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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
benzman's avatar
benzman
385 posts
 

I had just sold my Rogue RP7 with NOS tubes prior to getting the 005

I miss it already. My Dac was my only source so it didn’t make sense to me to use a 5k linestage for one source. Maybe a tube buffer down the road  

I have a bunch of higher end cables coming in this week to hopefully fine tune the system  

 

lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

@melm Hi, From my Aurender N20 I am feeding Digital XLR direct to my 005 and USB to the L.K.S. converter then I2s HDMI to the 005.

This enables me to switch on the fly between I2s and XLR using the 005 remote.

Yes I could have got the L.K.S. LPS but I really wasn’t expecting much here. So I borrowed what I needed. I’ll probably go for a three way DC LPS to save money on power cables because I want an LPS for my router and TV box too.

You don’t need any I2s cables for this setup just ordinary unmodified HDMI or Ethernet cables.

It’s like a component upgrade. I’s not subtle.

All my gear is solid state.

sns
3,003 posts
 

As some of you know, I had Singxer SU6, while lordmelton may be getting fine sound quality from I2s, I never felt a single urge to try I2s as I simply couldn't imagine I2s giving me anymore than what I had, have since sold SU6.

 

Adding the I2s to my system at the time meant giving up the SOTM SMS200Neo I was running as streamer at the time, powered by Uptone JS2, and AQ Diamond USB for the SU6 and it's inferior (to JS2) power supply, and inferior I2S cable, made no sense to even try.

 

Also, I never want to give up two computer and/or separate server/streamer solution with Roon. I find Roon to sound much better when separating core from endpoint. My next player experiments planned will involve Audirvana Studio, AudioLinux and Euphony Stylus. Each will be run on it's own PCIe SSD, comparisons will be easy since I have simple access to SSD in server. After recent conversation with Alex Crespi of Uptone Audio, I learned very worthwhile to experience different players and computer OS.

 

As regards flavor and/or getting full potential of 005, I know this has been mentioned previously, active preamp is a must, the higher quality the better. Pre's likely have more influence on sound quality of source components than any other component or wire in system. The gain function of 005 is essentially worthless due to bit stripping, may be ok at 90% of full volume, but anything lower and bit stripping will intrude. Even more important, pre's will definitely color source to some extent, the reason I suggest tubes here for the neutral to analytical inherent color of 005.

sns
3,003 posts
 

I feel I should expound a bit on above post. I stated 005 color as analytical to neutral. Ultimately, I feel the 005 is a neutral piece, with the possibility of sounding analytical, it will never sound warmed over. I'd describe 005 as a high strung machine, feed it well and it will perform, feed it poorly, not so good.

 

005 is high strung in the sense that it's resolving capabilities are still unknown to me. In the two plus years I've owned many upgrades and mods, each dedicated to max system resolution. 005 has exposed each and every single upgrade and mod, even down to the level of a few different caps and resistors in pre. Larger upgrades like MKII in Coincident Statement pre, boutique tubes in amps and pre, server and server OS mods, Jantzen inductors in speaker have scaled up sound equivalent to changes. I can't say where this all ends, the 005 continues to demand more from me in trying to realize it's resolving potential.

 

And probably the most amazing thing is, 005 also has SOUL. We often hear of components that resolve highly without soul, this is not that guy. I can't speak to the difficulty of reaching this characteristic with 005 as my system had soul prior to 005, based on most reviews I don't see that as issue. So, assuming one already has soul in their system, 005 is a no brainer, especially at it's price. Based on my experience, sky is the limit with resolving potential. I've reached many best sound quality plateaus since 005 insertion, the latest plateau has put my system within  realm of best I've ever heard, and I've heard many a system in nearly 30 years involved in high end audio. I'll just say the 005 is most interesting source equipment I've ever owned, not reaching what one feels is full potential of a piece makes this so.

debjit_g
247 posts
 

The improvements on i2s over usb really depends on two things:

1. DAC's usb implementation - if they have proper galvanic isolation, the chances are the difference will be minuscule, if any.

2. How clean or noisy your music server/streamer usb output is. The noisier the server/streamer, the more difference it will make.

Over the years I have had many USB gadgets (Regen stuff) and different power supplies (both linear and custom designed hybrid smps) on my DIY music server. I have a Matrix X-SPDIF2 DDC as well. Currently I use JCAT XE USB powered using a custom designed LPS (in fact, the entire server uses a high quality power supply) connected to the DAC directly. No streamer or any USB dingleberries or DDC in between. I have used Audiolinux, Euphony, ArchLinux, Ubuntu and many others and have settled on Windows 10 pro that I have slowly optimized over time. In my experience with digital, a good power supply makes most of the difference.

 

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