MSB Reference DAC

With four Hybrid DACs, we yield an unmatched level of detail, reproducing the musicality, soundstage, and texture of an original performance, bringing the artist to you. A fully balanced, ultra-high precision, discrete ladder DAC architecture ensures each note tells a story. Additionally, MSB’s robust in-house design enables the finest quality playback of PCM and native DSD, while our low impedance circuitry drives your amplification directly without adding coloration or buffering noise. The end result is a digital experience defying expectations.

Our clock module architecture is built with the customer in mind—we’ve made the clock module user-upgradable, ensuring future updates are simple and streamlined. Each Reference DAC comes with the our most advanced Femto 33 Clock featuring a custom oven controlled dual crystal design. Equipped with high-visibility and a wide viewing angle, the display is both easy-to-read and stunning, exhibiting our love for intuitive features.

 The LED display, slaved to the audio clock, is refreshed between data processing to drastically reduce electrical interference. The in-house discrete design is then constructed into its own shielded CNC pocket for optimal isolation. Sit back and be immersed.

You can’t underestimate the importance of a clean power supply. A re-imagined design paired with the DAC reduces the noise floor even further. We’ve equipped the DAC with a single supply for the digital side of the DAC, along with an isolated supply for the analog side, yielding an unprecedented level of performance. Paired with performance increases, our modular design ethos increases flexibility for future updates and product support, guaranteeing a long-term product investment.

As you pursue higher levels of playback, an MSB upgrade path is always available to help drive your own desire for innovation. Whether it’s a software update or a leading-edge modular component, we’re here to help the most valued aspect of MSB—our customers.

Preamp Output Stage:

(Standard for the Reference DAC and the Select DAC)

When our advanced constant impedance preamp stage is used, the volume level is completely controlled with passive components, without the aid of any digital volume control. The D/As convert at full level while the preamp stage reduces the output in addition to maintaining a constant output impedance. This technology is utilized without the use of any active circuitry in the DACs output. It’s our philosophy that the best thing you can do to analog audio is nothing. A preamp should be as neutral as possible and should not color the sound in any way. When our Preamp module is used, you get the full quality of the DAC without anything added or removed. The output is pure.

Analog Expansion Modules

Analog expansion modules are only an option for Preamp output modules that are available for the Select and Reference series. Analog expansion modules allow you to add additional analog inputs and isolated subwoofer outputs.