Outboard DACs

While getting to grips with the Premier, Editor Paul Miller spent time talking about MSB's proprietary technology with its Chief Designer and CEO, Jonathan Gullman. But this sophistication did not happen overnight. 'Like many high-end audio companies we really started as hobbyists in the 1980s,' mused Jonathan. 'Over the years our company has gone in many directions from laserdisc players to our very low cost Link DAC. But for the past 12 years we have focused on ultra high-end audio performance and our desire to push the limits of what audio playback can do.

'Our team of engineers is always pursuing new technologies and we have roughly 20 skilled production employees – we are able to create an immense amount of product.'

But what about the vanishingly low jitter – the best on record? 'There are a few things we do. First, all incoming audio is put into a buffer. The data is then clocked out of the buffer using our custom-designed local oscillator. In fact, the entire DAC, including the display, is slaved to the DAC master clock which is physically placed as close to the conversion point as possible.

'The clock sub-system is designed to keep clock jitter at the absolute lowest at the point of conversion, so when using our Pro ISL Interface, USB Interface, or Renderer [network] inputs they all run directly off the DAC master clock making the entire system a single clock domain. Even our digital filtering software is written to control the jitter and keep it to a minimum.'