MSB S202 Stereo Power Amplifier
REFERENCE AUDIO – WITHAM ESSEX
BOB’s Review Series - No 34 – MSB Technology S202 Stereo Power Amplifier
Introduction – All MSB products are designed and manufactured in the American Silicon Valley. MSB stands for ‘Most Significant Bit’. They have been making modular DACs using their bespoke Ladder DAC technology since 1999. They also make some serious power amplifiers and headphone amps. Interestingly they don’t make standalone Preamps, preferring to drive their power amps directly from the preamp outputs of their impressive range of DACs. They used to make CD transports but like several other manufacturers recently they seem to have abandoned CD and they no longer appear on their website catalogue.
MSB is led by brothers Johnathan and Daniel Gullman who say they ‘strive to push the listening experience further’. I would add that the whole pride of ownership thing has also been pushed by them to the extreme end of what is possible for high-end build quality.
Technology – The S202 is MSB’s entry level power amplifier and at a shade over £30,000 (at the time of writing) that’s one serious entry point for any company range. The S202 was first released in May 2020 and seems to have had a slow burn towards recognition, mostly I guess due to current global events. It produces 200w into an 8ohm load and nearly doubles that to 380w into 4ohms and runs in Class A/B but they say it is heavily biased towards Class A and has no global or local feedback. In use it runs silently and quite warm to the touch and it still stays reasonably warm in standby mode, so I assume much of the circuitry remains active when in standby whilst staying on the green side of sustainability for standby power usage. When you first unpack and handle this amplifier you cannot but admire the build quality because not only does it look and feel fabulous but it’s hard to see how it was put together. The electronics and the casework are all designed in-house at MSB, and the case is milled from a raw aluminium block weighing in at more than 50kg before it enters their CNC machines. The casework from whatever angle you look at it except from underneath has no visible fixings whatsoever. The only part of the build process that MSB outsource to a specialist third party is the anodizing of the casework which is then hand polished and available in matt silver or black.
The front panel has just two buttons, one for power on/off and the other for standby and there is a small central display that says MSB Technology that glows white when powered up and pulses in red when in standby. Underneath the front panel is a small wheel to dim the display or turn it off but it’s pretty dim even in its brightest setting. Underneath is also a switch to adjust or delay the start-up time which is useful if many products are trigger linked and it’s there to prevent mains overload from them all starting up simultaneously.
The rear panel includes a single pair of high-quality speaker binding posts, and one pair of XLR inputs. No RCA inputs are available. There is also a small toggle switch to change the input impedance to 75ohm or 300ohm for use with MSB DACs or 1.2kohm for another manufacturer’s preamp or DAC/Preamp.
The S202 which comes with a five-year warranty measures 404mm wide, 483mm deep and 178mm high and weighs in at 41kg. The S202 costs £30,100 whereas their more powerful S500 power amp costs £61,450 and their top of range M500 monoblocs come in at a staggering £1214,500 for a pair. I have briefly heard the M500’s and yes they are very good.
System Components used in this Review:
Preamp: Bryston BP26 with matching MPS-2 High Current PSU – Gryphon Essence
Power Amplifier: MSB 202 Stereo Power Amplifier (For purpose of this review replacing the Gryphon Essence Power Amp)
Digital Sources: Innuos Statement Streamer – Sony CDP X3000ES CD
Analogue Sources: Pioneer F-91 Tuner
Speakers: Marten Mingus Quintet
Performance – This is a highly detailed amplifier that delivers a fine sound no matter what source or music you chose to use or play. It has a sense of warmth but not overtly so, it’s certainly not in the all-valve warm territory, but neither is it quite like most Class A/B amps in that it has a strong leaning towards the enticing sound of pure Class A amps whilst retaining the full dynamics expected of an amplifier with more than 200w on tap. Listening to Isaak Hayes ‘I’ll Do Anything (To Turn You On)’ and this dark and seductive track was delivered with all the feeling Isaak put into the original recording making you believe totally in the world he was moving in back in the mid 90’s, unfortunately Isaak is no longer with us. It was tight and dynamic in the bass, the midband had full clarity on the vocals and the backing singers were as much as the performance as I have ever heard.
This is not a lightweight amplifier, both physically and in its performance but it needs a couple of days powered up to come on song and leaving it in standby when not in use is a good idea as the circuits are kept nice and toasty for your next session.
So entertaining is the MSB S202 stereo power amplifier that I found myself regularly turning up the volume to hear more and more of its ability to create a realistic soundstage by fully pressuring the room with sound that just can’t be achieved al lower volume levels. The trend these days is to omit a preamp and instead use the variable volume preamp outputs of a DAC to drive a power amp directly, and this is clearly how MSB expect the S202 to be driven, but for me I always prefer to include a proper dedicated preamp for best results. The S202 was on the cusp of needing a preamp to reach acceptable volume levels which I struggled to achieve using the PS Audio DAC/Pre output. This may be because the S202 has a specified gain of 23.8dB whereas the Gryphon Essence has specified gain of 31dB, I assume the various MSB DACs better cater for this.
I therefore listened to the MSB S202 almost exclusively with the Bryston BP26 providing preamp duties but then the volume control had to be used carefully otherwise it was just too loud by the 10 o’clock setting unless I set the PS Audio DAC to low output, so perhaps MSB are right that it only needs one of their DAC/Pre amps to drive it adequately, something that will have to wait for another day. Incidentally I have used the M500 monoblocs with an MSB Reference DAC using it in preamp mode and can attest to MSB’s reliance on this method of connection sans dedicated preamp.
Listening to CD via the S202 the S202 is a real foot tapper with sufficient power and authority to really get you into the rhythm and get under your skin in the best possible way leaving you fulfilled and ready for the next session. I listened to Jacob Dylan’s ‘I Told You I Couldn’t Stop’ and that just about summed up how I felt about this amp, I always finished wanting more.
Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ (96kHz 24bit download) was presented by the S202 with such drive and authority that it almost seemed like an alternative and better version. We had no idea back in 1971 just how much more this album could give 50 years in the future. Some amps give too much emphasis to the sparkly treble on this album but the S202 seemed to overwrite this with a sense of lush dynamics whilst retaining all the information. Who would have thought all those years ago just how good Roger Daltrey’s voice would still be in 2018 when he released his album As Long As I Have You with the haunting track ‘Into My Arms’ (originally I believe recorded by Nick Cave back in the day), the S202 left nothing out by delivering the full emotion of his now gravelly voice, I played this track more than once via the S202.
However, it was ‘Museum’ by Gretchen Peters that more than anything else made me fall in love with this amplifier. Play this track on any system and it will move you but play it on a high-resolution system with power in reserve and you will remember the experience for a long time. Then play ‘Imogene’ from the same album (Halcyon) and the wide holographic soundstage the S202 delivers is something very special.
Early soul music such as Bloodstone, Willie Hutch, The Dells, Blue Magic, Teddy Pendergrass and many others were probably not the best recordings made at the time (70’s and 80’s) but oh the emotion they put into every track, it makes you really believe how they much they suffered for love and the MSB S202 left nothing out leaving me more moved than usual.
Conclusion – Every MSB product I’ve had the pleasure of auditioning at home has left me wanting more. Sure, they are expensive but just look at the build quality, the innovative technology and then listen, listen and listen some more and you’ll soon get the bug. Although the S202 is the entry amplifier in the MSB catalogue it is probably as much as most audiophiles could ever conceive spending on a stereo power amplifier and they won’t be disappointed, this is a truly remarkable amplifier that grows on you the more you listen. For those of you with bigger pockets the higher levels in the MSB catalogue awaits.
Bob – Team Reference Audio