSB ) whereas the ones that Ric uses cost appr $25 each. Quite honestly, Ric has well over $500 in raw parts in this unit, so i have NO idea how he can cover all of the labor involved in building these units one by one AND offer a money back guarantee. At $1050 with a 30 day trial period, i can't see anything else coming close for redbook. In a direct comparison, it blew my Alpha clean out of the water..... Sean
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Honestly though, i would go for a REASONABLY priced DAC at this point in time. With that in mind, i prefer the CAL Alpha or Sigma over the MSB's. While it is a matter of personal taste / system synergy, i really don't think that there is much competition between the two. Keep in mind that i'm talking about STOCK unmodified units and not "hand tweaked" units.
If you wanted to get into the expense of buying a mass produced unit and then tweaking it, why not just start with a unit that was "tweaked" from the ground up like an EVS Millennium II ??? It offers all of the resolution of a SS DAC with the liquidity and smoothness of tubes. On top of this, it upsamples and has the switch selectable option of phase reversal.
Most of the other DAC's at this price point are using chips that cost less than $5 apiece ( including the MSB ) whereas the ones that Ric uses cost appr $25 each. Quite honestly, Ric has well over $500 in raw parts in this unit, so i have NO idea how he can cover all of the labor involved in building these units one by one AND offer a money back guarantee. At $1050 with a 30 day trial period, i can't see anything else coming close for redbook. In a direct comparison, it blew my Alpha clean out of the water..... Sean
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