First impressions of new MH-DA006, Musetec flagship


I have received the 006 almost a week ago and have been breaking it in. The price at Shenzhenaudio is $3,900.00 USD, $600 more than the 005. The ad copy states:

"DA006 is a new generation of flagship DAC developed by Musetec over three years and launched in 2024. During this period, it has undergone more than ten revisions and adjustments.

Compared to the previous DA005, the listening experience of DA006 has been improved in all aspects. DA006 has clearer and richer details, a stronger sense of texture, a more stable sound base, better detail control, a wider soundstage, fuller and more powerful, smoother and more natural. . ."

Some brief listening during break in has been very very positive. I will report back when it has run at least 300 hours.

dbb

@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.

@dbb Perhaps you're expecting too much, no such thing as perfection in this hobby. My Conicident Statement, the one with dual TVC, no remote volume control is not what I'd call warm, simply neutral with a tube presentation. I don't believe the Hegel or Coincident is the issue. I'd go with debit_g and suggest streaming setup, I've had to work for years on getting mine just right. Metal drivers may also expose some anomalies.

 

In any case, my first listening session with 006 will come on Friday evening, just slightly over 100 hours burn in. This included many starts and stops, heat cycling important for many parts,  and capacitor charging and discharging help to form caps, both important to any burn in regimen. I wouldn't give 006 a final verdict just yet, a variety of  perspectives help in determining any component's voicing.

@debjit_g @sns  I agree with you on the importance of a well set up streamer. I have made some progress in this area, using a switch and fiber optic cables before my ultrarendu. 

Also, I have no complaints about the Coincident Statement preamp. It turns out it does not have a remote and does have the Psvane tubes. It is as good as you said.

It might be that when you get to a certain high level some old favorite recordings are exposed as not sounding as good as they did in a previous set up that was at a lower level. I guess I don't want to make any sacrifices. I don't want to chase rainbows either.

I don't understand why you're using fiber optic with UltraRendu, you should be using OpticalRendu, and this with OpticalModule, both with quality lps. Assuming you have wired internet service, conversion to optical done at end of chain, just prior to dac, ie., opticalmodule>opticalrendu>usb to dac. Quality lps, even the DC cables make a difference, I was very surprised to hear the difference in DC cables, pretty much along lines AC cables make. Also, I've found switches to be of absolutely no use, this even with audiophile switch. Fast gaming level router with quality lps, wifi shut off, this will be system router, get second router, daisy chain this router to system router, enable wifi on this second or whole house router. This keeps things simple, quiet. Also quality ethernet cable, I use Audioquest Vodka.

 

And then the streamer itself is at least as important as dac! I tried a variety of streamers over perhaps ten years, all custom builds in my case. My present custom streamer uses $6k JCAT ATX Optimo lps, this just the power supply, rest of streamer uses all Enterprise level components. Now, you don't need to go to this admittedly extreme extent to get quality streaming. If I were to choose off the shelf, I'd go for Innuous, Aurender or Antipodes, best you can afford. This upgrade should be first for you, other things I mention above can wait, get a first class streamer and you'll be hearing full potential of 006, the rest I mention is icing on cake.

 

As for your Coincident pre, so you have the dual manual volume control version. This version has the two volume transformers, the other version with remote uses a single volume pot. Remote version doesn't have the resolution/transparency of TVC Statement. I can directly comment to this as I have the exact same volume setup with pot on my Coincident Turbo 845 so I can use as integrated, also has bypass of volume pot, far superior in bypass mode.

In regard to my streaming philosophy. Streaming is a chain, chain starts at internet service, ends at dac. Start with provider, faster service better, I use 1gb. Modem next, even this matters, Broadcom chip important. Router next (this important for wired net provider, optical service doesn't apply), router directly next to audio system, running router long distance from system requires long ethernet cable which means either keeping costs down by using inferior cable, one could use high cost cable, solves that issue but you still have greater losses vs. running long coax cable to router located at system. The other issue with running router at distance from system, most running this router as full house router, means wifi enabled (noise), no lps, so then they choose audiophile switch to isolate noise from system. Issue is you've already lost on noise floor issue at router, switch can't bring back what's been lost further up the chain. I run router at system, wifi disabled, quality lps plugged in via high quality AC cable to my power conditioner, I use short run of quality ethernet cable to network isolation card (JCAT Netcard XE). Conditioning ethernet can pay dividends as well. This goes into streamer which is maximally silent via Enterprise level components in streamer, these provide low latency  and low latency is what you're looking for in streamers, don't want signal lingering in noisy environment, quality power supply for streamer extremely important as well. Then I go really extreme with optical conversion, even transceivers and optical cable quality matters here. And then final link in chain, quality usb or I2S cable.

 

This all learned from direct experience with myriad streaming setups over many years. Treat each link in streaming chain with utmost care, then streaming can challenge any source for highest sound quality.