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."

melm

good morning everyone

I just bought a Musical Fidelity M8sPRE (https://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/m8series/m8spre), after careful research it seemed to me the best preamp to match our beloved DAC.

tonight I'll plug it into my system and listen to MUSETEC...

I'll update you soon with photos and first impressions

As long as there’s so much talk about preamps I’ll add my $.02.

Within the last two or three years I’ve gone from a fine 2 piece Sim Audio to a Schiit Freya+ to a Rogue RP-7. I have found that what works for me is that the preamp is the perfect place to put some tubes into the system. And some tube rolling can help to tune things up a bit. I am very happy with the Rogue as it seems about as neutral as a tube preamp can be and it has great ergonomics. I discovered when I had the Schiit that I cannot live without a balance control.

@melm 

but this preamp does not degrade your signal?

how do you feel with listening to high resolution music?

in particular can you hear the difference between listening to a CD or a Flac 24 bit 192 kHz?

on the manufacturer's website the following values ​​are reported:

- Frequency response: 1Hz – 100KHz +/- 1 dB
- THD: <0.1%
- Gain line stage: 14 dB (20dB XLR)
- Rated output: 1V
- Maximum output: 30V
- Output impedance: <10 Ohms

@americanspirit

When I wrote my last post I thought that the reputations of the Schiit and Rogue preamps were sufficiently well established that I failed to say the following. Remember that my personal judgments are, as best as I can, against live unamplified music. The inexpensive Schiit preamp with tubes was a very clear improvement over the fine transistor one. It was then that I discovered that I MUST have a balance control, which has gone out of favor on many excellent preamps. So I went to the far more expensive Rogue--I needed balanced outputs as well. It proved to be an even greater improvement than was the first change. A testament perhaps to the value of the Rogue’s extremely strong power supply (LPS, of course) in delivering sound quality. I am very happy with the Rogue listening to all recorded music. That should answer question 2.

No doubt you are focusing on the THD number. First I would refer you to all the discussion here (and elsewhere) about the uselessness of the industry type of specification next to the experience of actually listening. One of the problems with the published THD number is that harmonic distortion may take on different shapes--all hidden in the industry-standard number. Generally in units with tubes, the major factor here is that the THD is principally in the second harmonic.

It has long been a controversy in audio. Does the slight bit of second harmonic that is ordinarily introduced by tubes "distort" the sound so as to make it less like the real thing, live music? Or does it restore an element of the sound that is ordinarily diminished slightly in the recording and reproducing process with the result of sounding more like the real thing? And so one can choose solid state or tubes conforming to your answers here, and I chose a tube preamp that is know for having that fine attribute of tubes, but mildly so. I believe that answers your first question. We touched upon a similar issue a while back when discussing feedback in solid state components.

To answer the third question directly. I don’t spend much time on the kind of comparison you ask about. But for a short while when I was experimenting with streaming I was receiving Tidal and Amazon Music at the same time and testing the streams with MusicScope. A series of Shostakovitch symphonic recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Nelsons was the being released. Tidal had them at 16/44 and Amazon had them at 24/48. While the differences were subtle, they were sufficiently distinct.