[Whitigir]

So I petitioned for a replacement of my Amenero card last week, and it was handled pretty quickly. The card was Express shipping into USA. The problems started out that I was unable to use low bandwidth at 001 when cold started, the sound was continuously being re-adjusted by the unit so stalling a few times here and there together with sound performances degradations. Beside that, the Native DSD feed Source would have different noises at different filters and I had to continuously changing the filters on DSD mode in order to have it working.

Today my replacement Amenero card came in the main and to my surprises, they have different build. I think the DIY community has been a great help

1/ Isolated USB port
2/ Op-Amp regulations
3/ beefier voltage regulations on the circuit board

Here is a few shots



Time to audition the new board and see if it had changed anything

 

[mb3]

Looks new and improved. Hopefully it works better. I hope you don't mind me asking but sent it to you?

 

[Whitigir]

Yes, they shipped it back to me by DHL express

 

[XVampireX]

Couple of questions, first of all @Whitiger - How is Stax SR-009 handling the difference of the DAC with what you had previously? I hear MH-DA004 is a brute force in terms of Bass, is that true for SR-009 too through it (Being a headphone that is known to be weak in bass, though I don't know how true that is)

Second question - I'm sort of new to all this i2s thing, I see that people mostly prefer it, how do I use it with my PC? Is it only through a converter?

While waiting for the new DAC, my Vega starting to have a renewed soul

 

[Whitigir]

The bass in the 004 is just very refined with great dynamic forces but the sub bass is awesome here too. The only thing I am surprised about is just how smooth and detailed the 004 is, given the ES9038Pro 2x. It is another case of extremely well designed DAC.

The 009 is not weak in bass with Kevin Gilmore amp, and I do have KG GG. The bass is perfect

I2S is only with converter, yes. People would prefer i2S if the USB is not properly implemented

 

[XVampireX]

That's what they said about the LCD-2/3 yet I can honestly say that the bass slam in my HD800S is much better and better felt, while they say the bass on SR-009 is worse. My daily driver currently is HD800S, for me it's currently the better sound (albeit different) and better build quality (I actually have my LCD-3 not working currently... and tired of sending it back to Audeze, cable was torn from connector and I was stupid and thought the problem was elsewhere until I realized that the problem was the cable)
How would you compare this DAC with your previous one? pairing SR-009 headphones which are about 4k-5k USD with an amp that is about the same but with a DAC that is quite a bit less... how does that work out for you?

 

[brickears]

Received my 004 today. Looks like LKS has made some positive changes. The USB port now has a black tape around it to help with isolation. The output transistors are on the other side of the PCB, so the heat issue is possibly no longer though dont have an IR meter to hand to confirm. Will be comparing against a T+A DAC 8 DSD once it's broken in.

 

[XVampireX]

Would actually love a comparison with that DAC, I've heard it's really amazing, it also looks advanced and pretty thought through... Audiostream gives it a great review

 

[MattSPL]

Received my 004 today. Looks like LKS has made some positive changes. The USB port now has a black tape around it to help with isolation. The output transistors are on the other side of the PCB, so the heat issue is possibly no longer though dont have an IR meter to hand to confirm. Will be comparing against a T+A DAC 8 DSD once it's broken in.

Sounds good, where did you order from and do you have any pictures of the new improvements?
Thanks

 

[brickears]

Sounds good, where did you order from and do you have any pictures of the new improvements?
Thanks

Directly from LKS, was about to switch to XMOS u208 till realised Singxer still don't have DSD 512 firmwares for them, and Amanero have just released a beta firmware for Native DSD 512 in Linux which appears to be working. Will flash it once broken in.

Quick crude pic attached showing output transistors placed on opposite side.

 

[brickears]

Would actually love a comparison with that DAC, I've heard it's really amazing, it also looks advanced and pretty thought through... Audiostream gives it a great review

The T+A is pretty special. Infact the guy I know who owns both the T+A and the LKS gives the stock LKS 004 the nudge in resolution and tonality, but still considers the T+A the musical dynamic swing champ. The T+A recently saw off a Chord DAVE in the same setup, with quite some ease.

Those DACs are attached to a pair of Hypex NC1200s, Kef Blades, room treated a bit (needs rework as moved lately), JCAT Femto USB card with external DC power and HQPlayer upsampling all to DSD 512.

 

[Whitigir]

Damn ! They did revision one after another so freaking fast....and what are those 2 caps at the DAC....mine did not have those

 

[XVampireX]

@brickears - Sounds promising, Chord DAVE is something I would have liked but it's a bit too expensive and I don't know just how much of an improvement it is over the other TOTL DACs like even Schiit Yggdrasil or Holo or now LKS MH-DA004...
Are you using HQPlayer on linux for DSD? I don't quite like the interface of it, it's not too user oriented, too techy for me. Do you know any other good way to listen to DSD on Linux? Something like Foobar2k or JRiver (I know that the latter exists on Linux, don't know if it has DSD support...) Also when you play high-res does it lock on the sample rate on the DAC?

 

[Whitigir]

Dave doesn't have regulated power rails, the 004 does

 

[XVampireX]

Dave doesn't have regulated power rails, the 004 does

And why does that matter exactly?