Which is better, Muse 2 or EAD 7000III?

As an owner of the EAD 7000III unit and having freinds who bought the Muse 2, from a reliability standpoint the Muse tends to be somewhat troublesome whereas the EAD has been troublefree. As far as sonics go the EAD is a great sounding unit, I believe the EAD has a better overall balance and you get HDCD for waht its worth and EAD's jitter reduction Digital flywheel.

It depends on which Muse 2 the basic one is probably equal or a little weaker than the EAD. If you get one with the Besel Filter option, however, it sounds significantly better than the EAD. THere is also an HDCD option if you have HDCDs. I own a Muse 296 now and love it and have had no reliability issues for what its worth.

I have the Muse 2 with Bessell Filter and all I can say it sounds amazing. The bass is extremely solid and tight and the highs are very liquid. Overall, the Muse 2 with Bessell filter is a great DAC for the money. You can get a used unit at around $400-$500. Good luck on your search.

I thought about the Muse. I never heard one though, and I had some experience with the 7000 III. I went the safe route. Let me state up-front that I'm going to be selling my 7000 III very soon (as soon as I can get a digital cameral to show how perfect it is). I have always thought it was a pretty darn good sounding DAC. The Digital Flywheel is very effective at reducing jitter (makes a pricey transport much less important). The analog section is discrete and pure Class A (mode of operation). I was very, very happy with it.

The Muse may be worse, as good, or better. I simply don't know, but you could do a lot worse than the 7000 III. I'm selling it because I bought a processor at over 3 times the price, and, yes, it's better. I held onto the EAD until I was sure about the whole situation though.

Best of luck.

The Muse with the Bessel filter is a very good piece. They also used the Cardas AES/EBU cable from the XLR digital input to the board. With a good Transport, Theta Basic or Basic II, Muse 5, etc., it is hard to beat. I have compared to the Theta Gen V and they were very close with subtle differences;Theta a bit wider in the stage, the Muse fuller and a bit more bass weight. Both could "slam" in the bottom end however. The EAD's I have heard are good sounding pieces. The match with your Transport is probably the most important factor. jeff