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."

melm

I am wondering if DAC stands for “Drive Anyone Crazy” !!

I am educating myself on forums and YouTube vids in my quest to upgrade from my Bel Canto DAC2 and a Monarchy DIP fed by a BLUESOUND Node2i via Cat8 Supra. I have a MFA MAGUS A2 recapped by Scott Franklin and I sure enjoy it and definitely want to keep it in my system. So now I am going “crazy” with all my choices ( budget up to 5K if need be but prefer 2-3K) but actually I am enjoying all the threads and being retired I have ample time to listen to music while reading. 
Some of the DACs I am considering are the Holo May, Musetec 005, Dennafripp Pontus II, RME, another Bel Canto DAC and Benchmark DAC3L.

An interesting note is that I was able to actually speak on the phone to a gentleman  at Bel Canto which was refreshing and when I called Benchmark twice I spoke with Rory who answered all my questions and was very patient. Rory to his credit volunteered their return policy and suggested I try it and return it if not happy. That is standing by your product and displays confidence in the product(s).

So, I feel like I need in an ideal world an R2R DAC and a CHIP DAC to compare and play around with.  

 

@agentwja  Of dacs you mentioned Denafrips Terminator more in this class, RME a step down, this based other's reviews and comparisons.

 

I agree it would be informative to audition both R2R and chip dac together, just be sure  both in same segment of market. I've seen too many comparisons of dacs with different topologies in different market segments where one comes out on top and the other condemned.

 

My take is the top dacs can all be pleasurable in right system, one is matching flavors more than resolving differences. The less obvious differences, which may include micro dynamics, timbre, tonality will take longer term listening to ascertain.

@agentwja
You write of the possibility of getting an R2R DAC and a chip DAC to compare. If you look around you can see that it’s been done here by two fair and credible audiophiles with no commercial interest in either. Moreover it was done with two very different audio systems and (probably) with two very different choices of music. That would be by @pt999 in this very thread comparing the Musetic with dual ESS9038pro chips and the Holo Audio May KTE. The other is by by @dbb in the thread, https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/review-holo-may-l2-dac-and-the-musetec-audio-lks-audio-mh-da005-da, comparing the Musetec with the Holo Audio May L2 DAC. Despite their personal differences, they came to very similar conclusions, to wit, these DACs are very close in performance. I’d like to speculate why that might be.

There is a great effort by the industry to promote the differing technologies in the digital realm. Whether they promote the R2R technology, the ESS9038pro or other chips or the chips they develop themselves using FPGA chips. Two of these technologies are relatively expensive to produce. That would be today’s R2R technology and the FPGA chips.

The R2R technology of today is a discrete one. It is made of many individual parts, including lots of precision resisters. In parts and labor, that is expensive. Some time ago R2R chips were easily available so all of these parts and this labor were collapsed onto a relatively inexpensive chip. And in the digital realm, it seems, chips work as well as discrete. But these chips are no more, but for some NOS.

Programming an FPGA chip is an alternative to paying anywhere from $20 to $95 (in small quantities) to companies like TI, AKM or ESS for their chips. It takes many man-hours to do it. That costs money. Whether the result can outperform the three decades and three generations of ESS chip development, for example, is a question that has not been answered, for me anyway. But it does give companies that do it the promotional possibility of differentiating their product. "Our chip is better, like no other, and it can be updated!"

All of which leads to my personal conclusion that none of this matters as much as the more important considerations of a DAC. Makers who purchase the relatively inexpensive chips can put their resources here. They are: (1) Power supply and (2) analog section. There are some very well known and very expensive DACs that use cheap power supplies. There are some very expensive and very well known DACs that use cheap analog chips as the basis for their analog section. IMO one of the reasons that the DACs in the two comparisons above sounded both very good and very much like each other is that they both have fine power supply sections and fine discrete analog sections.

How can you tell when a DAC has a good power supply and/or a good analog section? You must look inside and see. Or find a review that does that for you, rather than just recite a list of audiophile platitudes and call that a review.

I’m not here to denigrate any brand, but two you list have been around for a very long while and one of them, at least, is well known to have a sound signature particular to the brand. Also, look inside and compare. This is a fast moving segment.

@melm @jc4659 -Just an update on the thrill I am having pairing the Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 and the Musetec DA005 DAC. I believe the synergy between the two is perfect to my ears, using the AES//EBU connection. I've had the DAC long enough to be well through the burn-in period, over 400 hours, and am enjoying the "new sounds" I'm hearing from oft-listened to CDs.

As an aside, I have a Aurender music server with a USB connector that sounds terrific because the DAC is USB optimized. When I get time I'm going to venture into CD burning because of what I've been reading on this thread.