Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@lordmelton I only went by Aurrender's own literature is describing their usb out port. I'd think they'd give us some more information if they were doing any more than what they state. Tell us what type of clocking and whether discreet powered. I suspect the power issue is weakest part of implementation. You've heard the positive impact of quality power with the I2S unit, you should provide same for usb prior to concluding one is preferable to other.

By the way, I'm not concluding I2S COULD not be superior to usb, both have inherent liabilities, and I've not heard all possible connections and equipment. Far too many variables in streaming to come to many hard and fast conclusions. It would be nice if you could get something like the Phoenix usb renderer for a more equitable comparison, I for one would be very interested.

@sns Yes, It would be nice if Aurender gave us more info about their USB but once I taped over the +positive in the USB cable the sound got a real boost. Of course this will depend on what DAC you are using.

However from a technical perspective and I've had a lot of experience with clocks and re-clockers, the Phoenix does look interesting.

I have only proven so far that a pristine separate power supply for the USB board can make a tremendous difference.

If the onboard USB board in the 005 was supplied independently with a LPS that would make a similar or better difference, I'm sure.

I can only imagine what we would get if the so modified 005 was also fed by a Phoenix too. I'm sure it would be incredible.

If I can get a Phoenix on demo or at least hear one I'll report back. With it's USB frequency timed 24Mhz clock and top end LPS it's gotta sound good.

@lordmelton  Taping over the power leg on usb has had variable results in my experience. I've continually heard less effect as my entire network has evolved, to the point where today I couldn't reliably tell you if taped off or not.

The idea of powering usb boards in dacs off external ps is intriguing, don't believe I've ever seen it done. Regardless, I2S has same liability, if indeed it is liability.

Whatever way your favored connection turns out, we do know from many users usb provides very fine sound quality from 005. If I2S sounds fine, just great, gives us another route to go with.

All 005 users also owe it to themselves to try optical solutions.

@sns

I’ve also tried taping over USB pin 1 with no effect before I realized what was going on in th 004. Obviously there’s nothing in the LKS or Musetec at the other end of line 1, so taping has no point.

As for power. The LKS 004 had all but the transformer of an LPS on a card that was placed above the Amanero Board. A 5V tap of the 50 Watt transformer powering the digital side provided the power to that board. A couple of people at head-fi actually mounted a separate small 5V transformer in the case connected directly to the AC power. I don’t think this mod was particularly popular. My recollection is that folks considered the general nature of the power for the board to be fine. IIRC someone tried a Singxer USB to I2S device and it didn’t outperform the on-board Amanero system. That was in the early days when people were wondering whether to buy the less or more expensive version of the 004. Mods, though. for the board above the Amanero seemed to be popular and worthwhile. But it’s been a while as I haven’t followed the LKS discussion at all since getting the Musetec. What seems clear is that fitting a much more powerful system for USB to I2S into the case called for Musetec to reengineer the whole thing and come up with the super capacitor solution.

I believe what I am reading about here IIUC is not a comparison of the USB input with the I2S input. It seem to me rather a comparison of 2 USB inputs, one using the internals of the Musetec USB system and the other using the separate LKS system, both feeding I2S into the internals of the DAC.

I have offered my thoughts on this elsewhere in this thread.

@melm On the taping thing, that makes sense for the Musetec and 004 as I had tried the tape thing with 004 prior to 005 purchase and same thing, couldn't be sure I heard difference. Now, I did do the tape thing with previous Auralic Vega, which also has very nice usb implementation, thought I heard more of a difference. Imagination or real? I came to realize over time that perhaps it was futile to tape over pin since the self powered element, still thought it better theoretically to keep whatever possible contamination out. As mentioned before, not sure I hear difference.

You are absolutely correct as to comparing one usb to another IF USB BEING USED ANYWHERE IN CHAIN. DUH, staring us directly in face.  While I couldn't recall, this was part of my thinking in not even attempting to use my Singxer SU6, it was only the Amanero internal usb I was bypassing, knew it was better than usb board in Singxer. 

@lordmelton I just looked through some threads and can't find, but I assume you couldn't use I2S directly out of Aurrender because of pin incompatibility? This would be ACTUAL  true comparison. Perhaps the entire ramifications of what you're actually doing  has escaped you in excitement to try this new setup? Sometimes the mind does funny things what with expectation bias. Do some more comparisons and report back. Theoretically, using the Amanero board should be much better than that LKS, also adding complexity. The only advantage would be the external LPS. If what you report remains true, I'd find the usb within Aurrender highly suspect. This actually fits in with my research and experience, the typical usb ports on vast majority of servers SUCK. Get the Phoenix and hear what usb is really capable of.