Musetec Audio (LKS Audio) MH-DA005 Review (DAC)

[Mart68]

It's meant to be an dramatized story. I am ok and I no longer have it.

I got that I was just being ironic.

 

[Jimster480]

LKS is the reason i stopped giving into "hjigh end audio" snake oil BS predatory practices. I owned the 005 for roughly a month and had nothing but problems with it. I still swear to his day old old SMSM (VMV D1Se) sounded superior. The 005 was overly smooth and not as crisp as that one. If you have a pairing of devices that are overly analytical, then i suspect you'll find the 005 sounds good. The thing is, it s not going to add value to your audio chain - it'll just give you a different flavoring. MIND YOU, I owned topping and smsl devices before and I must urge you to carefully weigh what your ears hear vs what your eyes see in the data. The topping stuff i've owned s crisp and clean, but could sound thin and lackluster at times. I literally stopped enjoying music at times with certain devices that were known to measure superbly well. Criticize me all you want, but my personal experience is that specs do not capture everything. Im a stickler for detail, but when audio sounds overly thin and notes sound overly airy or spaced out, I find i lose a lot of auditory experience. With that said, I've had decent luck with Schiit and Mytek offerings as well. Don't rule out the North American gear as well!

To me it sounds like you don't like high performance sound. That is understandable because it does reveal poor recording and/or mastering various songs; especially some of those that you might like. I know that over the last 8 years; my life has changed in terms of what artists I listen to mainly because of what does or doesn't sound good. Poorly recorded artists that I once liked; I can't stand to listen to anymore.
It is just the life of analytical / reference quality listening / reproduction. I listen to my setup for 6-8 hours a day many days as I sit and work, some days as long as 18 hours (although these days I rarely spend 18 hours at my workstation desk by itself) and I am always finding new things to listen to.
It is perfectly understandable to not like this level of HiFi where you will expose the flaws of music you love. However it also begs the question of what you would be getting out of this hobby other than just spending money to spend it... since stuff which doesn't sound very good can be had for very low prices.

 

[Turcoda]

To me it sounds like you don't like high performance sound. That is understandable because it does reveal poor recording and/or mastering various songs; especially some of those that you might like. I know that over the last 8 years; my life has changed in terms of what artists I listen to mainly because of what does or doesn't sound good. Poorly recorded artists that I once liked; I can't stand to listen to anymore.
It is just the life of analytical / reference quality listening / reproduction. I listen to my setup for 6-8 hours a day many days as I sit and work, some days as long as 18 hours (although these days I rarely spend 18 hours at my workstation desk by itself) and I am always finding new things to listen to.
It is perfectly understandable to not like this level of HiFi where you will expose the flaws of music you love. However it also begs the question of what you would be getting out of this hobby other than just spending money to spend it... since stuff which doesn't sound very good can be had for very low prices.

Thats not true at all for me. I only chase high performance sound. I've owned electrostats and ribbon headphones the longest because they produce higher amounts of detail than any speakers I've ever owned. I love listening to decades old music just as much as modern music. Flaws in recordings don't bother me. My point is that just because something looks good on paper does not mean it sounds good. Similarly for LKS, just because something uses amazing parts does not mean the overall device is well engineered. My point is people should rely on their ears and not the marketing.

 

[Jimster480]

Thats not true at all for me. I only chase high performance sound. I've owned electrostats and ribbon headphones the longest because they produce higher amounts of detail than any speakers I've ever owned. I love listening to decades old music just as much as modern music. Flaws in recordings don't bother me. My point is that just because something looks good on paper does not mean it sounds good. Similarly for LKS, just because something uses amazing parts does not mean the overall device is well engineered. My point is people should rely on their ears and not the marketing.

Well "looking good on paper" doesn't really mean anything if it isn't measured. In my experiences; I haven't tested 1 highly measured device that "sounded bad".

 

[CleanSound]

Similarly for LKS, just because something uses amazing parts does not mean the overall device is well engineered.

Be careful, there is a difference between craftsmanship vs engineering of performance. The LKS has superb craftsmanship, I mean ultra high end.

But the engineering of performance being lackluster is one thing, however for LKS to blatantly lie about it is considered consumer fraud.

 

[Turcoda]

Be careful, there is a difference between craftsmanship vs engineering of performance. The LKS is superb craftsmanship, I mean out ultra high end.

But the engineering of performance being lackluster is one thing, but for LKS to blatantly lie about it is considered consumer fraud.

I said nothing of the craftsmanship. I never opened up my unit. All I know is at the tie I was impressed by how neat and heavy it looked. However, I never opened it up, and I can't say anything good about the unit as a whole because its reliability was a colossal mess for me. I have 100$ devices that worked without fail. This unit constantly failed. The USB logic or firmware was implemented by incompetent children. We're talking about frequent disconnects and audio cutouts and audio glitches. I bet you they lied about the components inserted into the unit. I have other dacs here that use Amanero boards and they've never once glitched out on me. Even if the craftsmanship were the best in the world, the functionality was worse than a 100$ dac for me.

 

[CleanSound]

I said nothing of the craftsmanship. I never opened up my unit. All I know is at the tie I was impressed by how neat and heavy it looked. However, I never opened it up, and I can't say anything good about the unit as a whole because its reliability was a colossal mess for me. I have 100$ devices that worked without fail. This unit constantly failed. The USB logic or firmware was implemented by incompetent children. We're talking about frequent disconnects and audio cutouts and audio glitches. I bet you they lied about the components inserted into the unit. I have other dacs here that use Amanero boards and they've never once glitched out on me. Even if the craftsmanship were the best in the world, the functionality was worse than a 100$ dac for me.

I can't speak to the 005. The 004 was very reliable. I tested every feature, every input, every output, every sampling rate. I played it for hours on hours. Super reliable.

But it's the 004 and the 005 was considerably newer.

Also, I think today XMOS is the market leader, except XMOS can only do up to USB DSD512, not that there's any content beyond that anyway.

Regardless I think almost everyone on this forum can agree we will never ever even give LKS a look ever again. Them lying pieces of shites!

 

[Gruvytune]

I was surprised to see such terrible results for the 005. I've had the 004 for almost two years and it's a wonderfully sounding DAC. Had anyone done such a workup of the previous model?

 

[Veri]

Had anyone done such a workup of the previous model?

Doesn't look like it. It's probably "fine" in practice. If you like it just keep using it!

 

[nostoy]

I have owned a LKS-DA003 Volent Version for a long time and it sounds great, much better than the ones I have had: Dac Magic and Eastern Electric Minimax. Now I would like to improve and sell the LKS but I can't find the specifications of the Volent version, which came with various improvements over the standard unit. Does anyone remember what those improvements were......Thank you very much.

 

[milosz]

I have owned a LKS-DA003 Volent Version for a long time and it sounds great, much better than the ones I have had: Dac Magic and Eastern Electric Minimax. Now I would like to improve and sell the LKS but I can't find the specifications of the Volent version, which came with various improvements over the standard unit. Does anyone remember what those improvements were......Thank you very much.

You say "... it sounds great..." as though it is a fact. Have you done any double-blind listening with a few people, and collected results that can be analyzed statistically? Or is "... it sounds great..." just your opinion, and not really a fact at all?

 

[nostoy]

You say "... it sounds great..." as though it is a fact. Have you done any double-blind listening with a few people, and collected results that can be analyzed statistically? Or is "... it sounds great..." just your opinion, and not really a fact at all?

It's my opinion obviously. And what is your aggressiveness about? Don't worry, I'm looking for information and no disputes.

 

[CleanSound]

It's my opinion obviously. And what is your aggressiveness about? Don't worry, I'm looking for information and no disputes.

Some members do need to keep it polite. But the reason why for such aggressive response is because ASR are majority fact and data based and not subjective impression based because one's subjective impression is easily clouded with bias and many snake oil products exploits this.

According to science and not yet disproved by blind ABX testing, any DAC will sound no different than any other DAC if it measures within the hearing threshold.

 

[nostoy]

Okay, I get it. I need to know the characteristics of the LKS DA-003 Volent Version vs normal version to provide that information in the sales process, does anyone know? I can't find anything on the Volent website, it has disappeared.....

 

[DanielT]

Here we go again..

...with accompanying soundtrack...

 

[Jimster480]

I must say, after reading all this nonsense I feel a little sorry for you lot who don’t have the gift of being able to easily hear differences in sonic character between dacs. It’s a simple case of the haves and the have nots I guess.

lmfao someone is trolling

Okay, I get it. I need to know the characteristics of the LKS DA-003 Volent Version vs normal version to provide that information in the sales process, does anyone know? I can't find anything on the Volent website, it has disappeared.....

Nope. Just don't buy it I guess.

 

[DanielT]

Oh man, I guess I am. Unintentionally I promise. New to this site and posted after reading (in disbelief) for a few minutes. I’m genuinely shocked that so many (audiophiles?) can’t actually hear differences between DACs.

Hint, the discussion about what you bring up can continue in this thread:

Little to read, 411 pages and 8215 posts.

Serious Question: How can DAC's have a SOUND SIGNATURE if they measure as transparent? Are that many confused?

I know there are people out there that think cables affect sound, which is much worse, but there really is no response to something like that, but just to smile and nod. But what about people who talk about DACS as if they were headphone drivers or speakers, and talk about the SOUNDSTAGE...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[Jimster480]

Hint, the discussion about what you bring up can continue in this thread:

Little to read, 411 pages and 8215 posts.

Serious Question: How can DAC's have a SOUND SIGNATURE if they measure as transparent? Are that many confused?

I know there are people out there that think cables affect sound, which is much worse, but there really is no response to something like that, but just to smile and nod. But what about people who talk about DACS as if they were headphone drivers or speakers, and talk about the SOUNDSTAGE...

audiosciencereview.com

Great resource. Spent plenty of time there myself.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

I know what's to blame: the silver plated transformer and the funny capacitors.

 

[AdrianusG]

IMO the Terminator franchise should have stopped after the first film although was the second one with the liquid metal that wasn’t too awful.
Keith

You Kidding me?

Terminator 2 was way better tan 1, they should have stopped after 2 though