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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
lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

By the way, please do not show your ignorance. Mola Mola is a brand name; the Dac is the Tambaqui. Your comment is equivalent to "Have you bought your Panasonic yet", @laoman

So there you go again worrying about what something is called, not how it sounds.

So which DAC did you buy?

sns
3,299 posts
 

Romazicon's experience just goes to show how much synergy matters in system. He has a very resolving system and I believe his impressions legitimate.

 

I too have seen less than stellar reviews of earlier iterations of Amamarro usb boards. I've no fault with board in 005 with my streaming setup, YMMV as Romazicon did. Just goes to show how incredibly complex streaming setups can be, some recipes work, some don't. I don't think he heard full potential of 005 in his setup just as other setups may not  allow other dacs to reach their full potential.

 

The one thing I found interesting is the smearing he heard,  I've tried various streaming networks since getting 005, never heard any of this. I did hear excessive precision with one setup. I'm expecting to hear a  near sota server in my system in short order, should be interesting. I'm also in process of building/modding new server at present, so another  point of reference.

ja_kub_sz's avatar
ja_kub_sz
273 posts
 

@lordmelton @laoman  I just hooked up and listen to my Tambaqui today for about 30 minutes after letting it heat up on my amp. Not that I can say anything definitive other then I really like it. Haven't A/B tested the 005 with it, but right out of the gates I was like "this is something different AND good" when shotgunning it against the 005.

lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

@sns The Taiko has been promoted as the be all and end all of servers/streamers.

If it needs an ASIO driver it must be running a Windows ecosystem.

The "smearing" could have come from anywhere. I've never experienced it.

The best driver is no driver and Linux and Apple support this protocol.

This is why Linux is used in critical applications.

I was surprised that the Taiko offered nothing to the MSB DAC, Aurender N30 will be tested next. Maybe more dreams will be shattered.

debjit_g
280 posts
 

 

Taiko runs an optimized Windows 10 ltsc. There has been lots of proprietary optimization in it.

 

The best driver is no driver and Linux and Apple support this protocol.

 

Not really. Every OS has a driver for a chipset. The chipset cannot runs its own when its interacting with s/w components, for example when using a music s/w like Roon, the data stream is sent out the the USB chip for which you need a driver (mainly called device driver in the s/w world) that does some critical aspect of sent/receive data from the h/w. Its just that Linux and Apple OSX has UAC2 complaint driver that can work with any USB controller which is UAC2 complaint. Windows doesn’t have a UAC2 complaint driver and hence it needs the chip manufacturer to provide its own driver. There are pros and cons to this approach but its out of topic for this thread. Just know that there is always a driver running, irrespective of what OS you are using.

 

This is why Linux is used in critical applications.

 

Linux provides more control to its users since its Open Source. Windows and Mac OSX is not. Linux also provides a way to run it in a Real time manner. I have extensively used Linux for audio applications for years. I started with Windows server 2016 using Jplay, AO2.0, etc and then moved to Linux as it sounded better. After using Linux for several yrs, I tried experimenting with Windows 10 again since Microsoft has a come a long way re-writing many stuff in the OS. Currently I prefer an optimized Windows 10 Pro over Linux purely for sound quality reasons.

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