Musetec (LKS) MH-DA005 DAC

@sns Your server is in some ways acting like a switch. It sits in-between the router and the streamer and it re-clocks the ethernet packets. And perhaps most importantly, it must be isolating the oR into its own little network. So in other words, the oR won’t be receiving multicast messages, for example, from any other network device outside its own network. So repeating what I said earlier, less activity is less noise/distortion. My PhoenixNet dealer once had a dual switch network and similar to your experience, he found that removing the first switch sounded better. And isn’t it great to know that removing a component does that? It’s a win for the music and we get to put money back into the pocketbook for a change.

From your experience and others, the 005 seems to improve as the rest of the system is upgraded. It shows that the 005 is not the weak link. The Benchmark DAC3 shares this trait and it’s a big reason why the DAC3 has been with me nearly since inception.

I don’t have optical isolation anymore in my system but that will change in a few weeks when the Ediscreation Fiber Box II will come in. It will sit in-between the router and the switch. If it makes a difference, I will share the results. But before then, I have a QSA Yellow fuse for the 005 coming in a few hours. I’m hoping this fuse will not make an appreciable difference. I don’t like the idea of fuse rolling $700+ fuses.

@sirnui You're correct in how router is acting. I still have my audiophile switch and want to experiment with replacing router with switch. I presume the switch will be quieter and know it has superior clock, in fact I did hear a bit more detail when adding switch. The issue is while this could work short term, I do need wifi in house, not running exposed ethernet cable through house.

With recent changes I've been able to remove one generic FMC along with it's lps, Uptone usbregen with it's lps and one ethernet cable.

I also have at least 2500 cd rips on NAS, streams virtually indistinguishable from streams. Network upgrades especially benefit streams.

I'd be interested in your results with Ediscreation, unaware of this up to now. If your results positive I may try between router and server. I've been looking for network upgrades upstream of server, this may be just the ticket!

I use Synergistic orange fuse in 005, never heard it without this fuse, thought about upgrade to purple. Hard for me to swallow $700 fuses as well, seems like a lot to spend for possible marginal gains, but who knows?  Keep us informed on this as well.

I placed an order for a silver colored one today with Midwest Audio in Indiana.   After reading this thread and the one on Headfi I decided to pull the trigger.  I'm currently using the internal DAC card in my Aesthetix Mimas integrated amp. It sounds pretty good, but I was curious or  wanted to see how a top of the line separate DAC would perform in my system.   

@sirnui Regarding USB into the 005 from your Grimm you'll probably find that the AES/EBU and USB will be very close. Not so with non-Amanero DACs, AES will be superior. Maybe you will even prefer one for different tracks. USB will be the only choice for Native DSD. My Aurender can convert DSD to DOP and I've found letting the Aurender convert to DOP and then switch on DOP in the 005 brings the best results. That's if you decided to forego USB.

I'm very familiar with the Ediscreation and it's a great product but I would really like to know if the ENO has any effect after you install the Edis. Thx.

@lordmelton I'm really looking forward to this weekend when I get more time to try USB with the 005.  I've made so many changes to the system that the music feels unfamiliar (and awesome) but comparing USB versus AES will help me get a certain grasp of what the system is and perhaps where I want to go from here.  I can't seem to stop tweaking.

When I get the Fiber Box II, I will at some point test the system without the ENO and without the switch and whatever other combo that is of interest to me.