Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

Thank you kairosman, amreicanspirit, and batvac 2. For all you people telling me I should have put into my system an listen I never had physical possession of dac. The unit was shipped from China to the west coast for the review. I live on the east coast. For all parties involved it was decided to ship the unit to Jason at Midwest instead of to me for audition. The shipping of the unit back and forth was gonna start getting kind of expensive so we all decided that our solution to the problem best served everyone. Again jason an jinbo have acted professionally.  The ess hump as stated earlier has been addressed an solved by many dac manufacturers. The jitter issue an the spec issues need to be addressed by jinbo, which he has stated he will correct. I’m no shill for anyone. Again I find this asr acrimony almost humorous. I certainly do not have a problem enjoying the content of audiogon and asr. There are a lot of knowledge and kind people on both sites that are always willing to help other music lovers enjoy their hobby. There are also some peeps that are louder than they are smarter. Everyone just enjoy your music.

dear toddk31

I find your behavior perfect, I have nothing to say. thank you on behalf of all for allowing us to test your unit.

about your choice to return it, ditto.

I own a modified dx7 pro topping with OP Muses, a Gustrard x26 Pro and this week comes the MUSETC MH DA500.

I will perform blind listening tests by connecting them via SUPRA USB2 0.7m cable to a mcintosh mc152 amplifier via OEHLBACH XXL XLR 0.5m cable and to B&W 804 D3 speakers via QED Genesis Silver Spiral 1.5m cable.

soon I will be able to offer you my honest consideration based solely on blind listening (plus that of about twenty friends)

I agree the issues ASR measurements uncovered are problematic, plenty of dacs out there, many far less expensive superior measuring.

Which brings into question; how impactful are these measurements to ultimate sound quality? With so many finding 005 sound quality to be fine, how can this be? To repeat, would the 005 be improved with better measurements? Could 005 sound quality be optimized with these exact measurments? Perhaps at some point in 005 development, measured superior, sound quality inferior?

In response to any fair evaluation of audio component, I cannot account for anyone judging product without listening. These are audio products, manufactured exclusively for listening pleasure, not laboratory equipment meant for calibration to some fixed value.

Any OP knows that after launching a thread into the air here it's impossible to account for what direction it may take.  Nevertheless, as this extensive thread is now one year old, permit this OP a few words.  

The designer/manufacturer of this DAC has produced several DACs over the past 10 years or so.  They have been sold world-wide, though mostly in Asia, principally in Hong Kong.  Over the years this very small producer has gained a following. His following has been uniquely on the basis of his DACs' sound quality.  There is no promotion; there is no hype; there is no advertising.  In all the reading I've done I have never before come across a set of measurements for the DACs going back to the LKS MH-DA002.  Several folks here, including me, have had an LKS MH-DA004 and on the basis of listening, basically said to themselves: if this is what he can do for about $1500, I MUST hear what he can do for $3200.  Others, here on this list and elsewhere, bought this DAC based on the reports only of sound quality.  I think it is fair to say that, by and large, they like what they have heard and they are quite satisfied with the purchase.  They have written as much.  Their DACs sound just as good this week as they did last week.

The designer has written that he designs by ear and not by measurement.  He says designing for measurement is realtively easy.  At various stages he says he made changes that could improve measurements but reversed them if the sound quality, as he heard it, was not as good.  If that makes people very uncomfortable, they should probably look elsewhere for a DAC.  Over the course of this audio hobby, and some of us have been into it for a long time, that approach to design used to be lauded.  The designer has given an example in the lack of any feedback in his analog stage.  A lack of feedback is often advertised, and is generally understood to yield better sound quality but poorer measurements.  Op amp chips with feedback are thought to yield a kind of clean but sterile sound, well recognized in several popular DACs on the market.   In many other areas of audio, decisions are often made in favor of devices with poorer measurements than alternatives.  That would include tubes and analog sound generally.

No one here has ever said that the Musetec is the best of all DACs.  Like any DAC it may not be for everyone.  So please, let's keep it civil.  If someone says he likes another, perhaps even less expensive, DAC better than the Musetec let's just accept that and move on.  

And can we please move beyond toddk31's adventure.  That seems to have been a very personal set of decisions, and it is over.  It certainly has opened up a useful discussion of measurements versus listening as criteria for audio component design and selection, and I do not mean to discourage continuing dialog on that.  It's as old as audio as I wrote before noting that early solid state electronics was "proven" by measurements to outperform high quality tube units.  Modern solid state?  Modern tubes? Who knows?

Finally I agree about the measurements on the Musetec web site and have written to the maker about that.  I know nothing about business practices in China and what criteria obtain there.  That site is written in Chinese; the English is Google translate.  Nonetheless, it is what it is and should be changed or deleted.

As always a reasoned post by melm. I  for one have learned a valuable lesson. I do not feel bad for having given the dac to asr for review, Jason had no problem with sending to asr. I was not trying to pull a fast one and ambush musetec, Jason and I both assumed it would pass with flying colors. Oops it had some issues, ones I’m sure that will be addressed. If I ever do this again I would remain anonymous. I,ve been into audio for over 40 years and have bought owned and sold enough gear to last 2 lifetimes. It’s just stereo equipment people. I’m not a shill for anyone. I for the life of me can’t figure some peoples reaction to the review.  I’m glad Jason and jinbo were stand up guys and I would not hesitate to deal with him again. By the way Lordmelton I really liked my holo audio spring kte. I traded it in for the 005 and kept the 004 .I think Jason is gonna send it back to me. So back to were I started from. I would love to have someone send their 005 off to be tasted by someone else. That would make for some interesting reading, here and at asr.  Play some good music people and relax.