astrostar59

Dude, I haven't sunken to your level of retarded language and generally neanderthal behaviour. I said I wouldn't join the bully club. I have no fucking interest in it. I saw it at school, in night clubs with piss heads, I avoid violence and walk away from moronic behaviour. You obviously can't take any examination in your direction. If you remember you slung a public post at me saying the 'fucktard uses tubes to make his 009s sound good' No reason for that attack (with no logic). I PM'd you politely explaining to you that tubes in a decently designed DAC are not designed in as tone controls (as you are trying to say as a fact). Lets see, why do some top DACs use tubes? How many top pre-amplifiers also use tubes as regulated power supply and / or gain stage. I wonder why the T2 and the BHSE uses tubes in the gain stages or part of the gain stage? Are these designs garbage in your eyes? Clearly when I explained this to you in a shorter and more polite manner, you couldn't take it. So you blow off on one. I obviously had to respond. I sent you that review of your DAC, hoping you may see a bright sounding DAC would naturally make the 009s sound bright to you. The 007s are more forgiving IMO, better for your system I would suggest. You didn't like this. So here we are, you swearing in front of your mates for support. Lets kick the fuckers head in guys. Fucking wanker, fucking fascist cunt. Yeah kill him. This forum has some interesting things on it, but I don't join in the bully swearing club and daily character assassinations that seem to surround the positives. It seems to have got worse over the last 12 months. There are too many on here that ruin what could be a great forum of positives about this hobby. Yeah, I get the welcome intro, yes, be passionate, but cyber bullying and ridiculous language over a sound system. It isn't about religion or ISIS, it is about this amp or headphone sounds good, this amp works like that. Sharing DIY skills. Jeeze, WTF? How many times have I seen the word 'retard' on here. I may inform you I have a cousin who had brain damage in a car accident, and he got called a retard at college. I hate that, just like I hate any kind of hate. I won't hate you, I leave and pretend you don't exist, then the loop of hate ends. There, I am done. I put the photo in for some humour as someone said no humour. But I am not feeling funny. To those (many) who post great information on here (you know who you are) chill, I am not talking to you. I am talking to the idiots who troll, attack, cyber bully and swear, generally exhibit irrational and aggressive behaviour and go off topic so much to swear and basically assassinate anyone they see as not in 'the club'. so act like a neanderthal. Since when is that a good behaviour in an audio forum for enthusiasts? And when was it a great thing to be 'proud" of. The opportunity to display aggression and bad language remotely is in my mind cyber bullying. It is something to remove from the modern world, not encourage.

If you recall correctly I was telling you that a Tubed DAC does not necessarily mean treble loss or a tone control fix for the 009 as you were claiming it was. As you may know the Meridian Director DAC is recognised as a 'bright DAC' and in combo with your 717 amp which I used to own, will give a tipped up treble balance. Possibly why you prefer the 007s?

I don't join the bullshit club either. You however seem to be putting yourself up for top technical bod, the one who decides who is a looser, who knows how much about equipment, indeed who gets the personal attacks and assignations. It is termed 'cyber bullying' I believe if it is taken out of context of the subject (hifi discussions). As I said, I put emphasis on comparison by contrast. I use my ears. Many here know the technicalities of good design as well, that is why I like to read here. I don't say I have such knowledge, but I know what I hear, and Kevin's KGSShv and Carbon designs are superb sounding amplifiers. I have had the delight to have owned such amplifiers for 4 years, and before that 20 years of Stax amps and various headphones. So I don't see myself as a newbie as such. Rather an oldie with IMO decent ears. I haven't built an Electrostatic amp but I have built a tubed pre-amplifier, and 3 x tubed DACs. I enjoyed that experience immensely.

Wow, a lot of time to write that. Impressed. Hmm, I post about stuff I have either owned, or heard. I don't say anything is garbage unless I hear it first. I understand there are others more knowledgable in technical matters who can do that. Respect. But I post as an audiophile who likes decent sounding gear. Simple. I don't join in the bully club. Now if you enjoy that sort of thing, maybe you need help.

You heard the Lampizator Golden Gate? Thought not. Come on this forum is supposed to avoid the review without hearing thing that HF gets accused of 100% of the time. I see folk over there who comment on gear they actually own, same on here. But I ignore ones that say stuff and haven't heard it. Ok MSB amp is a freak as the price is insane, so up for flack.

Hi Kevin I don't know all the technicalities. But looking at a good tubed pre-amplifier design, a tube regulated power supply and tube line stage can sound very good I found. Some very nice pre-amps with this topology. I may be wrong, but I am thinking a DAC is basically a pre-amp with a digital board (hugely simplified analogy). Lampizator use tubed regulated PS and output for example. The Golden Gate sounds very good. I am not saying tubed DACs are better, only can sound great as does solid state.

What are you basing this opinion on? On a top amp and good DAC the 009 is SO good it is untrue IMO.

Oh my, tubes sound so bad they are used in the T2 and BHSE. Not accurate at all then?

Respect for posting. It sounds plausible to me, but I don't know the technicals so over to others for that. Anyway, least MSB are supplying more details.

Was that Tyll? If it was I agree. Sorry, it wasn't Tyll apologies.

Interesting. I heard about the KGSShv on here. I then heard it in real life then bought 2. Then I heard about the carbon version one here too. Then bought one. So I do value the knowledge from you guys. And I agree 100% any unbiased and knowledgable insight on this MSB amp design is going to come from this forum for sure. Maybe 'reviews' from others who get to hear it might be somewhere else. How useful they are is up for debate for sure.

Err no, saying if the guy owns the Abyss and Utopia and just bought the 009s with his hard earned he 'may' or should be able to form an opinion he can share, that is what folk do on forums. If I owned all 3 I would do just that. Better opinion than guessing or a short demo at a show perhaps? However, if that is not the case then WTF is the point in any of this??????? I am also curious how the Abyss and Utopia shape up to the 009s (different subject I realise).

No, I am saying they are saying that (MSB) by charging so much over and above everything else sold to date both commercially and DIY. I am saying I am interested in any review on the amp. I am hoping iSquirrel it an honest opinion. He has the Utopia and Abyss in the house, so maybe will be ok for a review? I don't trust magazines, but I do trust some posts on here and at other forums if that person seems to be knowledgable. I don't say stuff is good myself unless I get my ears around it, which in this case I won't. And most won't either. I never buy only based on reviews, I hand over cash based on my own demo's for main items in a system. Kevin, I think the pic of the insides in the back left area, so maybe front right area is out of shot? Pic here of the Select chassis (same footprint).

Oh my. It is a controversial product for sure at this price. Kinda saying, everything before is useless, this is surpassing all previous designs with a price tag like this. MSB are a good company as regards DAC designs though, albeit a bit pricey maybe? Couple of annoying things to me. 1. The amp is useless to anyone without the 80K Select DAC I believe. 2. It is doubtful any of us will get to hear it to know if it sounds amazing or not. However iSquirrel is a knowledgable audiophile. He has an amazing speaker setup and posts on many forums. He admits he has little knowledge about Stats, but he has the Utopia and Abyss to compare to the MSB amp. So I am interested to read why he says. I think he is legit (not dealer / reseller). He just seems to have big budgets for his hobby, fare enough. Nice looking chassis. Pity they used Google Translate for the text.

Forget the techno, just get to hear it. Simple.

Incredible. Ok so put your head in the sand, slag off what you haven't heard, and stop halfway up the hill, say you know everything. What is wrong with try it and see, don't believe my word for it. Use your ears, then you can come back and slag it off, not before you know zip about the effect. And there is a LOT of very good audio folk on other forums, yes really, there is a world out there..... I am done.....

I am saying just try it. That is the best way to know for sure. I try to stay out of the technicalities. What set me on this path was the tech guy from CH precision saying the C1 sounded better on AOIP than USB. That the the 2 massive threads on computeraudiphile and head-fi. Pretty much 100% say it is better than USB. Quote like 'liquid' and 'super smooth, transparent'. I would hazard a guess in my limited technical knowledge on this, that there is noise in the USB line, and the power sent down it doesn't help even if it is not used. Also the USB bus is shared on most PCs between other ports. Then almost zero latency may help with jitter? 1000 Base T is miles faster than USB. Dante in the case of the Rednet designed the system just for high quality audio, something USB was not designed for. TBH my old system already sounded amazing, I thought I was done, until I found AOIP.

My view on this is it is difficult to demo the top phones at the same time. Maybe some HP dealers in New York or something, but for 95% of us there is just not the availability. So we paw around in the dark, read stuff, ask advice and then, maybe, buy said model. I guess I was lucky maybe, that I heard the 007s then the 009s before I bought them, but that was in owners systems, not a dealer. The hobby at this level I guess is too niche for the mainstream shops....

Yes, but another massive thread on computer audiophile. Try it and then say is it snake oil. It is a game changer IMO, and TBH costs the same as many USB chains. I ran my USB chain alongside the Rednet for a week solid. I could tell very quickly, but after a week I wasn't going back to USB no chance. The difference is not subtle. The removal of treble glaze and harsh leading edges, that impression of digital noise in the music. I think HP users are sensitive to this more than speaker guys IMO. On the Carbon and 009s plus my horn speakers it was real obvious. I would hazard a guess a lot of the 'brightness' issues in the 009 is from the failures upstream of USB audio. The detail and transparency is the same, but it is dead smooth, liquid I would call it, less 'hifi' and digital. For example I always suspected some female vocals had a on/ off type sound to it, like it was dropping out at an incredibly fast rate, like a chain saw type of sound to it. Anyway, that aspect is now GONE, it is as I say, fluid and super smooth. I have no fixed opinion as to why 1000BaseT Ethernet is better for audio. I guess obvious reasons maybe latency and speed, accuracy of delivery. Possibly less noise in the data connection, possibly the way Dante sends that data. As I understand it USB was never designed for high end audio streaming. Anyway, give it a try, it would be good to get others on here who have tried it.

Don't know all the technicalities, but know what I hear. As I understand it, the data transmission and integrity of the data is much more intact. USB is full of noise regardless of the chain used it seems. Check out the various thread on AOIP for more responses from ones who switched. Pretty much 100% who have don't want to go back to USB.

I was thinking. We discussed hard spikes as a support. My take on those is they would raise the resonance (frequency in hz) rather than lower it as a solid support. They may suit on a carpet to wooden floor situation? On a concrete floor (totally solid mass, no under floor or void) a spike may work well. But on most floors or in my case my marble plinths, there will be some resonance as various frequencies. So, going soft rubber may reduce those resonances to lower than say 10hz which is good. But what about total levitation. The MagLev train in Japan uses it to great effect. I found some of these feet at hifi collective. They are not crazy money and look well made. My only worry may be stray magnetic fields as the structure looks open. Others are available but more money, more than I would pay. Has anyone tried a Mag Lev support for their gear? These on Ebay are cheap. I would need 5 per speaker. Clear Audio feet, but only take 4K per feet. Not enough for speakers.

Interesting Purk. My KGSShv Sanyo had more bass than the Carbon, maybe not quite as deep but more quantity. On the 007 MK3s it was a bit too much on some dance material. The Carbon has a bit less quantity but is faster and has more control. `The sundstage is also wider and the amp is generally more 'alive'. I can see it might be an issue on some DACs but it is a better amp for sure. The bias is higher on the Carbon (20mA as opposed to 10mA) not sure if that is part of the reason? Also the PS is better in the latest Kevin incarnations. So I think you like the addition of the LV boards? I think they also have a positive. I am quite obsessed with PS and clean mains supply, it seems to be a big factor in the sound you end up with and how good it is.

IMO the 007s have always been a bit dark / treble recessed. There latest 007A is much better than the older MK2/3s IMO. The 009 is another league (out of the Carbon).

They don't move at all in any direction even played very loud. After having ran with the cheap rubber door mat supports, I am convinced the 'float' method is best for a hard floor. If a wooden floor then a different approach would be require IMO, to further isolate the 'live' floor from the energy of both the cabinets and the sound waves itself, so a difficult task in my view. Which makes me come full circle and the crazy array of high priced spikes, metal cones and cups, ball bearings, I am glad I seem to have not got sucked into that sector of the hobby TBH.

Ok, I had some rubber honey comb door mat in the house, so I cut a 4 hole section (about 6cm square) piece. It is around 3 cm thick with small nodule underneath, then a central hole and 4 columns of rubber at each corner. I placed 4 under the speaker base, one each corner. I ran my 200hz to 10hz sine wave text and it transmits NO energy at all to the top panel of my marble stands, zero. At any frequency. So it is physically dead as regards vibrations. Next a played a batch of well known dance tracks and reggae with tuneful bass line. The bass is very slightly lower in level than before, BUT is totally linear, i.e. goes much deeper and is more tuneful. There was a slight bass hump at maybe 100hz before possibly the loudspeaker case sending energy down into the plinth below. The other odd thing is the midrange has tightened up and the soundstage is more stable and 3D. I understand this as the speaker cabinet in now 'free' or 'floating' in space sonically. If I touch the top of the speakers they wobble slightly then settle. They are I guess as floating as I can make them without using the bike inner tube technique? I can't press down on the speakers and make then defend at all, so downward movement is not exaggerated. This decoupling mount cost me zero dollars, and seems to do the trick. My speaker dealer recommended some isolation devices ranging from 800 - 3K USD. Ha Ha, no way.