Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC
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."
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I think it just comes down to preference instead of what is "better". At this stage in the game for me, I value smoothness/ listenability and staging. I listen to a lot of post punk, classic rock, shoe gaze, and dream pop, which we know is not all great recordings. I would probably prefer the May with those genres, but I didn’t want to spend that kind of money and got what I felt was the best DAC from there (005) and have tweaked the rest of my system to make my music sound good to me. You guys are so right about the break in period, it truly is a roller coaster. I played some Til Tuesday yesterday never heard them sound like they did, the extension, the spaciousness in the recording. The songs just made more sense on why and how they played it. This morning it sounded different, not as good. |
@ja_kub_sz I personally have long ago given up trying to optimize my system absolutely by buying and trading constantly. It is a process, I think, that costs too much in money and anxiety for a simple audiophile. Just content with very, very good and working around the edges to make it sound better. I love to experiment with cheap wires, for ex. @kclone @teknorob23 In the "old" days reviewers were required to be regular concert goers. Generally, classical music is the only music regularly heard without the intersession of electronics and loudspeakers. As TAS’s editor HP wrote, if it is right for classical music, it will be right for all other music as well. That’s a view I adhere to. The modern preference is simple. A component is preferred if it sounds good to the listener or reviewer. "Good" is absolutely subjective. So we have threads here that seek advice on obtaining a "warm" or "analog sounding" sounding DAC, for example. The traditional view is that "warm" (they called it yin) is a euphonic coloration to be avoided. As for me, I don’t want a DAC to sound warm. I want a piano to sound warm. I want a cello to sound warm. But I want my DAC to make a cello sound like a cello. Similarly for "analog sounding." That has come to mean, I think, a certain comfort sound, also a euphonic coloration. My reading here suggests it’s being asked for even by those unfamiliar with excellent analog systems. For I don’t even want my analog system to sound like what is here described as "analog" sound. In a thread about a DAC said to be analog sounding, there were expressions like "a relaxed presentation," "allows body relaxation," the sound was "further back in the hall," it "allows my body to relax" and even that it gives "the ability to go into a kind of meditative state." My own preference is very different. For me listening to audio is a substitute for going to a concert. When I do that, I expect my pulse to be greater at the end than when I walked in. Otherwise, what’s the point? In any event, it’s the buyer’s money and their choices. Components will be made to fit every kind of preference, and that’s fine. But I hope this goes at least part of the way to explain differing preferences in DACs. |
@melm You stated differences in perspective perfectly. Hearing live unamplified music these days is very infrequent for most. We are on the same page 100% in our sound preferences. I respect the idea that enjoying music has no single best method and is purely a matter of subjective preference. But, like you, I would never buy a ticket to hear the world's best record player if I could use the same money to attended a live concert. |
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