musician aquarius r2r dac any good?

I have the Musetec 005 that is mentioned above. I am a huge fan boy of that unit. I lent it to my friend for a month and he did not like it for the gear he was testing it with, the RAAL SR1a + CA-1a headphones and VM-1a amp.

I love the 005 with my 2-channel speakers (incredible sound) but once got the unit back I also started listening with my VM-1a. SR1a, and CA-1a and it was not good at all. My Benchmark DAC3B is so much better with this headphone gear.

It is all about synergy.

The VM-1a has 7 tubes and works ONLY with the 2 headphones I listed. I generally do not like tubes, but there are exceptions. With the Benchmark DAC3B, the sound is incredibly detailed, fast, and rivals the very best sound I have heard from ANY system (no room to contend with).

The CA-1a sounds like headphones on steroids, while the SR1a (called ear speakers) sounds like speakers attached to your ears. Stereophile will review the amp soon. I hope they use a very neutral DAC like the DAC3B.

With the Musetec 005 the sparkle on top is just not there relative to the DAC3B. If I did not have the DAC3B I may have been content with the VM-1a and 005 pairing but I lucked out hearing the DAC3B with the VM-1a.

Today I replaced, my CODA 07x preamp and put in the Benchmark LA4 preamp + Benchmark AHB2 monos + Musetec 005. Just stunning. Better than the DAC3B in this stack. I have to decide on some gear pairings for my office and this will be the final setup.

For my Livingroom I will get a second Musetec 005 + CODA 07x preamp + KRELL 175XD amp. I may sell the 07x to buy a second LA4.