Specifications

5
Clock Jitter
The timing of the DACs conversion clock also has a large impact on sound quality. Any periodic frequency change or “jitter” causes a
loss of focus in the reproduced audio. The high power and large memory space of the SHARC DSP we use allows us to offer a unique
Ultra Clock to your MSB 16x Digital Filter. The Ultra Clock adds two ultra precision, ultra low jitter TCXO oscillators and custom clock
handling circuitry to your board. This custom circuitry allows us to do much more than simply reclock the data, as other jitter reduction
boxes do, but completely replace the incoming clock!
Most jitter reduction schemes rely on Phase Locked Loops or Asynchronous Sample Rate Converters. The Phase Locked Loop is able
to reduce jitter to a signicant degree but not eliminate it because the output clock must be related to the input clock. The Asynchronous
Sample Rate Converter, which completely replaces the data and clock, seems ideal until you realize that the complex computation in-
volved harms the data by permanently imbedding a portion of the clock jitter into the data. Sample Rate conversion is also detrimental
to the sound due to the complex and sub optimal digital lters involved, which must change their lter response to track minute changes
in the input to output clock ratio.
The Ultra Clock sidesteps both of these problems by storing the incoming data in an extremely large buffer (1/2 second of audio.) The
on-board clock then reads out the data without jitter. The on-board clocks are totally independent from the input clock so that no jitter is
transferred to the output. True absolute digital silences such as a track skips are selectively shortened or lengthened by the DSP to keep
the buffer synchronized. This process is carried out seamlessly by the DSP to assure that all compatible sample rates have their clocks
properly replaced. Compatible sample rates are 44.1 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192 kHz, and 384 kHz. Other sample rates automatically
use the recovered clock from the transport without user intervention. The 48 kHz sample rate does not support clock replacement due to
the large latency incurred by the buffer, which would cause audio from a DVD movie to be unsynchronized.
Custom Software and Temporary Filters
A custom digital lter will allow you to tailor the sound of your Power DAC. Any form
of custom FIR lter may be loaded into the MSB 16x Digital Filter. You may select
a custom lter from our library, you may have MSB design a lter to your specica-
tions or you may send MSB a list of Fir Filter coefcients that we can format into a CD
loadable le for you. You cannot permanently damage your 16x Digital Filter Board by
loading a Temporary Custom Filter, it is only active until you toggle the Filter Option
Button, Power down the Power DAC or play an audio track containing the Special Can-
cellation Code. Contact MSB Technology for details on custom lters.
Step One, Verify Your Equipment Compatibility - To successfully load your custom lter you
must have your Power DAC connected to a transport that will not change the Data. Almost
all CD players are acceptable, however there are some important exceptions. Upsampling
CD transports will not work; this includes the drive internal to the MSB Reference CD
Player and MSB Reference CD Station II. You will have to connect your Power DAC to
another source to load the custom lter le. The Upsampling drives are ne for playing
audio after the upload however. DVD players should work ne when they are congured
in a mode that does not affect the Data such as CD pass-through mode.
Step Two, Burn the CD - When burning a CD containing the custom lter you must burn the
WAVE audio le directly to a CD without rst converting it to another audio format such as MP3. Converting the WAVE le to another
format will destroy the careful formatting which allows DSP to load lters directly from a CD. You may however burn other audio to the
CD as separate tracks. This allows you to create a CD with a custom sound that differs from the rest of your collection. A suggestion is
to place a track containing the Custom Filter on the CD as track 1 and place the Special Filter Cancellation Code as the last track. This
will allow a CD to play through with a custom lter leaving your Power DAC in the normal lter mode at the end of the CD.
Step Three, Play the CD - To ensure a proper load of the lter you must remember to disable any digital processing before the 16x Digital
Filter. This includes turning off processing in DVD players, Upsampling in CD Players and Upsampling in the Power DAC itself. If
the Filter Load Fails because the equipment is not compatible or the track is not played trough the MSB 16x Digital Filter the track
containing the Custom Filter will play a short very quiet noise burst followed by a Filter Update Failed message. A successful load
will just be a short, ve-second silence.
Step Four, Cancel the Filter - A custom loaded lter in a MSB 16x Digital Filter will remain the dominant lter of the DSP until some
action is taken by the user to cancel it. Toggling the Filter Option Button, powering down the unit, playing a CD track with the Special
Filter Cancellation Code or loading a new Temporary Custom Filter will immediately cancel the lter.
Loading New Firmware
Loading custom 16x Digital Filter Firmware will permanently change the operation of your DSP. MSB Technology can congure cus-
tom software for your DSP to meet virtually any requirement. Playing a CD track containing the new rmware will erase the current
software in your 16x Digital Filter and replace it with the contents of the update le. This is just as safe as loading a Custom Digital
Filter if one precaution is faithfully observed. The rmware update process takes about 20-30 seconds and you MUST NOT INTER-
RUPT THE POWER TO THE Power DAC while the new rmware is loading. You must wait for the message after the Firmware
Update before interrupting your Power DACs power. If the power to the Power DAC is interrupted during a rmware update you will