Has Anyone Auditioned an LKS MH-DA004 DAC?


Seems like a lot of DAC for the money.  ($1450-$1600)
melm

I dont have it yet - The chip set had to be replaced by LKS, there was "noise".  Once I get it, hopefully by next week or so, I will let you know my thoughts!!

thanks

For someone who has received the LKS 004, what type of manual or literature comes with it? This will be my first DAC and need some good documentation to help me get this set up. I am also considering the Oppo Sonica just because of the included manual and customer service available. Any thoughts?   
The manufacturer’s support page is at: http://www.mu-sound.com/about.asp?id=3

The manual, such as it is, is at: http://www.mu-sound.com/files/MH-DA004.pdf

To use the Coax, Optical, AES/EBU or the BNC, there is no set-up, just plug it in. If that’s all you plan to use, no reason to buy the optional Amanaro USB board.

If you have a sophisticated music server that outputs I2S you also don’t need the optional board.

For the Amenero USB I found the set-up easy as I have JRiver. With the help of the email factory support all I had to do was download the Amanero driver, from Amanero or from the support page, and set JRiver as follows:
Audio Device is set at "Combo384 ASIO 1.03 (ASIO)",
DSP & Output Format should be left at "None".
Bitstreaming should be set to "Yes (DSD)".
The factory suggests that DPLL should be set at BW08 or above. I set it a bit lower. It works perfectly playing any kind of file from my computer. I’ve used my Oppo to rip DSD files off all of my SACDs and they have never sounded so good.

Instructions that I would not be able to follow are given for Foobar. Other users have done it successfully and would be glad to help, I’m sure. Or perhaps the factory by email.
See: https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/l-k-s-audio-mh-da004-dual-es9038pro-dac-van-dammes-double-impact.8...

If you are expecting the level of support given by Oppo, it’s not likely to be there.  You will likely have to do some learning, and correspondence with other owners.

A list of DACs that someone on some forum have so far said is out played by the LKS 004:
GUSTARD DAC-X20 Pro Super Ultimate
modified Schiit Yggdrasil
modified LKS 003
CA DACMagic
EE MiniMAX Plus
EE Supreme
vega dac
holo spring level three
bluesound vault2
oppo sonica dac
mytek brooklyn
auralic altair
T+A DAC8 DSD

Some are more, some are less expensive.

That being said, though the DAC is continuing to perform extremely well IMO, it has a known overheating problem. That is being addressed in a few ways, the easiest of which is simply to have a very cheap whisper fan on top of the grill opening.


Melm, Thanks for your input. For now, I think it will be used as a DAC connecting my Onkyo C7030 CD player as a transport into it, then into my pre-amp. Later on I plan on getting more sophisticated with streaming music. I really am a novice on this digital music stuff, the learning curve is going to be really high for me! This is my concern about the LKS. The Oppo Sonica may be  a more user friendly unit, but not as good sound quality as the LKS MH-DA004.  If anyone has more input I would appreciate it!!