Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@kairosman there are certainly differences, but not more than twice. I am sure the Musetec is a fine DAC.

Someone once said, there are fools and then there are damn fools!

The Musetec is a DAC; that’s all. Show us the inside of the Okto you’re writing about. That’s also just a DAC. Most of the inside space of the much smaller Okto case is, in fact, empty.

The Oppo looks busy because it does a lot of things. But is does NOTHING really well. I own an Oppo. The Oppo is good mid-fi. People spend thousands of dollars modifying Oppos to get them to sound really good, typically twice what the Oppo originally cost. The Oppo also was a mass produced player and achieved economies of scale that no high end producer can match.

What the pictures don’t tell the uninitiated about the Musetec is the cost of the transformers particularly the large O-Ring transformer, the SOTA capacitors, the 8 transistor (FETs) analog section which is covered, the custom femto crystal clocks, and the super-capacitor network all of which contribute to SQ. The two capacitors seen just below the analog section cover probably cost more than either of the two principal boards on the Oppo.

@melm 

The Oppo looks busy because it does a lot of things. But is does NOTHING really well. I own an Oppo. The Oppo is good mid-fi. People spend thousands of dollars modifying Oppos to get them to sound really good, typically twice what the Oppo originally cost

That's been my observation as well over the years. Furthermore elevated parts count is deceptive and not a barometer of the subsequent sound quality.  Some superb sounding audio components have relatively few parts.  However their individual part quaility (Rather than quantity) is high along with excellent execution of a simpler design pathway. 

Charles 

@melm , Grow up dude - don't show up your frustrations. People will definitely question before they plunk down a bunch of money. Yes the Musetec is a DAC and made in a place where labor is cheap. Still it costs that much, compared to say a Holo Audio which is not chip based and is expensive to make. I was trying to show that the internals of Oppo and Musetec are similar, not same. But the Musetec costs far more than other pure DACs that are also made in China. Why?

@kairosman , though Okto is mostly air, it sounds mighty fine according to the users and professional reviewers. Are you telling me that if you stuff components inside, that should make it sound better? And what trusted members are your talking about? The 3-4 people who keep posting here are not all that familiar to me. I have been here for quite sometime and have only recently seen their activity. In fact it seems these same posters post together on other DAC threads here (go look at the Meitner DAC thread). It seems as if they look out for each other and jump on anyone who other questions the or this product. They seems to be in very close contact with the manufacturer.  I can understand that people love their products and the manufacturers. But feeling offended and defending it like crazy raises red flags. This seems to be going on the same track as the Tekton loudspeakers. You really don't have to use 4 letter words to force your opinion - it only shows frustration. And yes, I can delete my system page and claim to have a $100k system.

Some superb sounding audio components have relatively few parts.

Now this comes from a member whose threads I have read and reached out in the distant past. ozzy, lak, etc are the members that many here trust. ALMARG was another member that I trusted and miss him. And no one bad-mouthed others in their response. This is something you fanboys should learn. Take it easy.