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Simplicity

The Platinum DAC IV was designed in a way that it can be used as the last component in your system before the amplifiers.  With the added convenience of having multiple digital inputs and one Analog input you can easily eliminate your preamp. You may connect your turntable through the analog input and all your digital sources directly to the DAC IV.   The Analog Output is a stepped attenuator purist volume control design (if the optional Volume Control is installed).  

The Package

The DAC IV package is simple and elegant. It has integral heat sinks to keep compnent temperatures stable yeilding clean quiet DC power. Integral to the design is our amazing new MSB Isorack Damping Feet as well as a clean new front panel, with a full suite of programmable features.

Three Models

The DAC IV is sold in three models. A Comparison Chart details the differences between the models. The Platinum DAC IV is a step up from the well known Platinum DAC III with better performance at a similar price. The Signature Platinum DAC IV incorporates many upgrades over the basic DAC IV including Signature DAC modules. The Diamond Platinum DAC IV is our top-of-the-line DAC including our best Diamond DAC modules.

Remote

The new MSB aluminim remote offers complete controls for the Data CD IV transport, DAC IV family and iLink.

Transports

Two amazing transports fit perfectly in the DAC IV family. First of all our breakthrough Data CD IV Transport plays CDs and high resolution audio files on DVDs. The iLink II Integrated Transport is also available as a DAC IV option. It allows the DAC to play digitally bit-perfect music files from the newest iPods without modifications, with the same bit-perfect jitter-free quality as our transport.

The Sound

The performance of DAC IV is amazing. Immediately you'll notice the beauty of the voices and the lack of congestion and harshness that often accompanies massed voices and massed instruments with complex harmonics like violins and saxophones. This new level of clarity is also noticeable in instruments of all frequencies. This DAC also dramatically increases the resolution of the performance. Fine detail that was once hidden and "smeared" in the background is now clear and obvious. There is a perception that each fine harmonic is individually revealedÊgiving new definition and separation to the instruments. The sense of space where the recording was done is intricately revealed with wider and deeper soundstage. Each instrument is more singly placed and positioned. Our engineering and listening team have always noticed that when genuine fine detail is further revealed (without harshness), there always seems to be an increase in the sense of space. This makes sense because spatial cues are the original sound of the voice or instrument with the reflections from the walls of the recording space added, and are therefore complex harmonics themselves.

The dynamics are significantly improved giving the drummer's expression a convincing "hit" that cannot be ignored. Bass attack is convincing and scaled to what the artist intended. This new level of dynamic reproduction is a critical ingredient in convincing us we are listening to the live performance, and drawing us deeply into the music. Once it is heard, it is hard to live without.

The Measurements

The DAC IV outperforms by far all other competitors with a noise floor and jitter measurements that are out of this world. Here we compare to the best published results we could find for jitter. Each of these was noted by Stereophile for their excellent jitter performance. All use the same test parameters. The lower the sideband levels, the lower the jitter. MSB is an order of magnitude better than our closest competitor.