Audioguru1
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- Sep 6, 2017
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- #1
OCC Silver Signature DC Cable for MSB Reference DAC
I was intrigued by the favourable review in Mono and Stereo, coupled with enthusiastic user reviews on other high-end audio forums of the Westminster Labs DC Hybrid cables - a specialized after-market product that connects both the MSB Reference and Select DACs to their respective PowerBases. Despite the excellent user feedback on the sonic improvements of upgrading to these DC cables, the cost of these cables (approx. $10,000 USD for a set of two 0.6m length DC cables) was unfortunately beyond my budget for this kind of upgrade.
So when I found out that one of my favourite high end cable manufacturers, who happens to be local to me (based out of Toronto, Canada), was bringing their own version of the DC hybrid cable to market, but at 20% of the cost of the Westminster Labs product (at a special introductory price of $999 USD per cable), I was more than enthusiastic to take the plunge and try out the new Audio Sensibility OCC Silver Signature DC Hybrid cables.
Cable Observations:
As pictured below, the Audio Sensibility cables are made utilizing Ohno Continuous Cast (OCC) Silver - a proprietary material that only a handful of the best cable manufacturers in the world are licensed to use, among this elite group are names such as Furu Tech, MIT, Audioquest, Wireworld, etc. The Audio Sensibility cables feature this special metal at the core of their design, among also the 8 pin cables being laid out in a special configuration that optimizes the spacing, seperation and thus the isolation between each of the 8 pin DC wires within the cable. The fit and finish is exemplary with each cable housed in an attractive insulated polyester sleeving. Upon installing the 2 cables between both the analog and digital sections of the MSB Reference DAC and Powerbase, the units powered up and performed flawlessly.
Sonic Observations:
So how do these Audio Sensibility DC Hybrid cables sound with the MSB Reference DAC?
It's still early days (I am currently at 2 weeks worth of listening), but in short they sound incredible right out of the package! Within the first few familiar tracks of music that I played, I immediately experienced and heard the following sonic improvements...
Soundstage - What I had thought was already an excellent wide and deep soundstage with the MSB Reference DAC, became even bigger and more holographic - it was like the size of my space seemed to increase, allowing for the speakers to further disappear into the room and to have more "breathing room" around my speakers and the real world constraints of the front and side walls of my listening space.
Tone - The overall musical presentation took on an almost ethereal-like quality, where I could sense more "air" and "acoustic space" behind specific instruments in the recording mix, giving them an additional sense of realism and musical truth that I think gets me closer to the performers and artistic intent with their production and recording. For example, I had an absolute "aha" moment, discerning nuances that I had never noticed before when I played the stunning Billie Eilish album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?". It was like experiencing the album for the first time all over again. "How could this be possible?"...I kept saying to myself..."I already have a Reference DAC!" Can something as simple as a DC cable swap make such a difference in what you hear? I ascertain that the MSB Reference DAC is so accurate, that even small changes can indeed pay big dividends if you invest in the right periphery equipment feeding the DAC.
Dynamics/Transient response - The musical background became even more "black", allowing for the softest passages of music to take on more emotive feelings and details, while very dense and I and transient rich sections of a recording allowed me to sense a greater degree punch, slam, and attack with certain instruments such as drums, percussion, symbol hits, and even things like massed horns, guitar plucks, and strings took on new vividness. For example, on the incredibly well-recorded modern folk album from the brilliant artist Jake Xerxes Fussell "Good and Green Again", as his songs build up to their lyrical and musical climax with the addition of kick drums and horns, and various stringed instruments, the effect was exhilarating, thrilling, and memorable - all the more compounded since the addition of these OCC Silver DC cables.
Smoothness - I can sense an additional smoothness or creaminess to the presentation on certain recordings, but with no loss of detail or accuracy, actually there is more...and yet some sonic areas that I had previously thought were "rough around the edges", I actually now experience less sonic fatigue with, and get pulled into the recording even more. An example of this became evident to me with the Lana Del Rey album called "Norman... Rockwell", where I was mesmerized by the piano, vocals, backing vocals/chorus, and background keyboard/electronic sonics that came through with renewed razor sharp focus and detail, yet "smoother" on many nuances on the track "Mariners Apartment Complex". I was absolutely lost in the beauty of this track...more so than before.
What's Next?
Well it is definitely still early days, and I have a feeling there may yet be more hidden magic with these DC cables to uncover, as they gain more hours of break-in time. But a few things I can state with certainty: the stock MSB Reference Dac with factory-included hybrid cables is already an elite performer leaving very little else to desire in terms of the jaw dropping sonic realism and musicality. But if you want to further build on and perhaps even elevate on that experience, I think the Audio Sensibility OCC Silver DC Hybrid Cables are well worth trying out!
A bit more about my system:
I primarily stream music through Tidal Hifi, using the Lumin U1 transport, with X1 power supply - further upgraded using the Audio Sensibility DC Signature power cable and this gets output via USB into the MSB Pro ISL input module on the Reference DAC. I have upgraded the clock on my Reference DAC to the Femto 33 (from the previous Femto 77 which was an option at the time of purchase before MSB standardized the clock options on their DACs). By the way - for those of you who have not yet done it...upgrading the MSB clock to the Femto 33 is a massively huge sonic improvement!!! I don't use a pre-amp, much preferring the sound quality when I go direct from the DAC into my amplifiers.
I was intrigued by the favourable review in Mono and Stereo, coupled with enthusiastic user reviews on other high-end audio forums of the Westminster Labs DC Hybrid cables - a specialized after-market product that connects both the MSB Reference and Select DACs to their respective PowerBases. Despite the excellent user feedback on the sonic improvements of upgrading to these DC cables, the cost of these cables (approx. $10,000 USD for a set of two 0.6m length DC cables) was unfortunately beyond my budget for this kind of upgrade.
So when I found out that one of my favourite high end cable manufacturers, who happens to be local to me (based out of Toronto, Canada), was bringing their own version of the DC hybrid cable to market, but at 20% of the cost of the Westminster Labs product (at a special introductory price of $999 USD per cable), I was more than enthusiastic to take the plunge and try out the new Audio Sensibility OCC Silver Signature DC Hybrid cables.
Cable Observations:
As pictured below, the Audio Sensibility cables are made utilizing Ohno Continuous Cast (OCC) Silver - a proprietary material that only a handful of the best cable manufacturers in the world are licensed to use, among this elite group are names such as Furu Tech, MIT, Audioquest, Wireworld, etc. The Audio Sensibility cables feature this special metal at the core of their design, among also the 8 pin cables being laid out in a special configuration that optimizes the spacing, seperation and thus the isolation between each of the 8 pin DC wires within the cable. The fit and finish is exemplary with each cable housed in an attractive insulated polyester sleeving. Upon installing the 2 cables between both the analog and digital sections of the MSB Reference DAC and Powerbase, the units powered up and performed flawlessly.
Sonic Observations:
So how do these Audio Sensibility DC Hybrid cables sound with the MSB Reference DAC?
It's still early days (I am currently at 2 weeks worth of listening), but in short they sound incredible right out of the package! Within the first few familiar tracks of music that I played, I immediately experienced and heard the following sonic improvements...
Soundstage - What I had thought was already an excellent wide and deep soundstage with the MSB Reference DAC, became even bigger and more holographic - it was like the size of my space seemed to increase, allowing for the speakers to further disappear into the room and to have more "breathing room" around my speakers and the real world constraints of the front and side walls of my listening space.
Tone - The overall musical presentation took on an almost ethereal-like quality, where I could sense more "air" and "acoustic space" behind specific instruments in the recording mix, giving them an additional sense of realism and musical truth that I think gets me closer to the performers and artistic intent with their production and recording. For example, I had an absolute "aha" moment, discerning nuances that I had never noticed before when I played the stunning Billie Eilish album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?". It was like experiencing the album for the first time all over again. "How could this be possible?"...I kept saying to myself..."I already have a Reference DAC!" Can something as simple as a DC cable swap make such a difference in what you hear? I ascertain that the MSB Reference DAC is so accurate, that even small changes can indeed pay big dividends if you invest in the right periphery equipment feeding the DAC.
Dynamics/Transient response - The musical background became even more "black", allowing for the softest passages of music to take on more emotive feelings and details, while very dense and I and transient rich sections of a recording allowed me to sense a greater degree punch, slam, and attack with certain instruments such as drums, percussion, symbol hits, and even things like massed horns, guitar plucks, and strings took on new vividness. For example, on the incredibly well-recorded modern folk album from the brilliant artist Jake Xerxes Fussell "Good and Green Again", as his songs build up to their lyrical and musical climax with the addition of kick drums and horns, and various stringed instruments, the effect was exhilarating, thrilling, and memorable - all the more compounded since the addition of these OCC Silver DC cables.
Smoothness - I can sense an additional smoothness or creaminess to the presentation on certain recordings, but with no loss of detail or accuracy, actually there is more...and yet some sonic areas that I had previously thought were "rough around the edges", I actually now experience less sonic fatigue with, and get pulled into the recording even more. An example of this became evident to me with the Lana Del Rey album called "Norman... Rockwell", where I was mesmerized by the piano, vocals, backing vocals/chorus, and background keyboard/electronic sonics that came through with renewed razor sharp focus and detail, yet "smoother" on many nuances on the track "Mariners Apartment Complex". I was absolutely lost in the beauty of this track...more so than before.
What's Next?
Well it is definitely still early days, and I have a feeling there may yet be more hidden magic with these DC cables to uncover, as they gain more hours of break-in time. But a few things I can state with certainty: the stock MSB Reference Dac with factory-included hybrid cables is already an elite performer leaving very little else to desire in terms of the jaw dropping sonic realism and musicality. But if you want to further build on and perhaps even elevate on that experience, I think the Audio Sensibility OCC Silver DC Hybrid Cables are well worth trying out!
A bit more about my system:
I primarily stream music through Tidal Hifi, using the Lumin U1 transport, with X1 power supply - further upgraded using the Audio Sensibility DC Signature power cable and this gets output via USB into the MSB Pro ISL input module on the Reference DAC. I have upgraded the clock on my Reference DAC to the Femto 33 (from the previous Femto 77 which was an option at the time of purchase before MSB standardized the clock options on their DACs). By the way - for those of you who have not yet done it...upgrading the MSB clock to the Femto 33 is a massively huge sonic improvement!!! I don't use a pre-amp, much preferring the sound quality when I go direct from the DAC into my amplifiers.
