New firmware for MSB Discrete DAC and Premier Digital Director

rbbert

rbbert

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The Discrete DAC Support and Software - MSB Technology

I don't find much detail on this page about what this firmware update does. There have been a couple of posts elsewhere about (dramatically) improved sound quality for the Discrete DAC, although without an A/B comparison I find this a difficult assessment to make.

I have noticed a couple of not sound related changes: the USB input via ISL Pro now displays as "Pro" or "ISL" rather than "USB" as it did previously, and the option to turn the volume up past 100 (to 106) is now gone. The latter is not surprising since MSB indicated to me that the higher settings often resulted in distortion, especially with recordings that have peaks at or near 0dBf.

Can someone post more information and/or listening impressions (if any)?
 
Hmm, I have not received any information via email, about updating my Premier DAC, but I did go look. I found the following.

Version 23.14 released 11/09/23

At the beach this weekend, but I will try to implement this update over the long Thanksgiving break.
 
Installed Ver 23.14 this morning. No troubles with upgrade. Not sure I could sense any sound, or functional differences. I have not poked around it much, just listened to music via Roon so far.

Only hiccup I could tell was that I don’t recall hearing “upgrade successful”. When I looked through the menu though, the new version number showed.

After a few months of ownership, I’m still in love with this DAC. I would like to be able to name the inputs on the display, but it’s not hard to keep track of the inputs.


What I really want is a contrasting infill on the symbols on the remote (black DAC/remote for me). Not only are the symbols cryptic, but very hard to even see. I use the input selection button mostly, and it’s at the top right. I use a pre-amp for volume control, so on/off + input selection is pretty much what I use.
 
I own an MSB Discrete with dual power supplies. I'm not at all techy, so I'm not any kind of expert on the MSB or contmporary. I just know it sounds great to my ears. I haven't seen anything about a firmware update. Not sure I'd know how to install it. I'm also not sure if installing the update is worth it the effort? Will there be a noticeable improvement? I'm always concerned that I'll hit the wrong button and do something irreversible. I can handle simple prompts with easy steps. But if I have to have a certain level of knowledge and understanding before I can even install the update I'll likely just skip it and hope I'm not missing something important. So far, my system sounds awesome, just the way it is.
 
The MSB update is pretty simply. They have instructions on the site on how to upgrade. The upgrade is really just downloading the new firmware file and playing it in bit perfect mode. I just copied the file from my PC (where I downloaded it to) to my music server. Then played the file via Roon.
 
Ditto, great video on the process in the support section at the MSB site.

I played the file via Roon from a NUC over Ethernet. Would be the same via direct USB connection.

Make sure to turn off any resampling, or filters, on your playback software. Then play the file. There are even audio cues to hear, so turn on your system before you do it.

The video shows how to check your current version.

That being said, I did not notice much of a difference. But my unit is pretty new, so I might have a more recent base firmware.
 
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