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

What size fuse for the 005? Has anyone else found improvement in SQ with fuse upgrade?

oh yes, it is the fuse...  propels components up up up the ladder of excellence!!  don't miss out!! 😂🤣

sorry, couldn't resist... please don't let me deter you... 

@budkine Don't listen to the cloth eared old bat, he's been on the turps again, the Purple makes a great improvement.

The original fuse is T(Slow Blow) 3.15A, you should replace it with a T4A Purple.

The original fuse is a semi-boutique fuse you can use in another piece of equipment.

@earthbound
If you’re satisfied with the Lumin u2 mini I would not worry about not using the I2S input of the Musetec. The DAC has exceptional USB to I2S conversion within it with a very special power supply and specially fine tuned crystal clocks. If you have the patience to read this long thread and see what streamers are being used with the Musetec you will see those that output USB in some very sophisticated systems. The market for streamers with I2S output is pretty limited and so some of the very best do not have that. Outputting I2S may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. Hans Beekhuyzen reviewed a streamer with I2S output a while back that did not outperform an entry level SOtM streamer with USB output.

@mboldda1
Take what I say with a grain of salt as I have lived with the Musetec and am no doubt biased towards it. First, the Musetec 005 sounds nothing like the LKS 004 which I have also lived with. They do share similar architectures in their analog output stages, but the analog parts in the Musetec have been upgraded substantially in quality (and in price). They also share robust power supplies, but on the analog side they have again been upgraded substantially in parts for the Musetec and on the digital side the power supply has been totally redesigned using battery-like super capacitors and the USB to I2S conversion uses proprietary clocks.

jjss49 has probably given a pretty good comparison of the Sonnet Morpheus and the Musetec. It comports somewhat with how Stereophile described the Morpheus saying it had limited dynamics and bass and attributed that to limitations of its power supply. I go to classical concerts a good deal and so my standard is fidelity to real instruments. Like jjss49 I am sensitive to excess treble (which IMO pervades digital components), though it can sometimes provide pleasant hi fi spatial effects. Made in Holland and offered at about the same price as the Musetec, the Morpheus it is very different inside. It is a discrete R2R DAC that is expensive to manufacture. It compensates, it would seem, in its power supply and in the use of chip op amps for its analog output stages. There are those who think that the D to A conversion is paramount. Others, me included, think it is secondary to things like power supply and analog sections. jjss49, by the way, has gone on to the $10,000 Weiss that uses the same D to A chip as the Musetec..

Don’t listen to the cloth eared old bat, he’s been on the turps again, the Purple makes a great improvement.

haha - this is what is referred to as ’the pot calling the kettle black’ -- don’t want to get into a pissing match on expensive boutique fuses here so let me just say this...

use your brain, think about it, if it were so easy and effective, wouldn’t the manufacturers do this for the ’huge improvement’ gained? -- a company like musetec or sonnet cares much more about the sound of their product than a user does...

advice - buy on fully refundable basis, set up a true blind a/b with the help of a partner/friend (yes you need TWO of the same component to do this, or a clever/diy circuit switcher), and be honest on what you hear