Review: RidgeStreet Audio MSE Gen.II Digital Link Interconnect

I agree with your description. I too own this digital link and it is one of my two favorites. The other cable that I use is Ridge Street Audio balance digital link. The balanced and single ended digital cables made by RSA reign supreme within their category in my opinion. I base this claim on the fact that I have lived with Marigo, Nordost Moonglow, Illuminati D-60 and Orchid, Kharma, LAT International, Goldmund, I2 Digital, Audience to name the ones that stick in my mind. These were used in various combinations with Dodson, Meitner, Camelot and (2) AudioLogic DACs. Transports used were Museatex, Parasound 2000, CEC TL-2 and CEC TL-1X. The inherently different topologies of the single-ended and balanced designs gives each a unique presentation but they both can be "correct" and very pleasing musically. Some recordings, because of the recording style used, may sound better with the one cable topology over the other but either RSA design is way ahead of the competition and are my reference digital cables.

Thank You! Lak for investing your time and energy. I don’t know what to say except I am so appreciative of Lak, audiojerry, Beezer, Lonewolf42ny, satfrat, 4yanx, “M” and others and phsycicanimal who really was a catalyst in people taking a chance with us. I’m glad our efforts have contributed so positively to your music listening enjoyment.

Just to sidetrack here for a moment, a good point was brought up in another forum and thread I would like to further clarify. Lak would seem to be the only true RSAD cult follower who continually, on what seems to be a regular basis, spills ink on our products in a formal manner (BTW, others are invited to do so also). Lak is afforded the opportunity for several reasons. First, he really enjoys doing mini reviews and I like to accommodate him. Secondly, he’s acquired a pretty broad scope of products and their performance by exposing himself to different gear from different cryo’d outlets, to system racks, to electronic gear, cabling, tweaks and probably anything else I may be missing. Thirdly, regardless where you put the pedigree of his system(s), he has an excellent handle on its strengths and weakness’ and he understands his own listening filters and biases. All these things make up for pretty honest evaluations IMO. To make sure, Lak is not my “patsy” and I have no guarantee that just because he has one of our products to evaluate he’s going to automatically take favor to it. I hold my breath anytime I know somebody is going to evaluate one of our products and report on it. Neither do I inappropriately trade any kind of favors for positive comments. As Ridge Street Audio Designs has predominantly enjoyed win / win, audition / commentary situations, I’ve done nothing to minimize the risk involved save for making good product just as I do when a client makes a purchase.

On to the MSE Gen.II Digital Link. It is a very special cable that I am quite proud of. Hell, I’m proud of all our stuff but a digital cable is very easy to get wrong and requires more effort comparatively in our approach to cabling. As with all our cables, my premise of neutrality and transparency took precedence with what we wanted to accomplish, and we feel we’ve met those criteria. Elements we considered important to realize our goals were no self-induced artifacts that introduced timing faults and storage affects, for example. It’s our opinion that this digital cable is about as “wide open” as you’ll get and it can be mesmerizing…and I’m an analog fan!

Other than that, I think Lak’s comments nailed it. I would only add this; this cable offers more than an intellectual exercise in listening to music digitally. If the transport, DAC and the rest of the system, and if the recording has captured it, the emotional impact the music can communicate can be experienced full throttle. I don’t think this is a commonly experienced attribute of digital playback. BTW, the MSE Gen.II Digital cable is available in a single ended and true balanced version. They are both wonderful and I would encourage you to give us a listen!
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Kind Regards,
Robert

Deano,
It's nice to read comments from someone such as yourself that has owned more high end audio equipment, interconnects, tweaks, etc. than most of us that can only dream of. My point being you have had the opportunity to hear, audition and own some really great sounding gear and my findings coincide with your thoughts.

Robert,
Thanks for your kind words, as the creator you have every right to be proud.