Musica Pristina
Our purpose is to connect people with a breathtaking musical experience in their home. One where selecting what to play is nearly as enjoyable as listening to it.
In 2010, the last thing Kevin Welsh wanted to do was start another business.
Actually, he just wanted to find himself the best digital audio source. Scouring the Internet, Kevin stumbled on dozens of articles proclaiming the benefits of linear regulated power supplies in digital audio. He was eager to know if running a PC with a linear power supply (and connecting that PC to a DAC with a FireWire cable) would really made an audible difference.
So he made a few phone calls, sent a few dozen emails and read a few dozen blog posts. In a twist of fate, he ended up on a call with Dave Davenport… a veteran audio engineer who lived less than 2 miles away. Eventually, Dave helped develop a few products for Musica Pristina… but that's jumping ahead.
There were three takeaway messages from that call.
- Yes. The quality of the power supply is vitally important in all stages of digital audio.
- Build it. Listen to it. Evaluate it. Trust your ears.
- Leave the theorizing to someone else.
Out of this prototyping process, Musica Pristina was born.
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We launched our first product in 2012 with a strong perspective on grounding, isolation and linear power supplies. We don't incorporate digital signal processing or other sound filters into our products.
In the early days, we built ultra-high-end and highly customized Windows PCs, full of all the optimizations the computer audio community has come to expect. We still maintain the graveyard of linear power supplies (both audiophile and industrial) we tried along the way.
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In 2014, Musica Pristina was reborn. We left “PC audio” behind. We started building the most accurate sounding digital playback components possible. We haven't looked back.
We use the most appropriate component parts for the task. When we use boutique parts, it's to impress you with the music, not the brands. We isolate each component, often at great expense — but only if it actually sounds better when isolated.
We believe that breathtaking audio comes to fruition through the judicious application of isolation and grounding techniques. We believe that power is of the utmost importance — building more (both numerous and sophisticated) power supplies into our components than most designers would dream of.
We prefer purposeful over universal. We believe that digital audio is best communicated over I2S. We believe that nothing should move during playback, and you don't need to filter noise that you didn't create in the first place.
Since the beginning, we've operated with a few guiding principles:
- Build the most accurate sounding devices physics allows.
- Respect the importance of grounding.
- Isolation, isolation, isolation… where it's needed.
- Every signal, even digital ones, are fundamentally measurements of analog voltages and currents. It all starts with power supplies.
- You don't need to filter noise you do not make.
- Build a component from the ground up.
We don't settle for anything less than a breathtaking musical experience.