I’m genuinely curious why there are some audiophiles that don’t like to hold companies to account for their marketing?
Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC
Some history: I was the OP on a four year old thread about the Chinese LKS MH-DA004 DAC. It achieved an underground buzz. The open architecture of its predecessor MH-DA003 made it the object of a lot of user mods, usually to its analog section, rolling op amps or replacing with discrete. The MH-DA004 with its new ESS chips and JFET analog section was called better then the modified older units. It has two ES9038pro DAC chips deliberately run warm, massive power supply, powered Amanero USB board, JFET section, 3 Crystek femtosecond clocks, Mundorf caps, Cardas connectors, etc., for about $1500. For this vinyl guy any reservation about ESS chips was resolved by the LKS implimentaion, but their revelation of detail was preserved, something that a listener to classic music especially appreciated. I made a list of DACs (many far more expensive) it was compared favorably to in forums. Modifications continued, now to clocks and caps. Components built to a price can be improved by costlier parts and the modifiers wrote glowingly of the SQ they achieved.
Meanwhile, during the 4 years after release of the MH-DA004, LKS (now Musetec) worked on the new MH-DA005 design, also with a pair of ES9038pro chips. This time he used more of the best components available. One torroidal transformer has silver plated copper. Also banks of super capacitors that act like batteries, solid silver hookup wire, 4 femtoclocks each costing multiples of the Crysteks, a revised Amanero board, more of the best European caps and a new partitioned case. I can't say cost NO object, but costs well beyond. A higher price, of course. Details at http://www.mu-sound.com/DA005-detail.html
The question, surely, is: How does it sound? I'm only going to answer indirectly for the moment. I thought that the MH-DA004 was to be my last DAC, or at least for a very long time. I was persuaded to part with my $$ by research, and by satisfaction with the MH-DA004. Frankly, I have been overwhelmed by the improvement; just didn't think it was possible. Fluidity, clarity, bass extension. A post to another board summed it up better than I can after listening to piano trios: "I have probably attended hundreds of classical concerts (both orchestral and chamber) in my life. I know what live sounds like in a good and bad seat and in a good and mediocre hall. All I can say is HOLY CRAP, this sounds like the real thing from a good seat in a good hall. Not an approximation of reality, but reality."
Meanwhile, during the 4 years after release of the MH-DA004, LKS (now Musetec) worked on the new MH-DA005 design, also with a pair of ES9038pro chips. This time he used more of the best components available. One torroidal transformer has silver plated copper. Also banks of super capacitors that act like batteries, solid silver hookup wire, 4 femtoclocks each costing multiples of the Crysteks, a revised Amanero board, more of the best European caps and a new partitioned case. I can't say cost NO object, but costs well beyond. A higher price, of course. Details at http://www.mu-sound.com/DA005-detail.html
The question, surely, is: How does it sound? I'm only going to answer indirectly for the moment. I thought that the MH-DA004 was to be my last DAC, or at least for a very long time. I was persuaded to part with my $$ by research, and by satisfaction with the MH-DA004. Frankly, I have been overwhelmed by the improvement; just didn't think it was possible. Fluidity, clarity, bass extension. A post to another board summed it up better than I can after listening to piano trios: "I have probably attended hundreds of classical concerts (both orchestral and chamber) in my life. I know what live sounds like in a good and bad seat and in a good and mediocre hall. All I can say is HOLY CRAP, this sounds like the real thing from a good seat in a good hall. Not an approximation of reality, but reality."
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I bet the list would be extremely large. If you want to enjoy music, the key is to audition in your home, in your listening environment and with your set of gears and ears. There is no substitute, no matter what. |
I would agree that misleading or exaggerated marketing by companies is not desirable. I suspect that given a choice, most reasoned audiophiles/music lovers place far more priority on how a given audio product actually sounds since this is ostensibly why it was purchased in the first place. Sonic performance > marketing hype. Charles |
I agree that listening is important. For example, Revel Speakers uses extensive measurements in their product development but only release products when they come out on top of double blind listening tests against the competition. Personally, I want gear that sounds good *and* is well engineered. Call me a perfectionist if you will. This is the purpose of having equipment measured. I’d like to know whether I’m being sold a bill of goods or buying state of the art.
Frankly, I don’t understand the animosity towards @toddk31. The way I see it, he did the community a favor by purchasing a retail unit and sending it in for measurements. What might a publication receive? A special ’review sample’ that may not be indicative of the true performance you’re getting. The same goes for ASR / Amir. He measures gear that is often overlooked by the big publications and he makes all of this data available free of charge. Sure, the members of his forum can be downright nasty, but no more so than how someone here would react to an ’objectivist’ stance.
Now, I think the bigger question should be: after reading about how great this DAC sounds, the measurements show significant amounts of jitter on the digital interfaces (AES / USB). I bet none of those reviews ever mentioned anything about the effects of said jitter on the DAC's performance. Why is it that the knee-jerk reaction to less than stellar measurements is to simply throw out this tenet of audiophile wisdom? |
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