Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

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.

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.

@sns Yes it's unfortunate you never tried I2s but like myself I never believed it could be so good. It's just that Shenzhenaudio had a special on with free shipping and I had some spare change in my Paypal account, so I thought what the heck?

However with the Singxer SU6 you would have had to have gone to the major expense of buying a custom I2s cable.

You are completely correct about pre-amps, they are the heart of a system, well good ones are anyway.

Steve McCormack taught me a long time ago about SS vs valves but you need to pay much more to get a pure SS sound free of distortion. It's all in the design.

I don't know why Pass Labs (which I love) has to make a 3 box pre-amp ????

Spectral pre-amps are very, very special and they haven't upgraded their Super Veloce pre-amp for over ten years. I'm waiting!

BTW DACs just like pre-amps shouldn't have a sound, just give you more space, timing, realism etc. Everything else is colouration or House Sound.

Hi @lordmelton,
If I understand you correctly, you are NOT comparing going from the (Aurender by USB  to the Musetec) to going from the (Aurender by USB to the LKS and then by I2S to the Musetec).  Is that correct?  While that comparison does not permit you to do quick switching from one alternative to the other, it would be the most relevant comparison IMO.  

@debjit_g Totally agree on the usb galvanic isolation. What amazes me is so many of these off the shelf servers/streamers use usb off motherboards! How do they have the nerve to charge these prices for crap usb outputs, this is what gives usb bad name. The custom server I'll soon be hearing will have optical out as well as JCAT net femto card. Both guy building custom server and I use streamers so ethernet or optical (which means 2 ethernet ports or ethernet and optical)l out is a must with our servers. Antipodes is one of the few who gets this, they also optimize other ports with their servers. You're are also correct about quality lps for everything in network. Interesting you find Windows best OS for server, not the first time I've hear this. The custom server will initially use Linux OS, we've talked about possible use of Windows at some point.

@lordmelton You don't need custom cable with SU6, as SU6 has dip switches for proper pin configuration. The other thing I've often heard about I2S is cable length critical, shortest best, I had .5m HDMI cable. I've also heard I2S can never be optimally used with any external device as I2S was developed with very short signal paths that exist within dacs. Your take on preamps is certainly a valid one, however, I'm not sure a system built entirely of neutral sounding components is possible or even desired. I certainly like my source equipment to be neutral, this makes attaining system building a less complex undertaking. One then chooses pre's and amps according to one's preferences. Lack of neutrality in source components may cause dog chasing tail syndrome, always chasing down color balances to get things right. I'm one to keep amps and pre's for long term, my present pre and amps are likely end game for me, sources always far more subject to change for me.