Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@benzman

System matching is always a critical issue. I’ve always opted for neutrality in each component if I can find it. You may be able to compensate a bit with tubes in your preamp, the same as I use.

I think your focus on the DAC chips may miss the point. The difference between the Lumin and the Musetec is obviously not in the chips, though the Lumin uses a pair of 9028s and the Musetec a pair of 9038s. The differences would be in the power supplies and the analog stages and the differences are quite substantial. I would not expect these two DAC to sound anywhere near alike.

Now more directly to your question. I think most people here think of the Musetec as quite neutral. With a speaker on the bright side that may present a challenge. The Cary includes a streamer; the Musetec does not. Does the Cary integrate better with your system than did the Lumin? The question may be about what you are looking for that the Cary doesn’t quite deliver? You might reread @dbb’s comparative review.

Assuming you’re in the US, one thing you might do is inquire with the dealer in Indiana about a trial period. Another possibility is to communicate with Shenzhen (who are currently running a sale) with precision about their return policy. But, as I wrote earlier, no one who has tried this DAC in their system as yet wanted to return it.

@benzman These kinds of questions are hard to answer to my way of thinking. With each of us likely having totally unique systems, generalizations hard to ascertain. Having said that, based on my experience and others, I'd say the number one or most salient feature of this dac is it's incredible resolving capabilities. Flavor is where differences may come to fore, between systems and listener's sound quality preferences come to color their evaluations. Having said that, I have yet to see someone describing this dac as warm, I'm in total agreement there. Yet, this dac not clinical or cold, and I've yet to see someone describing it in this manner as well.  So what are we left with, total neutrality? Seems really bizarre that with all manner of systems, 005 seems to continually land here, makes one wonder about the actual existence of a truly neutral sounding audio component?

My take is the 005 simply resolves at such a high level it may be novelty of sudden newfound information that mesmerizes in short term. Over the long term, as one gets acclimated to hearing what was formerly omitted, we begin to ascertain flavor. Even after nearly two years of ownership and many changes within my system I continue to have great difficulty in describing some sort of overarching flavor of this dac. There was a single short lived time where I thought it somewhat analytical after what turned out to be an ill thought change. Mostly what I hear is live performers in room, actual real organic presences, not a lot of thinking or imagination required to get this sense. So, bottom line for me, extreme resolution with natural flavor, I feel no desire to even try another dac at any price.

The strangest thing about owning this dac for me is it's relatively low price of $3k. By all rights total cost of my system should call for $10k up dac, and I often feel this bias that 005 is too cheap, couldn't possibly be the best I could do, and then next listening session eliminates that thought from my mind. At some point I may have to scratch this itch and purchase $10k up dac.

Trying to bring this back to a more general sense of interest. My active pre and amps are both directly heated triode tubes, 300BSET and 845SET, way modded Klipshcorns which are extremely resolving and great pains to provide natural timbre which stock Klipsch doesn't do so well. But then I've also used 005 with more modest equipment like Schitt Saga+ pre, Prima Luna Dialogue Four push pull amp and Musical Fidelity M2SI integrated amp. I never felt extremely deprived with any of it, and never heard sins of commission. All in all, my experience and what I'm hearing from others is 005 is just fine in many different systems. Still waiting to see the first negative review.

I thought I'd chime in here and share my opinion of this DAC.  My system was just slightly to the warm side of neutral using Ayre, Pass Labs, and Verity Audio Parsifal Encore speakers. I like where it's at and find it very musical.  If anything I have been looking for just a bit more transparency and resolution.  I certainly did not want a warm DAC nor did I want a cold, clinical hyper revealing DAC.  The Musetec DA-005 fit the bill perfectly. I would call it neutral with the ability to provide a level of clarity that revealed very subtle but noticeable details within the soundstage.  The increased clarity was the most prominent change I noticed and it came without any digital nasties or stridency.  I am very happy with this DAC.

Thanks for replies

@sns. I had The Merlin VSM MXR with the Master Bam . Great speaker. My buddy has a pair of Black Magic’s that he bought from Bobby about a year before he passed. They are for sale if you know anybody

While chipsets may not tell the whole story each manufacture has their house sound. An AKM will never sound like a Sabre (at least not the dacs I have been thru). 
My system sounds real good but I know there is more. My room is dead quiet, < 30db.  Just looking for a little more transparency and a little “bite”. To me smooth is not the best thing in audio. Live performances are certainly not smooth.   
I will have a Bricasti M3 with streamer in the house soon and going to grab the 005 and will see how it plays out. 

@benzman 

I agree with the other comments. You will probably hear natural realistic details in the music that you didn't notice before. Brightness is just not in the equation. In a poor implementation  brightness is a cheap trick to suggest resolution. In the actual real sound of music it is unrelated.