There are actually a few reviews available online now on
www.hifi.nl and www.hifi-advice.com.
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.
- ...
- 337 posts total
Very brief report after ~1000 hours - apologies for the sketchiness and the random order. 1. It needs to break in. Oh, does it need to be broken in. On the other hand, it seems to play fine from cold once broken in. Go figure. 2. A huge improvement in pretty much all respects over my old LFD DAC-3. Particularly in terms of imaging: there is more space around each instrument/voice, and ambience is captured extremely well. The sense of micro- and macro-dynamics is exceptional. 3. I agree with the previous poster who said it’s slightly warm - but I would say it’s more in terms of letting you relax with the music if you so wish, rather than any obvious tonality colour. Perhaps ’smooth’ is a better adjective. If you want to be mercilessly clinical, it will allow you to be - it just doesn’t ask you to be at all times. 4. No "graininess" whatsoever, even though the frequency response is quite extended (I can still hear 16 kHz quite clearly, but perhaps someone with better HF ear response may have a different opinion). That was one of the things that bothered me with the Chord Hugo and Dave I tested prior to purchasing the Musetec: the sound of the Chords was ’gritty’ and almost ’dirty’ on some records. The Musetec (and my old LFD) are much more fluid and ’musical’. 5. I can’t hear any difference between the 5 filter modes. Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the rest of the system, maybe it’s nearly 60-year old ears. Or maybe it’s Maybelline. 6. Similarly, I can’t hear any obvious degradation in sound quality with the volume control (which is a welcome gadget for me, considering the room layout and the fact that there is no remote on the pre volume), but then again I tend to vary attenuation from 0 to -18 dB once per CD to get the average SPL I want, and leave it there, rather than using it as a full-blown volume control. A mute function would have been nice, as adjustment is quite slow if you need to decrease volume a lot (e.g. someone wants to talk to you, while you are listening to Mahler). 7. The thing is built like a spaceship; a tank is a fragile tin-foil toy in comparison. If you like industrial design, it’s probably a lot prettier than a tank, but it’s not a sophisticated design aesthetically speaking. Finish is excellent; I quite like the internal blue light - but don’t understand its purpose! 8. Cannot comment on DSD and USB/I2S as my dinosaurian system is CD-only 44.1/16 x 2 via S/PDIF 9. No idea where the prices have gone in this tariffed world of today. For the £/€/$ 3000-4000 I paid, it is a relative bargain. Not cheap, but worth every penny. |
@izgmoen Sorry for the slow response. I haven't heard the X30. Don't know how it would compare. |
@shmeet Do you have any updates on the sound of the Musetec preamp paired with the MH-DA006 DAC? Is the preamp a keeper? How is the synergy between the two pieces? |
- 337 posts total