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 $$ by research, and by satisfaction with the MH-DA004. Frankly, I have been overwhelmed by the improvement; just didn't think it was possible. Fluidity, clarity, bass extension. A post to another board summed it up better than I can after listening to piano trios: "I have probably attended hundreds of classical concerts (both orchestral and chamber) in my life. I know what live sounds like in a good and bad seat and in a good and mediocre hall. All I can say is HOLY CRAP, this sounds like the real thing from a good seat in a good hall. Not an approximation of reality, but reality."
Meanwhile, during the 4 years after release of the MH-DA004, LKS (now Musetec) worked on the new MH-DA005 design, also with a pair of ES9038pro chips. This time he used more of the best components available. One torroidal transformer has silver plated copper. Also banks of super capacitors that act like batteries, solid silver hookup wire, 4 femtoclocks each costing multiples of the Crysteks, a revised Amanero board, more of the best European caps and a new partitioned case. I can't say cost NO object, but costs well beyond. A higher price, of course. Details at http://www.mu-sound.com/DA005-detail.html
The question, surely, is: How does it sound? I'm only going to answer indirectly for the moment. I thought that the MH-DA004 was to be my last DAC, or at least for a very long time. I was persuaded to part with my $$ 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."
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- 1535 posts total
All above just goes to show how weak usb ports directly attached and powered by motherboards are. Even the Aurrender with it's partially optimized usb not good enough. Noise is the critical thing with streaming, until we see optimized usb vs. I2s with 005 we're relying on conjecture for which is best.
And then we have my setup which ignores any usb or I2S within server, which adds another conversion within relatively noisy server Ethernet out of server means everything external and discreet lps powered. This setup has far exceeded my best prior optimized server usb solutions. And this prior to optical optimization with OpticalRendu, OR brought futher substantial gains. With so many options nearly impossible to have direct comparisons.
A couple other things I've learned from John Swenson and others, is one wants signal in server the least amount of time with the least amount of processes running. This means fast processor, efficient motherboard, best power and optimized OS. Noise is the enemy of streaming resolution and more natural presentation. Minimize signal contamination is name of game, the above experiences prove the validity of running processes outside server where noise can be better controlled. For those running Roon, separating core from endpoint is commonly heard as superior, again we are minimizing server processes and running them outside in quieter environment.
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@car123 Hi, I'm glad you had a positive experience with the Sonore. If you are looking to take it to the next level (I2s) may I suggest you try out the L.K.S. USB to I2s DDC. Reason being it has a RJ45 I2s output which I have found to be superior to HDMI. This could be for various reasons, cable model used etc. However there is no doubt in my mind at the moment that RJ45 is best in my system. Hot Rodding the L.K.S. with a top flight DC LPS such as Plixir, Farad, Ediscreation to name a few and a quality AC cable will really surprise you with the results. Please do not be dismissive of the L.k.S. because it's low priced. It's quality. Your next option could be the Matrix X which has a big following over on the PS Audio Forum for converting USB to I2s to feed into PS Audio's Direct Stream DAC. Custom cable required. Negative is no RJ45 I2s. https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/matrix-x-spdif-2-32bit-768khz-dsd512-hifi-audio-usb-interface Last is the Audio GD, again no RJ45 I2s and very heavily engineered and will require a custom cable to the 005. http://www.audio-gd.com/R2R/DI20HE/DI20HEEN.htm Since most I2s is HDMI it's good to have more than one input and/or RJ45. Happy Listening |
@sirnui Hi, I see that you have used the Innous USB DDC. What is your evaluation of it? It has a very good LPS and a custom clock for the USB DDC. |
- 1535 posts total