By experience and consensus the cognoscenti is correct.
I know RAL because I used their umbilicals with MSB PowerBase. Not specifically their IS2.
I know the Dragon 48, had 2 of them in the past.
The reason why I was thinking about Pink Faun is that I love the āsignatureā of their Ethermet cable and was hoping to get the same āfavorā from PST to DD. Itās just a leap of faith!
Scott, thanks for your advice, what didnāt like you of the PF I2S if I may ask? Have you also other PF cables in your system?
I liked it just fine. It was my I2S cable of choice to use between my PSA DMP and DS Sr. DAC until I had an opportunity to buy a used RAL I2S cable. (I have since picked up a second RAL and use it between the DAC and my PSA AirLens.)
It has been a while, but my recollection is that the RAL was able to eke out a tad more detail than the Pink Faun (i.eā¦ better resolution of nuance in recordings that I could not discern as well - or at all - with the Pink Faun). Not a night and day difference in performance, mind youā¦
Ciao
PS
I have not tried other PF cables, but I would like to get my hands on an Ethernet cable to see if it is better than any of the various and sundry Ethernet cable brands I am currently using.
Thanks, Scott.
Currently Iām using AES/EBU (Sablon) connection between PST and MSB DAC, canāt wait to try I2S to find out if itās better with Red Book CDs and finally spinning SACDs in my system.
To be honest my habits are pretty much 99% streaming music though, who knows, I might coming back to physical mediaā¦
Most of my listening is streaming of files on my network.
Sometimes Iāll spin an SACD or CD.
Internet streaming is a distant third. I cling to the belief that my local files and SACDs generally sound better than files from subscription services, with the occasional exception.
I have 2 RAL I2s (HDMI) cables in a drawer after getting the Dragon 48. The Dragon fills you with regret for a bit of time until it breaks in. Once it is fully broken in oh my.
But I love all things Pink Faun. I have never tried their cables. But I have one of their very fine servers sitting in storage. It never failed me. I just switched to Grimm.
I wonder how many systems we could build using all the pieces in your storage, I mean truly stellar systems! And you are already making happy a few audiophile friends out there with borrowed things, you are my hero!
Why donāt you move to Italyā¦ good weather food and wine!
Today I loaded the beta firmware and have my PST connected to a MSB Reference DAC via HDMI. Playing native SACD without issues so far. Pretty cool.
You have my attentionā¦ Iām waiting for the I2S module, too.
So far, works and sounds great.
Once you load the firmware itās a snap to select PSA config and connect the two components.
Right now Iāll admit Iām using a completely generic HDMI cable that come with a tv. I have the DAC on an amp stand in front of my rack while I decide if it should replace my preamp. Had to find something long enough. Once I decide it will go in the rack and get a proper power cord and cabling.
Looks like PF has changed their HDMI cable design a bit. I might have to revisit this.
Iāve spent several hours listening (again) to SACDs and CDs since I added the MSB I2S input module.
The sound is so inviting and unveiled that Iām excited and surprised, about red book CDs in particular. It makes me want to spin more silver discs.
Is it better than streaming? Maybeā¦ time will tell.
Itās a big step up compared to AES/EBU I was using before, no doubts!
Music, music, music. What a pleasure!
Congradulations on playing discs again. The SACD/CD and streaming both sounds equally enjoyable, but simply different in my system.
A friend of mine has a MSB Cascade DAC with the I2S module and the PS Audio SACD transport. For my ears it sounds much better than any ācomputer-hifi streamingā so far.
Which MSB DAC do you have? I was checking out the Discrete DAC!
Reference + Digital Director.