Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@charles1dad

morning to you... up early to see if rory can get his holy grail at st andrews today!!

to reply to your query, unfortunately my ank 4.1 was gone before the 005 arrived so i cannot definitively report the sonic differences from direct trial/comparison

i had my 4.1 for about 18 mos, enjoyed it immensely, it surpassed so many well regarded sub-$5000 dacs i tried over that time (audio mirror, denafrips, sonnet/metrum, schiit and so on), but over time i found i preferred a (well done) variable output dac to run straight into power amps (i barely ever listen to records anymore as my digital front end has improved), the 4.1 sounded really wonderful but as you know, it is a giant square box tall wide and deep, and i could not use upsampling as the inputs are limited to 24-96

that said, my notes on the 4.1 sonically are as follows

- rich saturated sound, very clear treble (not in the least rolled off as one might expect from a tube output dac) - i suspect one can play with this by tube rolling the 5687 output stage tubes, but mine came with excellent old stock tungsols which i did not fool with, i know from my earlier experience with dan wright’s tube gear that they are tip-top examples of that tube type

- luscious well embodied midrange with a wonderful dimensionality that great tube gear brings, very pure tone/timbre - solo piano on that thing was sooo lovely, effortless detail with weight and body, very realistic attack and decay

- bass was pretty tight pretty fast but did not plumb lowest register quite as well as the best, at the same time, there was great air and natural reverb to bass notes (think audio research reference series tube amp bass, versus pass labs solid state bass)

- the unit imaged very well, but not quite as well as the best of what i am enjoying now (chord stack, msb), i must say i have (reluctantly) become a believer in well implemented upsampling and filtering in dacs, in my experience it really restores (or embodies) the music with spatial cues, and clean resolution of more complex passages...

from memory (always a little suspect) i would venture to say that the 005 vs 4.1 -- about same in the treble (both top notch, transparent without any digititis), 005 bass more solid/deep but less tuneful, 4.1 midrange tone and body somewhat more ’magical’, soundstaging/ambient retrieval 4.1 somewhat better - how’s that for an audiophile’s word salad??... 🤣

hope that helps

@jjss49 how’s that for an audiophile’s word salad??... 🤣

hope that helps

It is “very” helpful and insightful. I sincerely appreciate your impressions.

BTW, McIlroy is looking good as the leader thus far.
Charles

Someone I know was home demoing the Weiss. From what he described it seemed like a better Benchmark DAC3B. The 005 is not like the DAC3B.

The Musetec 005 sounds more like this one.

Resonessence Labs Mirus DAC | Wall of Sound | Audio and Music Reviews

A shame these guys are no more. They are the guys who previously designed the ESS chip.

I owned the Resonessence Labs Mirus Dac prior to the 005. It was the first Dac that I heard that sounded like good vinyl. As good as the Resonessence Labs was, the Musetec has better separation of images and increased resolution. I am very pleased with the sound quality of the 005. Like some other owners of the 005 I am using the Sonictransporter i9 Optical with the Sonore OpticalRendu. These components are simpatico. Low noise floor and excellent balance of the frequencies. This is through Altec A7 speakers which are ruthlessly revealing. I would like to thank the OP for making me aware of the 005.

@jjss49 - Thanks for the response in regard to PS for the ifi streamer. I've been pleased with the upgrade to SQ when switching from the stock PS as well. Currently using a Nuprime 12V LPS.