Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@yyzsantabarbara

I too was curious about a Denafrips DDC almost a year ago.  I would like to share my experience for what it's worth.  About a year ago, I briefly owned a Denafrips Hermes DDC (Gais's little brother) and a Terminator Plus DAC.  The Plus provided two clock signals to the Hermes via two $26 clock cables and the Hermes provided an I2S signal to the Plus via an $80 HDMI cable.  Upstream of the Hermes, I had my USB chain at the time which consisted of the opticalRendu, Uptone ISO Regen, and Innuous Phoenix USB.  The oR and ISO Regen had a DC power solution better than Farad Super3 power supplies with upgraded cables.  The USB chain was finished off with the excellent Shunyata Alpha USB cable.  Side note: someone mentioned The Cable Company's lending library above and I used that service to demo the Alpha USB cable about 2 years ago.  It's a service I like to use now and then.

At the time, I also owned a Benchmark DAC3 B.  For both the Terminator Plus and the DAC3, I preferred the full USB chain without the Hermes clocked by the Plus.  I mentioned the cost of the clock and HDMI cables above because I believe they were weak links in the comparison especially when going up against the Shunyata Alpha USB cable which is now retailing for $1500.  So this is the tricky part with trying to compare any DAC's USB input to say the same DAC's AES input.  The digital cable and everything else up the chain from it matter so it's not even close to being an apples to apples comparison.  I also ended up preferring the music from the DAC3 over the Plus.  Knowing I was going to sell the Denafrips gear and get some funds, I ordered a new streamer to see if it could beat my USB chain.  That's how I arrived to my current streamer the Grimm MU1.  And based on my experience with Shunyata digital cables I didn't fool around and bought their top of the line Shunyata Omega AES cable.  This streamer and cable is now what I use on the 005 and the Benchmark DAC3 DX.

Regarding DAC pricing, I preferred the $2000 DAC to the $6000 DAC so it's not hard for me to believe a $3000 DAC can be better than a much higher priced DAC.  After comparing the DAC3 to the Plus, I thought I had to go the Tambaqui level to get a really good improvement but I'm very happy to say the 005 has given me what I wanted at a much lower price point.  This last weekend was one of my best listening sessions ever with the Sennheiser IE900 and Benchmark HPA4. 

I would like to thank yyzsantabarbara for helping me find the 005.  I found his experience wit the Benchmark DAC3 mirrored my experience exactly down to selling it at one point and rebuying it.  So naturally when he upgraded to the 005, I knew I had to try.  Great decision!

@sirnui I find your experiments extremely interesting. In my limited experience and knowledge of clocks I find a number of issues. I recently tried an audiophile network switch with TXCO clock (marketed as OXCO clock) inferior to router straight out to server. I heard what impressed me as an excessive clocking sound quality in that images too tightly drawn. I've since learned clock incompatibility is real issue, frequency, square wave vs sine wave. Clock cables and cable length also have bearing on sq.

Do I understand you correctly in that you're using AES input on 005 vs USB? Have you tried USB input with 005 in present setup?

I have to say I'm biased against Denafrips gear since trying Hyperion amp a few years ago. Dark and veiled, small sound stage, two dimensional imaging, not even close to my push pull and SET tube amps, or even a Musical Fidelity M2si I was auditioning at same time. I thought anyone voicing component to sound like that was playing voicing games with an entire Denafrips setup. I want my components to sound neutral, I have other means to voice.

I just wanted to provide an update on my experience with the Musetec DA-005.  I am running two inputs into the DAC: one from my CD player being used as a transport and one from my MacBook Pro playing local files using Audirvana and streaming using Qobuz.  My CD player is a Meridian 508.24 which has a dying laser but some discs it has had no trouble reading. The digital output is via optical using Lifatec glass fiber and is fed into a Wyred4Sound reclocker. The output from the W4S is coaxial using a DH Labs Silver Sonic bnc cable with RCA adaptors and is fed into Coaxial 1 input of the Musetec. I have tried every configuration possible and with and without the W4S reclocker and I have found the above worked best in my system. Redbook CDs sound silky smooth with no glare and tremendous clarity. The soundstage and placement of instruments is also excellent.  I am currently using a MacBook Pro to play digital files and stream using the USB output from the laptop via a Curious USB cable.  I have tried using a Uptone IsoRegen but found no significant difference in sound so currently I am running the Curious cable directly into the usb input of the Musetec DAC.  The sound is not quite as enjoyable as redbook CDs but I suspect the MacBook Pro is a big limitation here.  My next purchase will be a streamer so I may be picking some brains for recommendations and then after that a dedicated transport.  The Musetec DAC has been a great addition and may just be the best component in my current system or that I have ever owned.  It is not going anywhere. 

@sirnui That is great to hear that you are at a good place with your gear. I can say the same.

@sns My experience with network switches has been very good. I owned an Innuos PhoenixNet switch and I liked it very much. The improvements I heard were obvious. I demo’ed the Synergistic switch as well but the PhoenixNet had a more relaxed sound. I sold the PhoenixNet recently not because I found something better but because I wanted funds partially to buy the 005 and also because I thought I might get similar performance from a slightly cheaper switch. My current switch is the Paul Pang Quad (still breaking in) and so far it’s sounding good but the true test will come when I connect the streamer straight to the router to compare. In between owning the PhoenixNet and the Quad, I had in the system a $16 D-Link DES 105 switch that was powered by an iFi iPower and grounded to my Shunyata Everest power distributor. This little guy did not embarrass itself. I could tell it was not as refined as the PhoenixNet but I still enjoyed it. It’s definitely the best bang for your buck switch I’ve tried. In all cases an ENO ethernet filter and cable connected the switch to streamer.

Yes, I’ve only tried the AES input of the 005. However, even though it’s not optimized for USB, my streamer has the ability to output USB . I still have the ISO Regen, a Cardas Clear USB cable, and a good power supply so I will connect all of this to the streamer and give USB a try this weekend. If this USB solution comes close to my AES solution, then I will have some thinking to do. The Grimm MU1 streamer has some tricks that it does on the AES output such as up-sampling all redbook tracks to 176.4K/192K 24bits so it won’t be a fair fight. This up-sampling in theory allows the DAC to not work as hard (because all DACs up-sample internally) and therefore the DAC should sound better. Less activity is less noise/distortion.

I liked the Terminator Plus when I had it. It had an amazing open sound that is unlike anything I’ve experienced. I didn’t keep it because the DAC3 performed better on 70% of the other musical qualities that I listen for. I briefly thought about keeping it but I had to sell it because improving my system elsewhere was much more important than having a secondary DAC.  I haven't looked back.