Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@car123
I have often recommended Audioquest Pearl as a good and safe USB cable. It’s a solid core cable. Solid core was first recommended to me for digital by a well-respected cable guru on another site. The Pearl is inexpensive, well enough made and, in my experience, does the spatial thing well. IMO it’s a great basic cable against which to test other cables. The Pearl, though, may not provide sufficient sparkle in the sound, for me, and I have been testing other cables against it myself, including one or two old cables in the closet. One never knows. The Audioquest line continues with solid core only and adds different amounts of silver coating all the way up to solid core silver, and it gets expensive. Amazon USA has a liberal return policy so you can try a cable pretty easily. Since there is no 5V current running through our cable we can concentrate entirely on how the digital signal is carried.

I found this discussion on USB cables quite valuable.  Perhaps you have seen it.

@twoleftears
You may be perfectly correct, though this DAC has hardly "hit the big time." No one has ever said this was the best DAC in the world, only that it represents value. The problem for many audiophiles is the lack of reliability of even the "professional" reviews, never mind the many amateurs. Stereophile, perhaps the best, has DACs ranging from $1406 to $30,000 on its A+ list. It’s ridiculous. Do you remember what the A+ list was defined to be initially? I, for one, read the reviews principally to find out what the physical product is. I then dig deeper, if possible, to find out what’s inside the component for it cannot give more than it has. My best purchase decisions, though, were made by looking for lots of user comments, just like those here.

As you can see this thread has been populated principally by owners who have purchased subsequent to the start of the thread. Many have integrated the DAC into very high quality audio systems. I continue to be astonished at the thread’s growth.

There was one 005 for sale in usaudiomart just a few days back. I asked the seller what DAC he preferred. He courteously replied that he preferred the Holo Audio May by a good margin. Most DACs in this price range are mostly system dependent. 005 seems like a great value and so are other DACs, like the Matrix Audio Element series which has an immaculate measurements. Like many, I have gone through a fair share of DACs (PS Audio DS, Denafrips Terminator, Lampizator A3 & B3, Matrix Audio Element X, Chord, Aqua and many more) and I strongly believe, there is no "one be it all" dac in the market today. I am pretty sure the 005 (or any dacs in these price range) is not going to turn my audio world upside down with my jaw dropped to the floor but it might just be a good last 2% better match in my system than my existing dac and this why I am curious to try one.

@twoleftears actually the Kinki studio integrated not only has a great value but it also has a phenomenal sound for its price. I had one. Once you start rolling the opamps, the integrated can perform well beyond expectation. You would be hard pressed to find one at this price range.

I see Apos  audio in Ca selling it for $3395

@melm Regarding USB I’m currently using a Crystal Clear Audio Magnum Opus ll USB

Which I bought off Audiogon. It’s a very good cable and it’s kept up with all the improvements I’ve made to my system.

However top of the heap seems to be Shunyata Omega USB, Final Touch Sinope USB, and the Z:Axis Reference USB, but not sure if this is available yet?

All these cables are $2-3k new and even if you can find used the discount won’t be great.

On paper the Final Touch Sinope looks the most promising it’s used almost exclusively by Aries Cerat DAC owners.

Couple of weeks ago I ordered this, It’s an Amanero board to I2s made by LKS so the RJ45 and HDMI wiring is the same as the 005.

$206 bucks shipped from Shenzhen Audio, thought it’s worth a try. Currently waiting for stock.

@lordmelton

That LKS unit is a very old model, even proceeding the LKS 003 IIRC. That and the Singxer were popular before the DAC makers brought the function on board. It cannot be as good as what you already have in the Musetec. But who knows?

@audioman58

As reported here earlier, Apos comes up first for some reason whenever Musetec is Googled. It’s been "out of stock" there for over a year.

@debjit_g

Very interesting, and thanks for the report. The Musetec was on USAudiomart for only 5 days and the asking price was $2900. As it sold rather quickly I’m guessing the asking price was met, or close; that’s just a guess. If so, that’s pretty good, I think. Many folks paid under $3000 for the DAC on sale.

The seller was pt999 who had a Holo May and posted his detailed comparison of the two DACs right here.  He said he was keeping the DAC, after first deciding to return it. His last and most detailed post is on 12-24-2021 at 1:49am, p. 7 if you’re sorting new first. He describes his audio system as a high sensitivity system built around Edgarhorns. In any event it’s a very useful data point for potential purchasers of either DAC, Holo or Musetec.