Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@jjss49 - Just curious what power supply you are using with the ifi streamer?

i’ve tried several upgrade ps’s for zenstream -- which i feel is essential to get it to sound as good as they say it does

[btw - the zs is not being used in my recent comparisons involving the 005.. i have the zs as an extra roon endpoint for when i want to listen to an older dacs w/oa usb in... i.e., my trusty musical fidelity trivista 21, or van alstine tube dac)]

the ifi one-step-up filtered upgrade ps works well (it actually used to be bundled with the zs when they first introduced it, but then they deleted it, swapping in a lame-o bottom of barrel swps, no doubt for cost savings) ... as does my 12v chi-fi teradak lps... but right now i am using a nicer sotm 3 rail or keces p3 2 rail ps, set on 9 volt

a nice thing about the z-s is that it can take a wide range of dc voltage inputs, anywhere from 7-12 vdc iirc

All - The more I use the 005 the more I like it. Around 4 hundred hours on it now. It mates up wonderfully with the Linn Klimax preamp & B&W 802D speakers.

yes i think i agree, the 005 brings a dose of warmth and lower mid body to the party, which the b&w can use... and the 005 treble is extended but refined, should keep those b&w metal dome tweets happy

@jjss49

Good morning. You once owned the AudioNote 4.1 DAC which many have praised for its natural tone and timbre as well as its emotionally involving nature. How does the 005 compare with the 4.1 in that area? Natural/authentic tone and timbre (Human voice and acoustic instruments) is probably my highest priority for audio components.

Thanks

Charles

@charles1dad

morning to you... up early to see if rory can get his holy grail at st andrews today!!

to reply to your query, unfortunately my ank 4.1 was gone before the 005 arrived so i cannot definitively report the sonic differences from direct trial/comparison

i had my 4.1 for about 18 mos, enjoyed it immensely, it surpassed so many well regarded sub-$5000 dacs i tried over that time (audio mirror, denafrips, sonnet/metrum, schiit and so on), but over time i found i preferred a (well done) variable output dac to run straight into power amps (i barely ever listen to records anymore as my digital front end has improved), the 4.1 sounded really wonderful but as you know, it is a giant square box tall wide and deep, and i could not use upsampling as the inputs are limited to 24-96

that said, my notes on the 4.1 sonically are as follows

- rich saturated sound, very clear treble (not in the least rolled off as one might expect from a tube output dac) - i suspect one can play with this by tube rolling the 5687 output stage tubes, but mine came with excellent old stock tungsols which i did not fool with, i know from my earlier experience with dan wright’s tube gear that they are tip-top examples of that tube type

- luscious well embodied midrange with a wonderful dimensionality that great tube gear brings, very pure tone/timbre - solo piano on that thing was sooo lovely, effortless detail with weight and body, very realistic attack and decay

- bass was pretty tight pretty fast but did not plumb lowest register quite as well as the best, at the same time, there was great air and natural reverb to bass notes (think audio research reference series tube amp bass, versus pass labs solid state bass)

- the unit imaged very well, but not quite as well as the best of what i am enjoying now (chord stack, msb), i must say i have (reluctantly) become a believer in well implemented upsampling and filtering in dacs, in my experience it really restores (or embodies) the music with spatial cues, and clean resolution of more complex passages...

from memory (always a little suspect) i would venture to say that the 005 vs 4.1 -- about same in the treble (both top notch, transparent without any digititis), 005 bass more solid/deep but less tuneful, 4.1 midrange tone and body somewhat more ’magical’, soundstaging/ambient retrieval 4.1 somewhat better - how’s that for an audiophile’s word salad??... 🤣

hope that helps

@jjss49 how’s that for an audiophile’s word salad??... 🤣

hope that helps

It is “very” helpful and insightful. I sincerely appreciate your impressions.

BTW, McIlroy is looking good as the leader thus far.
Charles

Someone I know was home demoing the Weiss. From what he described it seemed like a better Benchmark DAC3B. The 005 is not like the DAC3B.

The Musetec 005 sounds more like this one.

Resonessence Labs Mirus DAC | Wall of Sound | Audio and Music Reviews

A shame these guys are no more. They are the guys who previously designed the ESS chip.