First impressions of new MH-DA006, Musetec flagship

@sns

It was said many years ago about audio that if your measuremens don’t correlate with what you hear, you’re measureing the wrong things. As far as I understand ASR has never presented any studies that correlate their measurements with sound quality. Given their overall philosphy, that would probably be impossible as it would call for the addition of what they would no doubt call "subjectivity" to their arsenal.*

As for any proposed correlation between certain "industry standard" meaurements and sound quality, I can think of no better test of that proposition than what I will now propose as the "sns" test. In early 2021 and for some time thereafter you wrote of the audio quality of the 005. And IIUC you have it connected to an audio system of considerable sophistication. All of this was without benefit of the less than glowing ASR review. QED. There is no such correlation and/or the correlation is not particularly strong. In other words, if good sound is what we’re looking for, there is no particular reason to consult ASR.

Better, perhaps to consult sns. Or a well considered review of dbb. Or read of a good many other users who write of their systems, their experiences with other DACs and their musical tastes. Or look at the track record of the company which proposes a new DAC.

I interpret the advertising copy on the Musetec site that you quote to be almost the same as the communication to me at the time of the ASR 005 review. That is to say, the Musetec designer is a music lover and he designs by listening and that is that.

You can hope that the 006 will measure better than the 005, but if dbb is correct, what difference would that make? I, for one, hope that the designer continues to do exactly what he has been doing--turning out terrific components at prices well below that of competitive sounding units.

*Just for the record, in the day, HP denied that the reviews as then done in TAS were subjective.

@melm I agree the subjective is far more important to me than the objectivity of some measurements when it comes to audio equipment, especially dacs. I rereading ASR 005 thread it just reinforced how objectivists don't trust their senses. I'm curious to know if there is any area or thought processes in which these objectivists trust their senses?

The two major areas in which 005 bench performance suffered in respect to their reference were distortion and jitter, the distortion measurements not really a concern as these figures relatively low in comparison to other components in our systems. Jitter more of a concern, jitter has long been known to affect sound quality.

I'd suggest most of the unique sound qualities of 005 come from the parts chosen, ojectivists simply can't fathom film caps that measure the same could have unique sound qualities. This is where they completely miss the boat on the possibility dacs that measure the same or close may have different sound qualities.

So, giving measurements some credibility, I'd certainly like to see lower jitter measurements from 006, usb input looks to be improved. Lower distortion figures if indicative of greater resolving capabilities would be nice.

As things stand I will continue to base my opinion of 006 solely on sound quality, without a set of measurements I have no other choice. ASR won't admit their measurement protocols are without fault or fail to measure the unique sound preferences of individuals. They assume we are merely listening instruments, the ability to hear differences between components that measure the same is held in contempt, written off as faulty sensory perception colored by bias.

I do believe ASR makes valid point when measured specs didn't match published specs, something Musetec didn't directly address. Publishing optimistic measured specs alludes to Musetec being concerned about specs, not meeting those specs is misleading at best. Publish honest specs and clearly state intent of designing to preferred sound qualities vs specs, this would be more credible on Musetec's part. As things stand I could understand a subjectivist reticence to purchase any Musetec product after reading ASR thread. Honesty in published specs should be important to everyone.

I do not think ASR is measuring everything needed to determine if something is going to sound good or not. Based on my experience of buying and comparing highly rated ASR gear with badly rated ASR gear (such as the 005), the testing parameters they use seem to be highly suspect.

Anyways, I ignore ASR now.

@sns I discovered the slight excess in the highs I was hearing on the 006 went away when I connected the 006 directly to the power amp. Of course the great dynamics then dissappeared. Best remedy then seems to be a different pre. I plan to experiment with preamps. I am getting a used Coincident Statement  Mk II. I'll report back.

@dbb Cool! Love my Statement, even in complete stock form a great pre. You have to use Psvane WE101D's in order to extract maximum resolution, transparency, these best 101 tube out there, and I've tried many. The Linlai  Elite solid plate is also nice, Psvane more spacious, airy than Linlai. Lesser or standard 101D will be ok, none are grating or have any tonal anomalies, just less resolving,transparent.  Also, go with XLR out on 006, this is balanced pre so take advantage of that

Still waiting for shipping notification for 006 ordered from Shentzen last Thursday, thinking about inquiring as to status of order. Seem to recall when ordered 005 through Apos having to make inquiry, shipping notification received soon thereafter. How long did you have to wait for shipping on 006?