Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

I’ve written this before, but it’s worth repeating as Audiogon does not have a search within thread function. The Amanero board within the Musetec does the conversion from USB to I2S just like the external boards. It does that with an excellent power supply using super-capacitors, and clocks which probably outperform those on external DDCs. And without any cable carrying the I2S signals.  Some here think that function can be better performed by an external DDC. Some think it cannot.

@debjit_g Very interesting. Assuming you have atx board, why don't you try Pink Faun I2S board to compare with Jcat usb?

Having mentioned many times throughout this thread my curiosity and assumption atx board servers may be SOTA, perhaps I should mention I do in fact have relatively high end diy custom atx motherboard computer in house. I built this five or six years ago, relatively high level AMD processor, liquid cooling, gamer motherboard, high end graphics, improved motherboard audio all in giant case. This was real exercise in excess, built for the fun of it. I've thought about converting to music server only duty from time to time, but power supply mods ($2-5K), cards themselves (each one $400-2.5K) and time and effort to install hardware, optimize software, OS may not be worth it for build that started as general service computer. The AMD processor may be overkill, no dsp for me, and faster processors make more noise, liquid cooling inferior to passive air for audio duty because of noise and power supply demands,  also, the motherboard isn't inherently best for music server duty. So, bottom line, I'd be able to try great rendering with Pink Faun and JCAT cards, but within context of less than SOTA atx build.

Hearing your less than satisfactory results using external DDC kind of confirms my  presumption Singxer SU6 would be inferior to my usb setup. This was initially confirmed to some extent by observation of some modifying the SU6 with external power supplies, this despite having supercap PS which Alan at Vinshine claimed didn't benefit from lps. I also saw further mods to, can't recall if it was voltage regulator, caps? All this confirmed inherent issues with even higher grade DDC, they need to be top grade to optimize I2S.

@melm I totally agree with you, between the engineering of that board, and sound quality, both initially, and continuing, I should have absolutely no motivation to even try the I2S scheme. But then would I really be an audiophile if I wasn't at least curious! And this the reason for all my atx server curiosity.

I suppose all my streaming upgrade plans are based on wanting to hear full resolving capabilities of 005. This damn dac just wants to lead me down this path where everything feeding it needs to be SOTA. I've never had a source like this prior to 005, prior vinyl and digital source resolving limitations have been exposed for perhaps last ten years or so by the rest of my system or systems.

This damn dac just wants to lead me down this path where everything feeding it needs to be SOTA.

Yes it will and it can, with ease. I am currently testing a SOtM USB Ultra with the 005.

However to get the most out of digital you need a master clock, I believe that's what you're missing.

I'm extremely leery about clocks after experience with the audiophile switch with OXCO clock, excessively precise sound staging and imaging, the very things clocks are supposed to improve. I assume my clocking is sufficient at the moment what with clocks in OpticalRendu and 005 usb board.

At this point, reducing noise is where my focus is, you'd think the better clock in audiophile switch I tried vs generic crap one in my router would have reduced jitter, resulting in better sound staging. My unique setup, no server rendering with server ethernet direct into streamer may have bearing on this.

I also have issue with external master clocks connected by cable. Ed Meitner of EMM fame claims its a joke, states all clocking should be done internally, closest to components, circuits it controls. IOW, all discrete clocking. I also understand the argument that a master clock ties everything together, still not sure how that works when you still have all these discrete clocks within the individual components.

I still see the Pink Faun, JCAT cards with atx boards as probable ultimate renderers. These board have great on board power supplies you connect to external lps, great clocks, optimized rendering with direct connection to dac, The best of these cards are likely superior to any external streamer at any price. .And with no need for separate streamers and attendant cabling,  RFI  rejection is theoretically superior.

The other great thing about an atx build is the versatility. You have choice of highest quality rendering via usb, I2S, spdif cards, and highest quality network porting via optimized ethernet or optical card. One can have it all in one single server. Between Pink Faun and JCAT you have two companies that understand streaming perhaps better than any other.

@debjit_g Very interesting. Assuming you have atx board, why don't you try Pink Faun I2S board to compare with Jcat usb?
 

if I (or anyone) want to try a Pink Faun, you need to try the one with ultra OCXO clocks, otherwise a Jcat is far better sounding at much lower price point. The ultra ocxo is also very expensive and at almost 1600 eur, cost half of what 005 does. The PF I2S is also limited in bandwidth I think (or at least when I looked at getting one couple of yrs back). I would probably get the PF USB if I get one at all but the key is whatever you get, you need to feed it with the best regulated power supply you can and sometimes they can cost more than what the card does.