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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.

dbb

Showing 2 responses by wynnytsky

wynnytsky
19 posts
 

@sns were you able to set the Laiv to "source" clock with Gaia i2s?  If so, is it the 12th gen Gaia?  I have an early Gaia and no such luck for me.

 

@dbb before giving up on the P30, there are some upstream tweaks that take you deeper into analog territory.  I thought I was done with USB regeneration until someone brought over an SOtM tX-USBultra regenerator w/ Ferrum Hypsos power supply.  Shocked me and the cost is fair.  Another one is Network Acoustics Muon Pro.  I can't defend their pricing but the results I can.  Using the Muon with NA's Ethernet cable was too heavy handed in my setup.  I preferred NA's Muon w/ JCAT gold, or NA's ethernet cable alone.

wynnytsky
19 posts
 

@dbb if you prioritize max(bandwidth), max(info retrieval), min(noise floor), then I invite you to obsess over an autoformer!  Never heard this one, but I'd love to hear someone's impression

https://rambleaudio.com/en/products/design-by-mr-k-ppa-01-passive-preamplifier

 

@sns Yes changing LOCAL to I2S says "No compatible i2s clock is available", then reverts to LOCAL, which doesn't sound as going straight USB.  My Rockna can lock on the source clock, so who knows.  If anything the Laiv taught me to love spdif again after many years of i2s.  Doing Gaia AES into Rockna right now.

 

For those doing i2s it's very easy to flip absolute phase when configuring DDC jumpers for your DAC.  But if you play this track...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCif9K8EdJY

...while pointing this $13 sound meter at the speaker diaphragm, then the red/green LED should match the polarity from the youtube link...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B13ZSDV?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1_0

Test all drivers to confirm the xovers are wired correctly.  It can read my compression drivers through a screen, but I need to crank it louder to read the tweeter.

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