L.K.S. or Musetec was a lottery ticket a few years ago. The L.K.S. 004 already had an unheard of price/quality level. The successor Musetec 005 goes well beyond in terms of refinement. Just like the 004, you have to set the bandwidth (DPLL) and filter settings for best results. Because I use a separate high-end preamp the volume control is set to bypass. That gives the best results. The settings DPLL 'BW-07' and filter on 'Slow -L' can be glued as far as I'm concerned. Use the I2S input in combination with a Pink Faun streamer equipped with an I2S Audio Bridge. The only tweak was replacing the fuse with a superb ACME SB fuse with CFC.
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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What is the logic behind the DLL settings? Are people setting it by listening or is there some guidance provided. I have been using the 01 setting with USB, but I just tried the 07 setting and the sound maybe a bit livelier. I need to do some more comparisons tomorrow. ************* I met up with my musician and hardware vender friend today at his shop. We connected my Musetec 005 to his CD player via COAX and then listened on his monitor speakers. He pointed out an issue he had at around 375 Hz where he said the sound is scooped. That is a slight dip in the frequency response. He had a Benchmark DAC3L in the shop and we compared that frequency range between the 2 DACs and the DAC3L sounded a bit better there. However, overall, the DAC3L could not go toe-to-toe with the 005. I also have the DAC3B at home and the comparisons we did today, made me want to get a second 005 to replace the DAC3B Overall, the consensus was that the 005 was so smooth and a great DAC. He wanted me to keep the 005 in the shop for a while. I said NO. I also listened to a new headphone amp he was bringing to market. The 005 was stunning with this amp.
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@melm Yes thank you, I have enjoyed this DAC better than any other piece of equipment since I bought my Naim Nait 2 back in the ’80s. I remember back then that no HIFI magazines (no internet then..lol) would review Naim because they wouldn’t pay or bribe their way to good reviews, but as you know the rest is history. I wouldn’t call the 005 a giant killer or anything else like that, what I would call it is a carefully designed, crafted and sourced DAC. I haven’t opened my 005 but just by looking at pics online you can see the build quality of the PCB. It’s on par with any of the traditional high end manufacturers. They not only built or highly modified their own Amanero board they also put an extra oscillator on it and additionally modified those oscillators to Musetec spec. This sort of detail is completely unheard of. Companies like DCS (which I’ve followed since Elgar), Weiss and others have had it far too easy for far too long. As I’ve said here many times you can buy a 005 and a top flight streamer for the price of one of those over priced DACs. The sad part about it is too many people just trust the price and not their ears. I’m not going to insult any particular users but there are many out there that just buy products for the name. They don’t want to hear the sound just look at the name. When I listen to the 005 I hear nothing lacking or I wish was different, just wonderful sound and this is coming from someone who grew up with vinyl and knows all about analogue. I’m getting the best sound ever now. |
@mresseguie A quick look shows the Nuprime Evolution DAC looking like a nice DAC at about the same price as the Musetec. It uses one ES9038PRO DAC chip, compared to the Musetec’s two. It also seems to have rollable op amps in its analog circuit. The Musetec doesn’t. The SW1X is far more expensive, uses tubes and an older Philips DAC chip so is in a whole different world. It looks like any one of these might provide you with fine audio. It is not easy to order a multi kilobuck DAC that’s not well known. Here, we’ve all been through that. But there has yet to be a report of disappointment--or a return where permitted. |
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