@yyzsantabarbara Hmm, wonder if due to inability to acquire chips or coming out with new iteration of same function? Doubt it was due to lack of sales, see many in use. I'll contact Andrew and see what's up. Still waiting on my OpticalModule, hope order doesn't get cancelled.
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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@yyzsantabarbara - Roon has been running well for me with the 005. Took a bit to get it set up with the ifi streamer via USB to the 005, but it's been stable & sounding good since then. |
Thanks for the ROON feedback. My issue could be related to the Benchmark DAC3B and the "inter-sample overs" thing they support. The thought of that was what made try to adjust the ROON headroom management in the first place. Though last month everything was working fine on the DAC3B without the adjustment. When I get my Musetec 005 back, I may have to use a second OpticalRendu dedicated just to the 005. The other option would be to use the single OpticalRendu, and just switch the USB between DACs (easy for me to do). I would need to create a new ROON DSP filter that does nothing and name it "Musetec" and the existing one "Benchmark". That is a pain because one tends to forget to change the filter to the correct setting. I went crazy into these ROON settings last year with 3 DACs and 2 DSP Convolution filters all setup at the same time. It got complicated.
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@yyzsantabarbara So I spoke with Andrew at SGC, states they continually receive promises of parts delivery, never delivered, so in process of redesigning OR and OM, who knows when these become available again. These supply chain issues are crazy these days! Think I'm going to go ahead and order Network Acoustics Muon ethernet filter in coming days, at least I can continue to experiment in front of server. I'll have to continue using generic FMC with OR post server.
As for Roon I prefer absolutely no dsp of any kind, no volume leveling, no track analysis, all Roon functions kept at absolute minimum sounds best in my setup. I've thought about experimenting with HQPlayer, it gets far higher marks than Roon for dsp. |
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