MSB Technology CD-3 Owners manual
SIGN MAGNITUDE LADDER DAC SPECIFICATIONS
CD III
Users
Manual
Rev 2 (11/05)
INPUTS:COAXIAL, TOSLINK, BALANCED
AES/EBU, 2 MSB NETWORK
A BALANCED ANALOG INPUT
AND
RCA OUTPUTS: 3.6V RMS (10Vpp)
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE: 50 OHMS AT 0dB
BALANCED OUTPUT: 7.5 V RMS (20Vpp)
VOLUME CONTROL (OPTIONAL): 2 dB STEPPED ATTENUA TOR (32
STEPS)
SAMPLING FREQUENCY: 32 KHZ TO 384KHZ
DIGITAL FILTER:16 TIMES OVERSAMPLING
SLEW RATE: >1000 V/MICROSECOND
SETTLING TIME: <90 NANOSECONDS
DYNAMIC RANGE: 136 dBA MEASURED
NOISE FLOOR: < -145 dB
THD+N: .002
SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: 140 dB
CHANNEL SEPARATION: >130 dB
CONTROL FEATURES:REMOTE
DISPLA Y DIM MODE
PHASE INVERT
FIL TER OPTION
UPSAMPLING
VOLUME AND INPUT SELECT
1
CD III Users Manual
Unique Product - a CD Player or a System?
This product has the option to be a unique combination of a very high performance CD player, DAC and the ultimate passive preamp. It
is intended to be used as both for the best possible sound in your system. Our preamp philosophy is based on the belief that from the
moment analog audio is created, every transition that is made degrades the quality. That means that an active preamp with many stages
if perfect would have no effect and any imperfection would result in degradation of the music. That is why we offer a passive preamp within
the CD III, to achieve the simplest, shortest possible signal path, with the least possible degradation of the true music.
The Preamp Upgrade
The CD III Preamp has just one analog input and many digital inputs. It is designed to be the last
component in your system before the amplifiers. W ith its incredibly low impedance, especially
for a passive preamp, it can drive long interconnects and handle any type of amplifier input stage
design with optimum performance.
Depending on how many analog sources you have in your system, you may be able to eliminate
your current preamp. If you currently have only CD and vinyl in your system, you would attach
your CD players digital output to the CD III and the output of your phono preamp to the analog
input. Your system is now complete, with the shortest possible signal path and the best sound
you can achieve. The same idea applies to use with an SACD player. Since SACD does not
normally come out the digital output, the analog SACD is attached to the analog input on the CD
III and the digital output for CD playback. The MSB XPOR T upgrade will allow SACD and DVD
Audio to be output via the MSB network directly to the CD III.
If you have a complex system with a preamp with many analog inputs, attach the outputs of your
preamp to the input on the CD III. Shift any digital sources over to digital inputs on the CD III and
again, you will achieve optimum results. Set your preamp to a volume that matches the CD III
output and use nothing but the CD III volume control in your system.
The volume control modules can be easily installed or removed by your dealer.
Setup and Quick Start
DVD-A
Transport
Digital
Phono
Preamp
Analog
CD III Preamp
Analog
AMPs
SACD Player
The front panel is quite simple with few user controls. Set the input source to auto and start
with all the other options off (No LED lit). On power up, the volume is reset to -62 dB. T urn
the volume knob up until you hear music.
Power - The Platinum comes standard with an inboar d power supply. A switch on the back
allows the unit to be switched between 240V and 120V. Please check your setting before
plugging the unit in. Leave the Platinum powered on all the time.
Inputs - The Platinum comes standard with two MSB Network (CAT5), AES/EBU balanced,
coaxial and optical digital audio inputs, as well as a balance analog input, ranked in
order of performance. Connect any digital input to any active digital audio source. The
frequency of the incoming signal will be read out on the front panel and analog audio will
be found on both balanced and single-ended analog outputs.
Outputs
Connect the balanced or single-ended analog outputs to any amplifier and audio should
be present. The output level is controlled with the knob or remote.
Burn-In
The concept of burn-in is little understood. Does it take your ears some time to get used to the
incredibly detailed and life like sound of an MSB product or is something actually changing. The
feedback we receive leads us to recommend at least 100 hours of burn-in on this DAC. Customers
generally recommend one month.
Digital
Universal Player
Network
Analog
CD III Preamp
Analog
AMPs
with XPORT
Upgrade
MSB
CD III Preamp
Analog
AMPs
2
Unique Technology - the past and the future
Over 10 years ago early DACs were all 16 bit ladder DACs, with a precision laser-trimmed
resistor creating the appropriate analog level for each of the bits. The DACs worked well and
sounded good. They were quite expensive as very accurate resistors were required. Then along
came the “single bit” DACs. Rather than using a resistor to create an analog level, pulse width
modulation was used. Basically each bit was created by turning a switch on and off for the
appropriate length of time. The resulting square wave pattern was filtered to create a smooth
output. The expensive resistors were gone, and so was the good performance. Next came the
Delta Sigma DAC. It used the same pulse width modulation but rather than creating a single
large pulse for each data point, the data point was created with many small pulses. This allows
the pulses to be smoothed with a less radical filter, and improves the sound. As you can see,
upsampling the input signal to a higher frequency reduces the filtering requirements and thus
improves the sound. This is the current state-of-the-art as exemplified in the LINK CD III with
the upsampling option.
MSB DAC Module (Non-inverted signal)
23 bit positive sign DAC
23 bit negative sign DAC
MSB DAC Module (Inverted signal)
23 bit positive sign DAC
23 bit negative sign DAC
Right Channel
Toggle Switch
Coaxial Out
Balanced Out
BLOCK DIAGRAM
The Platinum draws from the older, superior ladder technology , but with incredible improvements. The Platinum contains four 24 bit MSB
DAC modules (seen below). The Platinum is fully balanced so there
is a matched pair of 24 bit DAC modules for the inverted and noninverted signals on each of the right and left channels. Finally, each
DAC module contains one R2R ladder DAC with a 23 bit negative
sign and one R2R ladder DAC with a 23 bit positive sign. Together
this makes a true 24 bit DAC. This design allows the quieter moments
in your music to be true to the music, without the linearity errors near
zero that plague normal ladder and delta-sigma DAC designs. W ith
a dual 24 bits of combined resolution, a 24 bit source gives a true 24
bit resolution without the losses and errors that make your normal 16
or 24 bit DAC perform far less than their actual resolution (normal 16
bit DACs only muster a meager 12 bits of resolution). The Platinum
is carefully designed so as to require no DC correction in the output
stage. This allows direct DC coupling on the output stage for pure,
Second Generation Platinum DAC module
uncolored sound -- with no output filtering to muck up your high end
or smear your bass attack. And for those who require a balanced
analog output, the separate positive and negative DACs directly
drive the balanced outputs, with no analog output stage at all!
Another major difference in the Platinum is the type of output.
Essentially all ladder DACs produce a current output. This is
converted to a voltage output with a current to voltage converter.
This problematic circuit colors the sound and introduces non-linearity.
The Platinum is a true voltage DAC with a voltage output right from
the source. All amplifiers have slew rates greater than 1000 Volts/
microsecond. The output impedance of the Platinum is 50 ohms.
Special Features
Original Platinum DAC module
The CD III has many special features. The following sections discuss these features and how they work.
Upsampling and filtering
As MSB technology has developed, so has our DAC architecture. Our advanced digital
filter now replaces the asynchronous upsampling of earlier models. The 16X Digital filter
goes way beyond our older 4X upsampling. T o play a 24/192 disc the Platinum only needs
to be plugged into a DVD-A player with an MSB XPORT output. The new upsampling
feature dynamically buffers and re-clocks all the data and clock signals to provide a virtually
jitter-free source directly to the DACs.
The selectable digital filter response permits the user to choose the filter design they prefer.
It allows for the selection of a standard brick-wall filter or a slow roll-off filter, both at half
the sampling frequency. Each provide a distinct, glorious listening experience. You may
favor one or the other, or enjoy changing the filter response to suit the music you listen to.
Music with less high frequencies may benefit from the slow roll-off filter .
T o play a 24/192 disc the source player needs to have an MSB Network or XPOR T output.
If your DVD-A player does not have the MSB Network output, it can be added. A 192k
input will override the upsampling settings.
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The CD III has a custom DSP based Digital filter and clock module. This breakthrough
technology is new in the CD III. For the first time ever, we have created our own Custom
Digital Filter for the Platinum DACs. Previous versions of the Platinum DAC used the Burr-
3
UPSAMPLING
EFFECT
SIGN WAVE (0 DB, 19.95 KHZ TEST TONE
SCOPE SETTINGS 2 V/DIV, 10 USEC/DIV)
Brown DF1704, which at the time was the best Digital Filter on the market. Our new Digital Filter is built to our specifications and standards,
and is designed to get the most out of the Platinum DAC modules.
This new Digital Filter is available as an user installable upgrade for the Platinum DAC, Platinum DAC Plus, Platinum DAC II, as well as the
Reference CD Station II. This filter is standard equipment in our
Platinum CD III and Reference CD Station III.
The performance of this new Digital Filter is amazing. Immediately
you’ll notice the lack of fuzziness around voices and instruments of
all frequencies. This new filter also dramatically increases the resolution and dynamics of the machine. This filter is also completely
customizable; By playing a special .wav file on a CD new filter coefficients, either temporary or permanent, can be loaded into our DSP .
The Digital Filter is a 16x oversampling, single stage filter with 32 bit
input resolution, 80 bit computation, and 36 bit coefficients.
About the Clock / Jitter ControlAbout the Clock / Jitter Control
About the Clock / Jitter Control
About the Clock / Jitter ControlAbout the Clock / Jitter Control
Jitter control devices (and inputs on most DACs) normally reclock
the input signal in attempt to lessen the jitter of that incoming signal. The CD III does no such re-clocking. We actually pay no attention to the clock on the input signal (or the input from the internal
drive). All internal clocks are generated by an extremely accurate +/
- 2.5 ppm temperature compensated clock. Since the input clock is
no longer related to the clock of the Platinum, an intelligent ½ second buffer is used to maintain data synchronization.
The MSB 16x Digital Filter is an ultra high-resolution digital front end. The combination of a high-speed on-board computer and carefully
optimized software and hardware result in the best possible music quality. During the development of this peerless digital audio system
MSB has accumulated a wide body of unique knowledge allowing us to design the ultimate digital filter.
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One of our primary goals at MSB is to provide the music lover with the most accurate musical experience possible. During years of careful
design and improvement of our custom discrete DACs, which form the heart of your Platinum DAC, we realized that the Platinums sound
quality was no longer limited by them. W e soon narrowed the problem to the Digital Filter which was feeding our DACs. While the excellent
Burr-Brown (Now owned by T exas Instruments) DF1704 Digital Filter had served us well in the past, it had became the bottleneck once we
started using our new Second Generation DAC modules. After a thorough search of all the available of f the shelf and custom DSP based
Digital Filters we realized that little improvement could be had from any of them. W ith no other option in sight we decided to build our own
solution.
Converting the ones and zeros of Digital Audio into music is an enormously delicate and critical process. Each individual sample that makes
up the audio stream must be converted into the high resolution, continuous analog voltage that can be transformed into the sound that you
hear. Any misstep can corrupt the final result ending with audio that does not sound anything like the original recording. Errors in
translation can make a harsh, veiled, muddy , and/or tonally colored result. Minimizing each potential problem allows the original recording
to shine through.
Audio reproduction starts when the DAC receives the binary coded information from the source. The first step requires recovering the
audio samples, which represent the final output voltages, and the timing, which tells the DAC when to output those voltages. Next the
sample rate is raised and the data is digitally filtered. While it is possible to feed the DAC with the original audio samples thereby avoiding
the use of a digital filter skipping this step has many unintended consequences. After being digitally filtered the digital stream is feed to the
DAC. The DAC receives the digital audio samples and converts them into a continuous analog voltage. The best DACs, such as our
Second Generation DAC Modules or Signature DAC Modules, instantly convert the data into a precise continuous voltage waveform with
timing determined by the DACs conversion clock.
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The digital filter is necessary because mirrored image frequencies created during the conversion process must be removed. If the DAC did
not have a digital filter, an analog filter with an aggressive response must remove these image frequencies. These brick wall analog filters
seriously damage the signal by corrupting the original phase of the sound and cannot fully remove the high frequency images. This results
in harsh or rolled off high frequencies and poor soundstage focus.
Traditional digital filter designs consist of cascaded FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filters, each of which raise the sample rate by two. The
intermediate data between the filters is usually stored at less than 40 bit resolution. Since the next filter works with previously computed
data the resolution decreases with each filter pass. This limits higher quality digital filters to a low oversampling rate (usually 8x) before the
output starts to deteriorate. The loss in resolution is typically not apparent when using the best conventional digital filters with standard
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