Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

The only relevance of how China operates should relate to whether they have malpractices, etc. If the manufacturer operates a business without malpractices, then what happens between them and the Chinese government should not be something that the consumer should be pulled into or be aware of. If I missed the point, please elaborate.

Internal photos can be a good judge of quality of equipment, but not how it might sound. It might be similar to saying that the equipment performed excellent on test bench, like ASR, but then if it sounds sterile, then the numbers unfortunately don't mean anything.

I definitely look for user reviews when I try to search for a good product to buy. In fact the Rhumba, ProAcs and the Inakustiks are such products that do not have too many reviews, but user backing is strong. But when a handful of users take comments personally, defend the manufacturer for their issues, cuss others for not agreeing with them and then one user comes to rescue them all, that is a HUGE RED flag for me. So yes, user reviews are great, but everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

@arafiq 

I have to agree. I was interested in this dac too. But not anymore. Certain things raised doubts in my mind.

Some folks are debating with others as if they own the Mustec firm OR have some sort of arrangement with them. And I observe the same - a handful of folks defending their territory that too so voraciously - on this and other forums. Next - if a person does not like Musetec's sound OR the return policy, so be it. Don't really have to be upset if your enthusiasm about the product did not meet someone's expectations.

And bingo on the Tekton thread.

@yyzsantabarbara and @wharfy , congratulations! Hoping to her your impression about this DAC. On the other post on this DAC the OP mentions that he prefers this DAC over the Holo May....which is a big deal comparing the price difference and the fact that the Holo has bested many other well know DACs. I have never heard a R-2-R DAC. So don't know what that means against a chip-based DAC. I generally upsample everything to DSD, except Tidal and Spotify.

And none of you are able to answer - why can one find Musetec so easily while you cannot lay your hands on the Okto? Musetec is a one man show. So ideally it should have been more difficult to find. On the other hand the Okto has a manufacturing facility that employs several people and make them in batches. Still the Oktos are hard to come by. Strange.

Like I mentioned before, I am looking to purchase a DAC in the next few months, but am in no rush. I will take my sweet time to find as much information as I can before I make a decision. Keeping my options open.

Where’s the love for the Okto Dac8, which measures very well indeed, and costs a lot less?

I had asked this question earlier. And the Okto is made in EU. And it is not a one man show. It uses the same chip, I believe. Why the Musetec costs so much is beyond me. Internal pics looks almost like my Oppo player.

BTW, the Okto is so hot that you cannot find one easily. I am in no rush. So hoping to find one in the next few months.

@kairosman there are certainly differences, but not more than twice. I am sure the Musetec is a fine DAC.

Show us the inside of the Okto you’re writing about. That’s also just a DAC. Most of the inside space of the much smaller Okto case is, in fact, empty.
 

AND the HOLO is a better value because it has a greater number of parts.  

Looks like someone contradicted themselves! 

@melm , Grow up dude - don't show up your frustrations. People will definitely question before they plunk down a bunch of money. Yes the Musetec is a DAC and made in a place where labor is cheap. Still it costs that much, compared to say a Holo Audio which is not chip based and is expensive to make. I was trying to show that the internals of Oppo and Musetec are similar, not same. But the Musetec costs far more than other pure DACs that are also made in China. Why?

@kairosman , though Okto is mostly air, it sounds mighty fine according to the users and professional reviewers. Are you telling me that if you stuff components inside, that should make it sound better? And what trusted members are your talking about? The 3-4 people who keep posting here are not all that familiar to me. I have been here for quite sometime and have only recently seen their activity. In fact it seems these same posters post together on other DAC threads here (go look at the Meitner DAC thread). It seems as if they look out for each other and jump on anyone who other questions the or this product. They seems to be in very close contact with the manufacturer.  I can understand that people love their products and the manufacturers. But feeling offended and defending it like crazy raises red flags. This seems to be going on the same track as the Tekton loudspeakers. You really don't have to use 4 letter words to force your opinion - it only shows frustration. And yes, I can delete my system page and claim to have a $100k system.

Some superb sounding audio components have relatively few parts.

Now this comes from a member whose threads I have read and reached out in the distant past. ozzy, lak, etc are the members that many here trust. ALMARG was another member that I trusted and miss him. And no one bad-mouthed others in their response. This is something you fanboys should learn. Take it easy.

@kairosman ​​@melm 
Thanks for the more matured responses.

@kairosman I had never even once mentioned in this thread about the sound quality of the Musetec. So where did you find my opinion about it, that caused the frustration? I did not say that you posted your system and took it down. What I meant was anyone can say that they own a $$$ system to prove their point. At least that is what I felt when you mentioned the price of your system. There are 3-5 posters on this thread who have been keeping this thread alive and almost defending this DAC. Example would be the response from OP. As for the advice - I can do my own research and reach a conclusion.

@melm  I never asked for a solution from you. I will take my time, post on whichever threads I want and try to find answers. You should not have problems as long as I don’t offend you. Why are you so possessive about this DAC? “More parts means more value” is not what I concluded. Please read the “mostly air” comment from a poster above. The Holo is R2R and that takes some build effort was what I was implying. Obviously since such DACs do not use off the shelf chips, they are labor intensive to design and manufacture. So the prices probably reflect that.

These threads are there to share and gather information. I am not sure why you take these posts personally. Per my understanding, you all are owners on the DAC and not this company. But this thread has made me even more aware of what to look for in future when new products show up.