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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
yyzsantabarbara
4,455 posts
 

@kairosman Unfortunately I have had too many DACs go through my home in the last 2 years to remember the details of the D90SE filters. I know I tried them all but do not recall which on I settled on. I do remember thinking that I should try a filter that was not too 'hot' on top when I was listening with the RAAL SR1a headphones. As I mentioned previously the D90SE was not great with those headphones because I had a bit of fatigue..

 

 

 

kairosman's avatar
kairosman
246 posts
 

@lordmelton no offense taken, you could be right, I might have old-man hearing (I am 59). The guys over on ASR certainly have suggested as much more than once. BTW the dude on here who has returned his 005 is not a hero over on ASR, all he has said there is that he was disappointed that the ASR measurements revealed Musetec's published measurements as overly optimistic. Whether Amir burned in the 005 prior to testing and whether his testing regime is fair are other matters for discussion, agreed. Just to be clear which side of the fence I am on, I am all for listening over measurements, but I am also for truth in advertising and feel like Jinbo will be doing the right thing by addressing the issue of his optimistic measurements head on... it could very well turn out that Amir's testing regime is the culprit here and NOT Jinbo's pecuniary ambitions!

batvac2
27 posts
 

| He must be well aware that the 005 takes 6-8 weeks to fully burn in, maybe more.

The major issues found with distortion and jitter in this unit will not be impacted by burn in..

| This is a peculiarity of all ESS chips, which cannot be heard

At minimum the continued presence of the hump represents inadequate engineering skills and testing equipment. Audio companies using this chip - including Weiss - have engineered it completely away.

There are SO many well-engineered DACs with vanishing levels of distortion and jitter and close to textbook linearity- you could spend a lifetime auditioning these. If you have bat ears that go beyond 20-bits of resolution, and available funds, then the May, Weiss, Mola Mola, Meitner and others await your appraisal.

There may be a small group of truly gifted designers who can build certain components largely by ear, but even they typically have years of previous experience with measurements and circuit design. In general, building by ear is NOT a good strategy for DACs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

americanspirit's avatar
americanspirit
64 posts
 

Good morning

without going too far into the diatribe that emerges from the differences between objective and subjective observations, I can conclude that the dilemma will never find a square: as ASR mistakenly thinks that reality can be completely represented through elementary mathematical modeling (at too childish levels if you think you can model a melody with a 1 kHz sine wave). This is completely insane, it's like comparing two atues based only on top speed on a straight ...

The situation that is embarrassing for me concerns the data published on the Musetec website:
Dynamic range> 136dB
Distortion <0.0002%

With those found by ASR:
Dynamic range = 126dB
Distortion = 0.0016%

even if I do not rely on the measurements, the published data must be truthful, otherwise I will lose confidence in the device manufacturer

toddk31
36 posts
 

Thank you kairosman, amreicanspirit, and batvac 2. For all you people telling me I should have put into my system an listen I never had physical possession of dac. The unit was shipped from China to the west coast for the review. I live on the east coast. For all parties involved it was decided to ship the unit to Jason at Midwest instead of to me for audition. The shipping of the unit back and forth was gonna start getting kind of expensive so we all decided that our solution to the problem best served everyone. Again jason an jinbo have acted professionally.  The ess hump as stated earlier has been addressed an solved by many dac manufacturers. The jitter issue an the spec issues need to be addressed by jinbo, which he has stated he will correct. I’m no shill for anyone. Again I find this asr acrimony almost humorous. I certainly do not have a problem enjoying the content of audiogon and asr. There are a lot of knowledge and kind people on both sites that are always willing to help other music lovers enjoy their hobby. There are also some peeps that are louder than they are smarter. Everyone just enjoy your music.

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