ЦАПы — Msb Technology Palisade DAC

The Palisade DAC is a two-box digital-to-analogue converter from MSB Technology, announced in early June 2026 and first shown at High End Vienna that month. MSB calls it a distilled version of the Cascade DAC, and it sits below that model in the range while borrowing its clock, its Digital Director hardware and parts of the EMI layout developed for the Sentinel. The US price is USD 59,500, and European launch pricing was quoted at around EUR 80,000. Production had started and preorders were being taken at the announcement.

Key specs that matter

Four Hybrid DAC MKII modules do the conversion, half the count used in the Cascade. PCM is accepted from 44.1 kHz to 3,072 kHz at up to 32 bits, and DSD at 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x rates, with DSD over DoP on every input. The Digital Director carries four isolated slots for input modules. The only analogue output is a fully balanced XLR pair delivering up to 3.32 Vrms from a 150 ohm source. MSB quotes THD below 0.0008% at full scale and SNR better than 125 dB, both over 20 Hz to 20 kHz at volume 100. Each chassis measures 444.5 mm wide, 393.7 mm deep and 79.4 mm tall, and the pair stacks to 144 mm. The Digital Director weighs 14 kg and draws 24 W, the Analog Converter weighs 15 kg and draws 40 W, and both run on 120-240 V with automatic switching or a fixed 100 V version.

Engineering and use context

Where the Cascade spreads its circuits over three enclosures, the Palisade folds a linear supply into the Analog Converter and surrounds it with internal shielding to keep it away from the analogue stages. The clock is the Femto 33 MKIII oscillator taken from the Cascade, and the Bit Diffusion Technology (BDT) processing already used in the Cascade and Sentinel is enabled here too. Level is set by a purely passive attenuator of constant impedance in 1 dB steps, which lets the Palisade feed power amplifiers without a preamplifier in between. No analogue input of any kind is fitted - the design is aimed only at digital sources such as streamers, CD transports, music servers and computers. Feet use M10x1.5 threads, and the box ships with an IEC cord, a 12 V trigger cable and four foot bases, with RS-232 control documented. Warranty is two years, extended by three more after registration.

Pairing

The low-impedance balanced output and passive volume stage suit a power amplifier with XLR inputs placed on a short interconnect run. Any digital source can feed it through the four input bays, so a network transport or a server makes a logical front end.

Alternatives

Above it in the MSB range sits the Cascade DAC, with eight Hybrid DAC MkII modules across three chassis and an integrated preamp with analogue inputs.