@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..
