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Has the ASR review/hatchet job on the Musetec MH-DA005 Changed Anyone's Mind?

A little over a year ago, after seeing so many glowing reviews of the 005 on this and other fora, I bought the DAC and thought it made a great improvement over my Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ (which I now use on my #2 system). Recently, I came across the ASR review, which concludes that the 005 is a piece of crap. I know that ASR has a dubious (at best) reputation in this forum, but I wonder if its review has caused anyone to have second thoughts about the Musetec. I confess I was initially concerned by questions like, why hasn't Musetec responded to the horrible ASR review, if it is inaccurate? But, then, every time I listen to my system with the 005 DAC in it, it sounds glorious. Obviously, the guidance, "trust what your hear" is important, but I'm not sure I'd be as trustful of my ears if the negative technical review came from, say, John Atkinson, who has far more professional legitimacy in measuring equipment. I confess I have one more than one occasion refrained from buying a certain item because of his test results. (Where I live, it is not feasible to listen to amps in stores before buying, and one quickly grows weary of buying and returning expensive equipment on line, especially equipment that does not have stellar subjective and objective accolades).  

audio-satisficer

Showing 2 responses by yakbob

yakbob
449 posts
 

I had not read the test results on this unit, but did go to ASR after reading your post.

It seems most equipment in the several kilobuck range and higher is treated more critically on ASR, since the expectation for quality or excellence is higher at these price points. IIRC, the Chord Dave didn’t do so well over there either, despite having a loyal following and many positive reviews.

Like me, you seem to be in the “how’s it sound camp” vs the “how’s it measure camp”, so why let your enjoyment be minimized by it’s measured performance? The DA005  appears to be well appointed and with high build quality and is rated as excellent in the review. Not really what I would call a hatchet job, or an attack on a brand, like those lobbied here on a daily basis (McIntosh, Carver, Raven, Tekton or most products built in China).

If Musetec (LKS?) is really concerned about, (or dispute) measurements in posted over there, they could always post their own findings, or provide a unit for testing if ASRs results is wildly differ from their production units. 

 


 

 

 

yakbob
449 posts
 

Nice of ASR to tank the resale value of the 005.......

Unless you're playing in MSB / dCS territory, resale value on most brands of DACs is a losing proposition. Not many are willing to buy into older digital tech. Prospective sellers could maximize resale value by listing here since the consensus is measurements don't make a difference in sound quality.

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