@sns -Thanks for the overview response. Very detailed, giving me a lot to consider. I've rotated Mytek 192, Ayre and Wyred 4 Sound through my system, and think you hit the nail on the head about the revealing nature with regard to poorer recordings. That's when and where the glare would be most prominent.
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 read your posts with interest. I use all tubes (Rogue) but for the Musetec DAC. I am surprised by your comment that age brings about sensitivity to higher frequencies, as I’ve always thought the opposite. In any event, some tube rolling can tone things down. Like dbb, my interest is in classical music, IMO the most difficult to reproduce. And, as in analog, detail matters. I continue to compare digital to my analog (still all tubes) and I find it comparable. Sometimes, but not always, the same recordings sound eerily near each other, but for the usual analog sounds. I find the Musetec to be a truth machine and to be extremely responsive to what comes before it in the digital chain. I use an SOtM unit as a DLNA device with a very simple laptop running JRiver. As I wrote in another place, even adding an $18 ethernet switch and having my hard disk server bypass the router yielded a surprising SQ benefit. Is an audiophile switch in my future? I don’t know. I have also found it quite responsive to the USB cable, and I do recommend that the Musetec is optimized for USB. But it needn’t be an expensive cable. The DAC seems so cleanly extended at the frequency extremes that a simple solid core copper is doing better for me than expensive silver wires. That being said, as a truth machine it will reveal the truth of your software, sometimes as gloriously recorded; sometimes not so much. Did we not go through exactly the same thing in analog? it seems that you have a great deal of experience with a variety of DACs and have not yet settled on a Sigma-Delta v. R2R. I don’t yet know whether you are sufficiently convinced about the Musetec, but the current sale price at Shenzhen is attractive and they offer a 30 day No Reason Return. While you would probably have to cover return shipping, that is likely to be less, for example, than the 5% restocking fee plus 2 way postage for a return of a Schiit Yggdrasil to California. Perhaps that adds some perspective. Good luck to you whichever direction you go. |
@melm -Thanks for your comments and insight. I agree not everyone develops sensitivities to higher frequencies as they age. In my case, I have. Too many years of screaming kids in school environments with terrible acoustics. With that said, I put in my order for the 005. It's a no-brainer, frankly. The price and return policy convinced me it's worth auditioning and hopefully keeping. I am excited! |
@wharfy I look forward to hearing your impressions. |
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