MSB Technology Sentinel DAC – a Three-Block Flagship Digital-to-Analog Converter

MSB Technology has introduced the highest level of evolution of its own digital-to-analog converters – the three-block Sentinel DAC Ultra High-End class. The development of the Sentinel DAC took more than three decades – and the result is extraordinary.

MSB Technology Sentinel DAC uses a solution divided into three independent blocks – a device called Digital Director, which controls the system and acts as an intermediary between digital sources and analog stages. Digital Director outputs the signal ready for conversion via left and right isolated fiber-optic interfaces Sentinel-Links to mono DACs of the Analog Converter block.

The Sentinel Analog Converter block is equipped with 32 Hybrid DAC MKII modules in a Dual Mono scheme, a clock generator Sentinel Clock and an analog preamplifier. The Sentinel Clock oscillator deserves a separate description – it uses custom-made, temperature-stabilized quartz wafers with incredible accuracy. The wafers are mounted on an isolated platform to dissipate energy for each block.

The third module of the system is the Sentinel Power Supply, which contains three independent power supplies (two of which supply power to the left and right Mono DAC in the Analog Converter, and the third, with a record-low noise level, is intended for the Sentinel Clock).

At the heart of each MSB system are its own DAC modules. Increasing their number has always improved the sound quality, but the use of thousands of high-precision aerospace-grade resistors seriously increases the cost. For the Sentinel DAC, the number of modules was quadrupled: from 8 to 32 modules, which dramatically increased the accuracy of the conversion.

Separately, the manufacturer draws attention to the high power consumption and heat dissipation of the system – so the model should only be placed in a very free rack.