HAL's thread for the MS-2 PC Music Server

HAL · « **Reply #100 on:** 8 Oct 2013, 11:19 am »

Chris,
The setup looks great!

Will be there starting tomorrow. I will be going to the Lift for therapy!

stu · « **Reply #101 on:** 10 Oct 2013, 01:25 am »

Wow Chris, you have done some work on your room! It looks great. Hope you are liking your 9's as much as I am. Good to hear from you, and yes it has been too long. I just finished training on a new plane, an EMB-505 ( Phenom 300 ). This may be my last type before I retire, but you never know. I do wish I could get to RMAF and spend son time with you and Rich. Would love to hear Danny's new creation, the 9's on steroids. You and Rich will have to let me know how they sound, as if I do not already know.

Here is a story for Rich. I just heard from my son, also a pilot, who flies for a cargo company out of Miami. He said he just file Black Sabbath's stage set down to Brazil. It was a lot of stuff as you can imagine. But no, Ozzie and the band did not go with them. I think they took the " crazy train ".

Mark

HAL · « **Reply #102 on:** 10 Oct 2013, 01:29 am »

Mark,
Very cool indeed! The stage set for the Black Sabbath tour is immense! Was 11 rows back at the Holmdel show. Awesome concert!

Will keep you posted on the new speakers!

Rich

jtwrace · « **Reply #103 on:** 14 Oct 2013, 07:30 pm »

Rich

Thanks again for letting me play with the MS-2. Not only once but twice!

For all of you that haven't seen it and am considering such a music server, take a look at Rich's. The case is awesome. It's just about the size of a Mini and it has a Cd drive. Basically it's as big as it needs to be but looks proper.

Now I just need to decide what the heck I want to do.

Maybe I need to listen to it in my house.

Then I'd probably buy it.

HAL · « **Reply #104 on:** 14 Oct 2013, 08:25 pm »

Jason,
Glad you had time to give the MS-2 a look and listen.

Just wish the show were a day longer so I could see more and do demo's after the normal show times. It was fun hooking it up in Danny's room with the LS-X setup!

HAL · « **Reply #105 on:** 14 Oct 2013, 08:34 pm »

Was able to pickup an Astell&Kerns AK120 music player at RMAF in the CanJam area after the show. Not only is it a very nice portable HiRez player, it is also a HiRez USB DAC. Will make a very nice portable Music Server demo setup for the future!

parr3n1 · « **Reply #106 on:** 7 Nov 2013, 01:37 pm »

Hal, Without reading everything can you tell me what the cost of the MS 2 is and what the availability is?? Thanks
Richard

HAL · « **Reply #107 on:** 7 Nov 2013, 01:45 pm »

The MS-2 is $799.00 plus shipping.

I have the parts to build a new unit at this time. Will be next week to ship after build and software load and checkout.

HAL · « **Reply #108 on:** 2 Dec 2013, 01:47 pm »

Just picked up a Microsoft Surface RT to use as a remote for the MS-2 Music Server. I like the Windows phone as a remote, but the Surface has a bigger display.

Phil A · « **Reply #109 on:** 2 Dec 2013, 02:46 pm »

At Rich W's get together last month, one of the guys had a Dell Venue 8 Pro ($300). You can actually run full JRiver on it (although for storage it would be a bit awkward with the mini-USB and a hard drive. The MS-2 is really flexible that way in that it is not one of those proprietary things from a typical high end company that one needs to settle for a less than adequate consumer interface vs. being able to use JRiver or Foobar. I have a friend who has one of those $2k+ audiophile things (by a major high end brand - unfortunately in my opinion analog is their thing and they should concentrate on that) and in my opinion it does not sound any better and does not allow such flexible easy to use interfaces and is a constant thing of proprietary updates and at the end of the day one is stucj with the lousy interface. The MS-2 is a true bargain.

deauguie · « **Reply #110 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 04:03 pm »

Rich (HAL),

It's been a while since anyone had posted here, and I was wondering if you are still making the MS-2?

Dan

HAL · « **Reply #111 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 04:34 pm »

Hi Dan,
I have two MS-2 demo machines that are available for purchase. The MS-2 motherboard is no longer being made, so those are the last of the model. They are both built and ready to use. These would be $749.00 each + shipping, since they are demo units.

No plans for an MS-3 replacement at this point.

Rich

deauguie · « **Reply #112 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 04:59 pm »

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the fast reply. I'll consider your offer and let you know. In the meantime, I'll need to re-read this thread, in case I missed something and to be sure this unit will work for me.

I'll be in touch.

Dan

HAL · « **Reply #113 on:** 7 Feb 2014, 05:52 pm »

Looks like the last two demo MS-2's are now spoken for. Will be getting them ready for their new owners soon.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

deauguie · « **Reply #114 on:** 7 Feb 2014, 10:53 pm »

Oh Well...He who hesitates.

Any interest in a MS-3??? I know I would be interested. Anyone else? My bet is that if enough interest is out there, Rich would consider another upgraded version.

Dan

HAL · « **Reply #115 on:** 18 Feb 2014, 11:53 am »

*Scotty* has his MS-2. Hope he is enjoying the music!

Finishing up the last MS-2 for it's new owner that will pick it up on Friday.

Better Living Through Audio Nirvana.

*Scotty* · « **Reply #116 on:** 20 Feb 2014, 01:14 am »

Thought I would give a brief report on my MS-2 experience. I have been using a Win8 Toshiba P875 laptop, 2.4G i7, 8G RAM. So far Win8 is the best sounding Windows OS when compared earlier Win OS. The Toshiba sounds just OK to me and when I auditioned the MS-2 last year I heard an audible improvement in sound quality over the Toshiba. The biggest improvement was heard when Hi-Rez files were played. The DAC was an ESS Sabre chip based DAC.
Fast forward to the present day with a different custom DAC having superior resolution and imaging performance. Now the differences between the Toshiba laptop and the MS-2 are dramatic. While I made note of a much quieter background, better low level resolution and superior imaging with a more vivid tonal palette in my earlier comments, these same differences are much pronounced.
The changes for the better were large enough that I did a double take when playing back what I thought were pieces of music I was familiar with. The system is also more revealing of USB cable choices.
I am very happy with sonic improvements the MS-2 brought to the system. Music sounds much less Hi-Fi more like real music.
It appears that the better your DAC is the more important the computer supplying data becomes.
Thanks again HAL for your attention to detail and building a very good sounding machine for computer audio playback.
Scotty

HAL · « **Reply #117 on:** 20 Feb 2014, 02:33 am »

Scotty,
You are most welcome!

Glad you are enjoying the MS-2.

"Better Living Through Audio Nirvana"

Best,
Rich

HAL · « **Reply #118 on:** 20 Feb 2014, 01:12 pm »

The last MS-2 goes to it's new owner on Friday. He also has an MS-1 for his setup. He will be picking it up that morning.

Hope everyone is still enjoying the music from the units. It has been a fun time building them and doing support.

Now off to the next audio project.

HAL · « **Reply #119 on:** 22 Feb 2014, 09:52 pm »

Last MS-2 is on the way to it's new home.