MSB select II vs all dacs ?

smodtactical,

I've had the Rockna Wavedream Edition,  not the Signature in my system.  My wife and I preferred the Chord Dave DAC and decided to keep it. Initially the Rockna Wavedream Edition appeared to have more detail, but lacked the open soundstage of the Dave. After comparing the two for several days it was apparent that in my system the Dave was more natural,  with details,  but the detail wasn't forward sounding.  Based on my conversation with a fellow audiophile,  the Rockna Wavedream Signature is on amother level, providing more detail, but retaining an overall forward sound. I decided not to pursue the Rockna Wavedream Signature. 

smodtactical,

I tried the mscaler in my system and prefer the Dave by itself. There is something that sounds unnatural, not right to my ears when I inserted the mscaler. I went from a PS Audio Directstream DAC to Brcasti M1 to Jeff Rowland Aeris to the Dave. In addition, I've listened to Esoteric, Rockna, and the Mscaler in my system. Unless I come into a lot of money the Dave is my DAC of choice.

I haven't heard MSB or the Denafrips DAC. I have great synergy in my system and see no reason to listen to every new DAC out there. At some point you have to be content in this hobby.  After a year of listening to various components I'm content.

"To be 100% honest we have A/B tested most of the dacs mentioned in this forum and they are all very good dacs. I believe it comes down to personal preference." I agree with your statement. I would just add budget and the other components in the system are major factors to consider. I submit dealers use the statement "component X competes against much more expensive components" far too often. The only true way for the end user to know what they prefer is through listening in their own system.  

Just in case it's not obvious,  toetapaudio is a Mola Mola Dealer. I say take what everyone post when a grain of salt, because an individual's preference may be different than yours. When a dealer post something you have to take it with a enormous grain of salt. Dealer's should be required to state they're a dealer every time they post or have a disclaimer in their username. 

toetapaudio,
"Since this forum is mainly USA based and we are in the UK, I have very little to gain business wise here."
From the perspective of someone that was in sales for over 20 years, to include teaching Professional Selling Skills I couldn't disagree more. Everytime you mention Mola Mola you are planting a seed. The bottom line is people should know you represent Mola Mola.

yyzsantabarbara, 

I agree it seems manufacturers are jacking up the price. Several years ago I was told that manufacturers believe if a price isn't high enough,  some in this hobby won't take it seriously. In my experience sometimes the higher priced component sounds better and sometimes it doesn't. 

I understand that audio stores and distribution companies have the opportunity to A/B a significant amount of equipment. Unless they have the exact same components as the end user, it's impossible to tell that customer how component X will sound in their system. The other issue is preference. What ice cream do you prefer? No matter what ice cream you prefer, I prefer something else. This hobby is "highly subjective", influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions; therefore you can A/B a million different components and come to a completely different conclusion on how it sounds compared to another listener. I hate to repeat myself, but there are no absolutes in audio, only preferences. The end users ears are the only ears that count.