Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

Let's be all honest...if someone told you when this thread about Musetec was started that it was gonna have more than 1000 responses, would you have believed them?

@branislav

Thanks for your post. You are correct. It’s been a bit of a shock. I thought when @dbb posted his very strong comparative review that the traffic would move to that thread. Perhaps it really should have. For some reason, though there were Musetec DACs bought because of dbb’s thread I’m sure, folks chose to express their satisfaction with the DAC over here. And so it grew.

This is not the first component that was virtually ignored by the audiophile media but gained acceptance via a thread on Audiogon like this one, populated by satisfied users. Some of us have learned over the years that a thread like this carries more weight than a "review." There is no substitute for hearing the DAC in your own system. As has been made clear, the DAC has been designed by listening at every stage of its development. The quality of the DAC makes itself known pretty quickly. The willingness to share by those who have bought and used it has been appreciated by those who came later. Although not an inexpensive DAC, it’s been regarded as a relative bargain by several with a lot of DAC experience.

So thanks to Audiogon for making this forum available.

@branislav I wonder how much more posts we have to go before A’gon closes this thread down. Yea, a bit cynical on my part, but some truth there too.

BTW - next week I am giving my 005 to a friend who has an incredible ear and is a manufacturer of audio gear. He will listen to it is for a few weeks to test out his new uber gear.

@branislav I was perhaps the first or one of the first people in North America to purchase 005 two and a half  years ago, purchased totally blind without a single review I was aware of. I had previously purchased LKS004 with intention to fully modify based on headfi 004 thread. Shortly after 004 purchase I discovered 005 which appeared to have far more potential than any modded  004 could possibly attain. At this point I purchased 005 and posted my impressions on headfi. Both Melm and Dbb  purchased 005 shortly thereafter, both posted positive impressions as well. At some point I mentioned posting reviews over here, the rest is history.

When first purchasing 005 blindly, never expected much more than upgraded 004, something I could live with for a couple years at best. Virtually instantaneously I could hear 005 would be far more than intermediate step to something better. When I posted my initial impressions on headfi I had no idea others would trust my impressions, this being Chinese dac, relatively inexpensive relative to my over the top impressions, and being new poster at headfi. Obviously, some made their own calculations, purchased 005 and heard the same overachieving sound qualities. The rest is history.

I wonder how long this thread can go on?  Between new owners posting positive impressions and longer term owners making systematic upgrades it seems to live on. If I could think of one thing that keeps it going for longer term owners its the extreme resolution of the dac. We upgrade our systems, new information uncovered, always seeking to uncover more of it's potential. That it does it with soul is really the more amazing thing, high resolving powers without soul gets old pretty fast.

Still waiting to hear this dac comparatively reviewed against the upper tier, thus far its held its own against dacs up to $10k. Specifically, I've seen short term comparisons to Mola Mola and Holo May..

The Tambaqui is a highly touted DAC and that speaks a lot for the 005. Was the comparison between the both done in the same setup ?

No, but you would think a complete Mola Mola system would get a boost through synergy, but didn't happen. That's over $30k of gear.