I'm the MS-2 owner mentioned in Rich's previous post. I've spent a little over a week comparing the performance of the MS-5 to my MS-2 in my system and I just can't hear any difference between the two servers at this point.
I have concluded that there is no downside to the extra
processing power in the MS-5.
I am hypercritical when it comes to size of the recreated sound stage and its 3 dimensionality and circumambient qualities. A noisy gaming laptop like my ASUS GL703V sounds essentially 2 dimensional( ie, flatter than a Swedish pancake) when compared to either the MS-2 or the MS-5.
Given the positive results of my A/B comparison of the MS-2 to the MS-5, I am opting for the upgrade. In as much as this is a brand new MS-5 installed in your old case, the $450 seems to be a heck of a deal for a brand new music server.
Thank you very much for loaning me the MS-5 to evaluate in my system I really appreciate it.
Scotty