First impressions of new MH-DA006, Musetec flagship

@izgmoen  Thanks for the suggestion of looking into the new Gustard U26. It seems like it could make a USB signal out of a noisy computer compete with a streamer and play DSD up sampled files to 2048 from HQ player. I think the 006 would be limited to 1024. I don't use HQ player. Still, it might give the Gaia I run for it's money. Have you heard it?

I received the Gustard U26 a few days ago and have been breaking it in. I bought it through Amazon, so returning it would not be a problem if it didn’t make a noticeable improvement. I’ll wait awhile before I report back, but I’m pretty sure I’m keeping it. Instruments are more distinct, a bump up in resolution, easier to hear hall decay. Sound stage depth sounds different, but not exactly sure how it is different. I’m streaming into the U26 via a Lumin U2. As good as the 006 sounded before, it’s clearly improved. 

After about 100 hours of break in, I’m almost  in a state of rapture. (Somebody slap me. Thanks, I needed that.) This combination of the Lumin U2 feeding the U26 then I2S to the 006 is one of the more dramatic improvements I’ve experienced. The 006 seems to have no limits. I try to report back in about a week or so when I will likely have a more sober perspective.

@dbb I have read through your initial post and the rest of this thread. Based on what I read, I upgraded from to the Musetec DA006 from the DA005. My experience with the DA005 was already good but the comments coming from the DA006 owners on this thread made me pull the trigger on the DA006

So, to keep this a short post, I will say that after getting the DA006 settled in my system I bought a Denafrips Gaia and put in the chain. From the beginning the Gaia improved the overall sound and I was pleased.  After about 200 hrs on the Gaia I could live with the sound from the Gaia, but I became frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to match the pin configurations in the DA006 and Gaia in order to get it to play via DoP .

I also had trouble synching the DA006 to allow the Gaia clock to be the master.

I reached out to sns (Scott) and he tried to help but I didn’t get it figured out.

So, I also bought a Gustard U26 DDC from Amazon.  I liked the Gaia but after several hours on the Gustard I knew that it would stay and the Gaia would go.  In my set up the Gustard seemed more dynamic whereas the Gaia was slightly more laid back.  Not to say the Gustard is better or worse than the Gaia, but the Gustard had better synergy in my rig because my components already presented as laid back.

My rig is:

Antipodes CX/EX > Gustard U 26 > Musetec DA006 > Line Magnetic 805 > Harbeth Monitor 40.1

Compared to the Gaia, the Gustard added more transparency, air, dynamic detail.  The Gaia is great but the Gustard works better for me and my listening preferences,  

@dhart86 Thank you for your post. Your comparison of the Gustard U26 to the Gaia will be helpful to many. I had some initial difficulty playing DSD files via I2S on the Gustard. After some chat with ChatGPT and an adjustment in JRiver the U26 and DA006 talked to each other without a problem. PCM was easy. (The configuration that worked for both PCM and DSD was mode 3 and flag14 on the U26 and AAAAB and IIS-H data set to IIS32bit on the 006.) DSD played natively through the Lumin U2 streamer and through dop to the U26 to the 006 via HDMI.  

Just curious, how many hours did you break-in the U26 before you felt the sound stabilized? I have noticed some gradual improvement after about 125 hours.