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First impressions of new MH-DA006, Musetec flagship

I have received the 006 almost a week ago and have been breaking it in. The price at Shenzhenaudio is $3,900.00 USD, $600 more than the 005. The ad copy states:

"DA006 is a new generation of flagship DAC developed by Musetec over three years and launched in 2024. During this period, it has undergone more than ten revisions and adjustments.

Compared to the previous DA005, the listening experience of DA006 has been improved in all aspects. DA006 has clearer and richer details, a stronger sense of texture, a more stable sound base, better detail control, a wider soundstage, fuller and more powerful, smoother and more natural. . ."

Some brief listening during break in has been very very positive. I will report back when it has run at least 300 hours.

dbb
sns
4,035 posts
 

@wynnytsky I have the latest or 12th series Gaia, can't imagine why you'd not find this possible. 

 

So, on Harmony screen, I2S clock setting are you getting message, "no compatible I2S clock available?"  When using Gaia clock you should see I2S at top left of display. I can find no evidence earlier Gaia's cannot support choice of using it's internal clock.

 

I'll reiterate the entire streaming chain needs to be optimized in order to extract full potential of 006. I used to run SOTM usb solution, found the Sonore products superior, specifically the OpticaModule and OpticalRendu, best lps one can afford for these Don't forget the Denafrips DDC also offers further usb opimization via it's STM32F446 Advanced AMR based MCU interface.

 

@dbb Unfortunate you didn't find the Statement to be your cup of tea.

wynnytsky
19 posts
 

@dbb if you prioritize max(bandwidth), max(info retrieval), min(noise floor), then I invite you to obsess over an autoformer!  Never heard this one, but I'd love to hear someone's impression

https://rambleaudio.com/en/products/design-by-mr-k-ppa-01-passive-preamplifier

 

@sns Yes changing LOCAL to I2S says "No compatible i2s clock is available", then reverts to LOCAL, which doesn't sound as going straight USB.  My Rockna can lock on the source clock, so who knows.  If anything the Laiv taught me to love spdif again after many years of i2s.  Doing Gaia AES into Rockna right now.

 

For those doing i2s it's very easy to flip absolute phase when configuring DDC jumpers for your DAC.  But if you play this track...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCif9K8EdJY

...while pointing this $13 sound meter at the speaker diaphragm, then the red/green LED should match the polarity from the youtube link...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B13ZSDV?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1_0

Test all drivers to confirm the xovers are wired correctly.  It can read my compression drivers through a screen, but I need to crank it louder to read the tweeter.

car123's avatar
car123
129 posts
 

sns, with the 006 are you running pin mode 5 on the Gaia?  And, is the pin mode the same on the 005 if you know?

car123's avatar
car123
129 posts
 

I believe I've answered my own questions--yes, and yes.

sns
4,035 posts
 

@car123 Obviously you can change or conform modes on either the Gaia or 006. At present I'm running mode 0 on Gaia which conforms to code M1-D, M2-A, M3-D, M4-A, M5 is for DSD. I believe Mode 0 on Gaia is the PS Audio standard which many products conform to. You can use any variety of codes pairing Gaia and 006 together, just make sure you have left and right clocks and data runs matched, easy to get this mixed up and still have sound.

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