The closest to the master tape I have heard

I auditioned the dCS Lina with and without its clock, the Varese at a quarter of a million dollars, and the MSB Select at about $100,000. They are the closest thing to analogue master tape I have ever heard. The realism, the space, the texture.

They sound different from each other, but don't confuse different with coloured. MSB and dCS don't paint their own story; they keep the original story as it is and present it convincingly, each in its own way. At that level the choice between them is preference, nothing more.

Were they different to my cheap $25,000 system? I call it cheap as a joke, and the joke only works in a room like that one. They were miles away in realism from anything else I had heard.

And here is the truth, my truth: diminishing returns hit me at around $25,000 for my digital chain. Everything beyond that was wonderful, special, sometimes even magical. Whether it is worth the money, only you can answer, for your system, your budget and your objectives.

Magic has a price, and I know exactly where mine stopped.