Doug visited a few weeks back to tour MSB and hear the Sentinel DAC in action. His review site is unique in that he visits manufacturers and does not charge to do so. Instead, he shows up free of charge and films material and gets to the know the company. His goal is to share bias free material with his follower base instead of a “pay to play” model. Soundstage bets on folks being interested in high quality material. Pretty awesome concept to see, thanks Doug!
what gain setting is optimum? (eg, Estelon or PS Audio speakers)
Depends on the DAC and your room size, listening distance. For the M500s and S500 with the Select, Reference, Cascade, and Premier in our listening room (about 2-3 meters distance and a 10 by 5 by 4 meter room) I tend to like low gain for all but quiet classical music. For the Discrete and for quiet classical music medium gain is good.
A good way to determine what setting is good is to see how often you exceed 100 on the volume control. If on low gain you rarely exceed 100 then that is perfect, if you find yourself exceeding 100 at every listening session then change to medium gain. Estalons with any of our amps when paired with any of our DACs do not require the high gain setting.
I have no experience with PS Audio speakers but expect my advise to be the same for them as well.
thank you