MSB Technology Introduces Audio Director & Digitizer

5-Dec-00

MSB Technology Corporation (MSB) has introduced the Audio Director & Digitizer ($599), a fully-upgradable analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and automatic audio switcher that significantly improves sound quality of any audio system through its ability to convert analog sources to a high-resolution 24-bit digital audio signal and achieve a 115dB signal-to-noise ratio. While everyone has gotten caught up in the ""digital revolution,"" the reality is that the state of home entertainment still sits squarely in the analog world. Typical components in any home theatre setup, such as VCRs, most cable-serviced televisions, tuners, turntables, etc. are all analog sources. Additionally, all digital receivers convert analog audio inputs to digital data, process them and then convert them back to analog audio. While today's receivers contain both converters, the emphasis is clearly on the digital-to-analog conversion, even though the analog-to-digital conversion has a much greater impact on the sound quality of the analog inputs. The problem with today's digital receiver/processors is that they use an inexpensive built-in analog-to-digital converter that simply does a barely adequate job of converting the analog source to digital. An outboard add-on analog-to-digital converter, such as MSB's Audio Director & Digitizer, can produce vastly improved sonics from any digital receiver, by bypassing the internal poor quality analog-to-digital converter. As a result, analog sources are automatically switched and converted to a digital signal of very high quality. All that is needed on the receiver or processor is a single digital audio input - of any format. Any digital product with analog inputs contains an A-D converter and will benefit greatly from the MSB Audio Director, including CD recorders, PC sound boards, equalizers and surround processors. To achieve superior sound quality, the Audio Director & Digitizer, with its automatically-switched eight line level and manually-switched phono stage analog audio inputs, converts analog sources to a high resolution 24-bit digital audio signal, which has 256 times the resolution of the 16-bit audio found on many CDs. As a result, whether the source is a VCR, cable television, record, or even an older CD, formats that may have seemed archaic by today's ""digital"" standards, the audio will take on new life, capturing the warmth and nuance with a capability unmatched by any digital receiver available on the market today. Adding to its sonic capabilities, the converter uses the top-rated Crystal CS5396 A/D chip to achieve a 115dB signal-to-noise ratio. A transport sets the jitter performance for the entire playback system, while an A/D clock jitter during sampling defines the ultimate performance of a recording. The user can also sample frequencies up to 96kHz from the front panel to optimally match a variety of systems. For enhanced versatility, the Audio Director is fully upgradable. An optional MSB Virtual Surround Processor board will digitally process Pro LogicÆ-encoded audio with Virtual 3-D surround. The resulting audio can be played back with surround effects on a two-speaker system. The Virtual 3-D option can be turned on or off from the front panel. The Audio Director features digital outputs in three formats - coaxial, optical and balanced - making it ideal to use with a PC, home studio or home theatre system. It offers multi-zone distribution with up to nine analog sources through one digital cable without suffering the attenuation and degradation of signal associated with long analog runs. For further information, visit the MSB Web site at www.msbtech.com. 

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