First impressions of new MH-DA006, Musetec flagship

@sns ​@debjit_g I have been away for about 10 days visiting family so I have not had a chance to listen or come to a final conclusion yet. I’ll be home tomorrow. My listening will continue.

Before I left I came to two conclusions. The first was that the 006 is spectacularlly good in the ways I have described and clearly a step closer to the sound of live music.

The second was that my system had been disrupted in a negative way. I was disappointed that after 400 plus hours I was sometimes not satisfied with certain high frequency sounds. Later at night say, after 8:00 p.m., the problem was minimal or gone. In the daytime certain orchestral crescendoes involving strings and percussion, and sometimes solo violin sounded harsh and congested, but not exactly bright. This mostly went away in the evening. I presumed the 006 was more sensitive to noise on my power line which quieted down at night. No such noticable issue with the 005. I do use a Niagra 1200 filter and surge supressor. When I removed my Hegel P30 from the system the harshness smoothed out but dynamics were gone as I would expect. I then did some research and discovered a good deal on a Coincident Statement Line Stage Mk II, (highly recommended by sns) with remote volume control, which I ordered. I asked to have the shipping delayed until this week because I was not home.

I also asked Jinbo at Musetec, who I believe is the main designer and a principle owner, about my experience. He suggested using a silver power cord on the 006. I have a pair of old HGA Silver Lace interconnect 99.9 pure silver cables which I will convert to a power cord and try it out.

I would not say the sound of the 006 overall is harsh, bright, or unmusical. In fact when it is sounding good, I would give it an A+ on musicality.  It just seems that it has given my system some sporadic indigestion. I have not yet found the medicine to cure it. If the change in preamp and power cord do not fix the issue, I will re-evaluate. My goal was not to rebuild my entire system around the 006. On the other hand changing my components to maximize the potential of the 006 could be the best route to an end game system. I will then stop posting and just listen to music. To be continued. . .

@dbb thanks for the update. keep them coming. Btw, did Jinbo suggest which silver power cord he prefers in Musetec ?

@debjit_g  He recommended a Chinese brand CMAudio reference silver cable. Price in USD would be $710. It doesn't seem to be readily available in the US market.

Here is my conclusion on the 006. It most of all provides outstanding dynamics which goes a long way to putting energy and life into the music as if you were hearing a live performance. As I said earlier, this in itself creates the feel of more resolution, especially in orchestral transients and chamber music. I heard beautiful details in familiar recordings that I never noticed before. This sounds like an audiophile cliche but it is not meant in the usual way as if your hearing just got better.and you heard more. You hear more because this DAC punches hard when taut crisp transients are in the music like in real life. If the music has punch you will feel it. It is the most live sounding DAC I have heard. This makes it, in my opinion, better than the 005. It is not harsh per se, but it could be challenging when it comes to system matching. It was for me. Some recordings sounded better than ever, and a few became edgy.

Over the years I have balanced the sound of my system by choosing a smooth and slightly warm amp, a McIntosh Mc402, with a detailed, clear neutral and dynamic preamp, a Hegel P30, and neutral and highly resolving speakers with metal drivers, the Kef Referance 1s. I also use three subwoofers. The 006 made me chase perfection by causing me to try another preamp, a Coincident Statement Line Stage. Ninty percent of my recordings sound better than ever. Ten percent don’t. Neither preamp quite gets me where I want to be, yet a look at the potential of the 006 makes me wan to keep trying. How ya goin’ to keep’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree.

@dbb thanks for your feedback. It looks like the 006 is revealing weakness in rest of your system. This is not the fault of the DAC and more to do with the system matching. Sometimes even a slight extra resolution can throw an offball curve. You might want to take a look at the source you are using and experiment with it. Almost all resolving DACs needs a better source to get the best out of it and if you are steaming than optimizing the network is paramount.