To top it all off, I listen to one of my favorite LPs via the Cascade. To do this, I connected the turntable to Einstein's The Turntable's Choice and this to the XLR inputs of the DAC. Zakir Hussain's album Making Music is on the platter of the LaGrange. Even if I now listen to the title track instead of "Anisa", which I usually choose, the Cascade's preamp captivates me with a dynamic and openness rarely heard before: It's great how powerfully and quickly the colorful sounds of the instruments unfold in the space created by Jan Eric Kongshaug. If you then switch from the MSB to the Quest, you swap a little openness for a roughly equal portion of warmth in the sound. I don't recognize any differences in quality, but rather marginal advantages, sometimes in the preamp, sometimes in the preamp section integrated into the DAC. The MSB makes it easy to do without a dedicated preamp. It's a pity that I don't own an MSB that I could trade in to make the Cascade system more affordable for me!
Listened with
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Drive | Brinkmann LaGrange with tube power supply |
Tone arm | Einstein The Tonearm 9" |
Pickup | Transrotor Tamino |
Phono stage | Einstein The Turntable‘s Choice (sym) |
NAS | Melco N1Z/2EX-H60 with external Audiaz linear power supply unit |
Streamer | Auralic Aries G2.2 |
Up-Sampler | Chord Electronics M-Scaler with Ferrum Hypsos |
D/A converter | DAVE with linear power supply |
LAN switch | Ansuz PowerSwitch D-TC Gold Signature, SOtM sNH-10G |
10-MHz-Clock | SOtM sCLK-OCX10 |
Preamp | WestminsterLab Quest, darTZeel NHB-18NS |
Poweramp | Einstein The Poweramp, darTZeel -108 |
Loudspeaker | Børresen 05 SSE |
Cables | Goebel High End Lacorde Statement, Audioquest Dragon HC and Tornado (HC), Dragon XLR, Ansuz Speakz D-TC Supreme, Digitalz D-TC Gold Signature and Mainz D2 (2x), Rossaudio cable, SOtM dCBL-BNC75 |
Accessories | AHP Klangmodul IV G, Audioquest Niagara 5000 and 1200, Synergistic Research Active Ground Block SE, HMS wall sockets, Blockaudio C-Lock Lite, Acoustic System resonators, Artesania Audio Exoteryc, SSC Big Magic Base, Finite Elemente Carbofibre°-HD, Harmonix Room Tuning Disks, ADOT media converter (2x) with Keces P6 and SBooster MK II, single-mode duplex fiber optic cable, Ansuz Sparks, Darkz Z2S, various Sortz, PowerBox D-TC SUPREME, Thixar Silent Feet 20, Waversa WLAN Isolator EXT-1, Thixar Silent Feet 20, Waversa WLAN Isolator EXT-1, Thixar WLAN Isolator EXT-1, Thixar Silent Feet 20, Waversa WLAN Isolator EXT-1, Waversa WLAN Isolator EXT-1, Thixar WLAN Isolator EXT-1. Sortz, PowerBox D-TC SUPREME, Thixar Silent Feet 20, Waversa WLAN-Isolator-EXT-1 (2x) |
Manufacturer's Specifications
MSB Technology Cascade Digital Director
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Supported formats | 44.1kHz to 3,072kHz PCM up to 32 bit, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, DSD512, supports DSD via DoP on all inputs |
Digital inputs | 4x Extended slots for isolated input modules |
Power consumption | 24 W in operation, 17 W standby |
Warranty | 2 years standard + 3 additional years upon registration |
Dimensions (W/D/H) | 444.5/393.7/79.4mm |
Foot thread | M10x1,5 |
Weight | 13,7kg |
Accessories included | User manual, MSB remote control, USB-charging cable, IEC mains cable, 4x Cascade base |
Included input modules | Optical/Coaxial Module (S/Pdif) |
Optional input modules | USB2 module, XLR/AES-EBU module 192/24 and 1x DSD via DoP |
Manufacturer's Specifications
MSB Technology Cascade Converter
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XLR analog inputs | 50kΩ balanced, 6V maximum, isolated if not selected |
XLR analog outputs | 3.2V maximum (digital input), 6V maximum (analog input), 75Ω symmetrical |
Volume control | purely passive analog attenuation with constant impedance 1 dB steps |
Power consumption | (DAC + power supply unit) 78 W switched on, 0.48 W standby |
Warranty | years standard + 3 additional years upon registration |
Dimensions (W/D/H) | 444.5/393.7/79.4mm |
Foot thread | M10x1,5 |
Weight | 14,5kg |
Accessories included | 4x Cascade base |
Manufacturer's Specifications
MSB Technology Cascade Powerbase
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Power consumption | (DAC + power supply unit) 78 W switched on, 0.48 W standby |
Warranty | 2 years standard + 3 additional years upon registration |
Dimensions (W/D/H) | 444.5/393.7/79.4mm |
Foot thread | M10x1,5 |
Weight | 19.5 kg |
Accessories included | IEC power cable, Summit power cable, 4x Cascade base |
Prices | 109,000 euros (The Cascade DAC), 2,050 euros (renderer module), 1,040 euros each (USB2 module and XLR/AES EBU module) |
Vertrieb
HiFi2Die4
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Address | Austrasse 9 73575 Leinzell GERMANY |
Phone | +49 (0) 7175 909032 |
hifi2die4@gmx.de | |
Web | www.hifi2die4.de |