Hi all. I am a very happy user of MSB s500 power amp . I use it to drive my Estelon X Diamon Signatures.
As a soundstage and holography freak , i found that using tubes in the chain gives me that ilusion. My ore amp is Allnic L10000 300b tubes preamp and it very luckyly matched great with the msb amp(ohm etc.) My dac is mola mola taöbaquü and i listen qobuz over roon.
Now my dealer offered me a new cascade and as you users of cascade mentioned in another topic it has a great analog preamp. As the budget not allow ro keep both the tube pre amp and cascade what sould i do?
1.Cascade with V2 streamer slot(as pre and dac) + s500
2.Allnic 300b pre +s500 + premier/director (as dac only)
Do you think system 1 can give me the holography and musicality of 300b pre amp? Or is it a super black backround,super naturel,super detailed and correct sound only?
Or just keep everything and chamge Tambaqui dac with premier stack?
I run this setup, Cascade with V2 streamer slot(as pre and dac) + s500. I’ve had both Magico S5-2024 and Ø Audio Horns in my living room and I don’t have a single complaint about it.
I’d never put a preamp back in my system after hearing this.
What I have been told that for some bright speakers, you’s aren’t that, adding a tube preamp can tame things down, but my issue there is the preamp is editorializing the signal in some pleasing way to compensate for overly bright speakers.
Adding the Cascade was the thing that produced the biggest audio improvements to my system, even before I switched to M500 monoblocks and Magico M6s.
Before I made the switch my audiophile friends thought my system was amazing. The also thought I a looney tunes when I said I had ordered a Cascade DAC. They changed their tune once they heard the Cascade and could not believe the improvement it made, especially to the imaging.
As a preamp the Cascade is invisible, as far as I can tell. What you send to it comes out the other end unchanged, except for level. I use it as the preamp for my vinyl system, which also has phono preamp.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you feel your current preamp is adding a color that you like… the Cascade will probably produce a different sound. But the improvement I saw in imaging with the Cascade leads me to believe you will be very happy if you switch to Cascade.
On “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” you can easily tell which key on the Vibraphone Milt is hitting.
Cascade cleared up the position of the vocalists in “sucit lillum inter spinis”. This in an a cappla sextet. They sing incredibly tight harmonies, it’s hard to hear the individual singers.
This recording has three pianos in it. Cascade made the position of the center piano much easier to spot, but the position of the center piano in Blue Monk didn’t really standout until I switch to M500s and Magico M6.
I wish I could tell you “Go Cascade, no brainer” but I can’t. There are a lot of DACs to choose from in that price range and I certainly haven’t heard them all. Also the overall system, your preferences, the room and so on, can all affect the your impression of the sound.
All I can say is that for me moving to Cascade was a great step up.
If your dealer will let you audition it, it will be worth all the hassle it will take to set it up. Your ears are the only ones that count.
Ok, I just did some checking… Blue Monk only uses two pianos, thats why it’s so hard to hear the center one i guess I’m hearing the “center” of the two pianos?
Allnic L-10000
Allnic A5000
MSB Cascade
Lampizator Aphrodite
Taiko Olympus &/IO
Taiko Extreme Router
Shawn Jacobs Linear Power Supply
Joseph Crowe #2800
Shunyata Sigma X Speaker Cables
Shunyata Everest X
Shunyata Omega X XC Power Cord
(6) Sigma X QR Power Cords
Shunyata X XLRS
+1 for Dan’s comments. I had a VAC tube pre in my system. I then purchased the MSB Reference DAC. Sold the VAC. Then I purchased Cascade. It made my vinyl sound better!
User experiences are valid for that user with their perception and system experienced at some point in time. The cascade dac is a fantastic dac and pre amp combination and reveals an amazing amount of detail about the recording. When you have it in your system, you will hear that immediately, then comes the point to fine tune that result to how you like it. Just changing one / 2 components in the system doesn’t always give the best result. When a Cascade dac settles in a system it may reveal a little weakness here and there… and the fun part is finding that limiting factor in the system and improving further. Some of these limits can be position of power cords in a power conditioner or distance between equipment… and in the end…enjoy music for the beauty of music, not the technical listening to find some mistake in the performance…
I will put my question here only because I have a premier and wonder about the Cascade.
I am currently listening to my system with the Premier connected directly to my Block mono Amps. Compared to when I have my Block Line PreAmp in use, this configuration presents a significantly different presentation. With the Premier direct, I am I in Rows 1 - 10 of the theater. With my LineStage in use, I am more in the middle of the theater.
For those of you with the Cascade, have you experienced a similar difference in presentation with and without a preamp?
I should add the music sounds great without the linestage. I just think I like being a bit further back however.
I did move from a line preamp to using Cascade as a preamp and it did improve the sound.
I didn’t do any analysis at that time or note specifics, and other things in my system changed at that time too.
However what I always look for, besides just an overall, non-specific “does it sound better”, are a few things. How good/real to do transients sound and how well can I distinguish individual instruments/vocalists, even on a mono recording, and their position. Ditching my line preamp (other other changes) improved that.
Now that I have had Cascade for a while, I feel it is an “enabling” technology… It enables you to spend even more money on the rest of your system to catch up with the quality of the signal Cascade is injecting into it
If your dealer will let you trial a Cascade, even for just one day, it will be worth your time and effort to reconfigure your system (and unconfigure it when you are done) to listen to it as both a DAC and a preamp. I am sure you will hear an improvement, but whether it will be enough of an improvement to warrant the cost will be up to you, of course.
i guess I’m hearing the “center” of the two pianos?
What are your system components with it?