A Long History

The Platinum ADC plus has grown out of over 20 years of DAC development. Analog-to-Digital-Converters, ADCs, like DACs are generally designed with a chip from someone like Analog Devices or Burr Brown and simply put in a box. As a result, all which use the same chip sound about the same. Years ago we at MSB broke away from this mode by designing our own entirely discrete DAC. In years past we have produced several ADCs, but by the conventional method. Finally, we have now addressed the analog-to-digital conversion problem with the same care we have invested in the digital-to-analog conversion problem.

During the development of our new Diamond DAC technology we were faced with the challenge of making a DAC more accurate than any audio DAC ever produced. The first quandary we faced was finding an accurate and automated way to measure the output. Our first task was to acquire the most accurate ADC we could. Well, as you can guess, nothing we could find came close to the precision we needed. So once again, necessity drove us to develop the best ADC we could imagine. As the design was not restricted by a product requirement, we simply did the best we could.

About the ADC plus

Once the core analog conversion engine was designed, we added all the features to make this ADC a truly high-performance and flexible product. Clock accuracy and stability is just as important in an ADC as it is in a DAC, so of coarse we have provided our clock header so you have access to our most accurate clocks. The ADC pluscomes stock with our Femto140 clock. The ADC can also accept the world’s most stable clock, the MSB Femtosecond Galaxy Clock, a plugin option that provides a clock with an amazing 77 femtoseconds of jitter (.077 picoseconds). We also made provision to output that stable clock as a source clock for optimum studio use. We also accept an input clock for those applications where a studio clock of high accuracy already exists, allowing the ADC to sync with video, although this is not the optimum configuration.

About the Digital Filter

Just as in DACs, digital filtering is also required in the conversion of analog to digital, and it turns out that its role in audio quality is just as important. Just as in our DACs, MSB has designed our own DSP based filter that far exceeds the performance available with integrated single chip solutions. This product has 8 delta sigma converters and 5 of the fastest DSPs Analog Devices makes!

ADC plus Performance

While others are worried about adding more features and computer interfaces, MSB is investing in audio performance. Check out our jitter measurements. The proof is in the sound of the recordings. Although MSB ADCs have been used “under the table” HDtracks recently released the first commercial title which was mastered on this ADC and MSB was given credit in the album promotion. Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman was remasterd directly from tape to 24 bit, 192kHz by Ted Jensen of Sterling Sound with remarkable success. David Chesky confirmed the quality of the ADC and has been using it on many projects.

Features and Controls

This ADC is fully configurable with word lengths and bit depth adjustable up to with 32-bit output resolution, and sample rates up to 384 kHz. There are several grounding options that can be selected including complete isolation. Each input has a +/- 10 db trim adjustment and a full digital mixing of all 8 channels is possible, all with simple setup controls.