The Reference DAC
Establishing an industry reference for digital playback.
Four Hybrid DACs.
With four Hybrid DACs, the Reference DAC produces an unmatched level of detail. It reproduces the musicality, soundstage, and texture of the 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.
Femto 33 clock.
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.
A display for the listening chair.
Equipped with high-visibility and a wide viewing angle, the display is both easy-to-read and stunning. This attention to detail exhibits our love for functional and 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 enclosed into its own shielded CNC pocket for optimal isolation. Sit back and be immersed.
The Reference Powerbase
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.
Headphones on the highest level.
With careful consideration of the signal path, we are able to design bespoke amplifiers that leverage our DACs ultra-low-noise outputs. Built entirely in-house, our headphone amplifiers easily outperform other amps that are built for universal applications. Similarly, we have dedicated output architecture for electrostatic and dynamic headphones to provide the best listening experience possible. An integrated bypass allows you to easily switch between your two channel system and headphones without moving cables.
Completely modular.
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.
CNC billet chassis.
Starting with an 65lb plate of ‘Kaiser Select Precision Plate’, material is machined in our own in-house CNC shop. After more than four hours of machining, 60% of the aluminum is removed, resulting in a 18lb finished product. The integration of our CNC shop allows for design optimization to create the best possible product. We use the high quality premium ‘Select’ metal, giving us the best anodized finishes on the market.
