[b0bb]

Thank you very much for your extended and professional response, "b0bb". I, as you may have already guessed, am inexperienced in all this "overhauling" of a dac, so my use of the LKS would be as it comes from the factory. But I have been reading the opinions of the users of this dac in forums for more than a year and I have always read good things about it, except that at first it seemed to accumulate a lot of heat, but I think that is already solved. Another option would be the Matrix X-Sabre Pro "mqa", but I don't know if it would be a better option and it deserves that extra expense. And yes, it is true, the price of the LKS has not dropped, it has remained the same or more expensive. I am thinking of buying it on "Clear Components", a German website on eBay. Thank you very much "b0bb" for your opinion and if you want to tell me something more or anything, I will be happy to read you. Greetings to all...

The MQA capability is an interesting technical curiosity, I am not convinced about its merits to pay extra for the feature.

The closed proprietary nature of MQA is not something I want in my music library.

MQA was introduced in 2014, at that time hi-res audio was not widely available, it promised the hi-res experience with the bandwidth requirement of CD Redbook audio
In the last 6 years there was a substantial increase hi-res audio for sale at reasonable prices without needing MQA, this makes MQA somewhat redundant.

Most of the affordable hi-res music available comes from small independent dealers and I spend my money with them to keep this going for as long as possible.

MQA has a niche in the Tidal streaming service, if you like the catalog on offer and will pay the asking price (240USD/yr), MQA might be interesting.

 

[Gilberto 62]

Good morning and thanks again, "b0bb".
Thank you for giving me your opinion, which will be very valuable in deciding on the purchase of the dac. The thing is between the LKS and the Matrix Saber mqa, there I have to decide. So, I'm going to ask you a typical question from a novice like me and, please, forgive my ignorance: I have enough "24 bit / 96 khz" audio files and I need to know if those files or others that I can download from Qobuz who are "Hi-res" ...
-... can I listen to them with the LKS ...?
-... will I hear them much better with the Matrix ...?
-... if you had to choose between those two dacs, which one would you choose ...?
Thank you very, very much for your valuable answer. A grateful greeting from this newbie ...

P.D. : ... is that the appearance and size of the LKS is, for me, much more attractive ...

 

[b0bb]

Good morning and thanks again, "b0bb".
Thank you for giving me your opinion, which will be very valuable in deciding on the purchase of the dac. The thing is between the LKS and the Matrix Saber mqa, there I have to decide. So, I'm going to ask you a typical question from a novice like me and, please, forgive my ignorance: I have enough "24 bit / 96 khz" audio files and I need to know if those files or others that I can download from Qobuz who are "Hi-res" ...
-... can I listen to them with the LKS ...?
-... will I hear them much better with the Matrix ...?
-... if you had to choose between those two dacs, which one would you choose ...?
Thank you very, very much for your valuable answer. A grateful greeting from this newbie ...

P.D. : ... is that the appearance and size of the LKS is, for me, much more attractive ...

Playback will depend on the media player you connect to the LKS.

Given the cost of the units in excess of 1500USD, you should consider doing side-by-side comparison with the DACs in person.

I am not interested in the Matrix for the following reasons
1) I want a DAC with separate transformers for the analog and digital portions, Matrix has only 1
2) Dual mono ES9038 for the DAC, Matrix has 1 ES9038
3) Separate primary and secondary power supplies, connected to separate transformer windings on LKS not on Matrix.
4) LKS has a lot of physical separation and shielding of the analog and DAC portion from the rest of the digital circuits, Matrix is too cramped together
5) Too much of the manufacturing cost is sunk into the expensive CNC machined case, raising the cost of the DAC, the extra money could have been better used to add more power supplies/transformers or to make 2X ES9038 in Dual mono configuration
6) Expensive touch panel on the Matrix.
7) Cost sunk into the FPGA, much of that is better done elsewhere eg HQPlayer for the DSP, Singxer SU-1/SU-6 for the signal isolation and reclocking, this keeps the noise outside of the DAC.
8) No airflow in the case, ES9038 chip is cooled from the bottom to the baseplate, Matrix could have done more to the case top to cool the top of the chip instead of a small heatsink. Money spent on the CNC tooling could have been used to add an extension to the top case touching the chip to draw heat away. It is disappointing that the CNC machining was done to just make a pretty case.

 

[Gilberto 62]

Thanks again b0bb. Well, I think I decided on the LKS then. In principle, my configuration will be pc + foobar + lks, since I am very used to foobar for now, later I will test HQP, since I see that everyone works with it. I will also buy a good usb cable, Audioquest perhaps, although I do not know what you will think about the esoteric world of cables ... Well b0bb, any comment from you will be a pleasure for me. Greetings to all.

 

[wwmhf]

The LKS 004 in stock form is nothing special in 2020 but it has a lot of untapped potential.

A modern DAC is 2 main parts
1)Digital to Analog converter
2)DSP for sample rate conversion for PCM and SDM remodulation for DSD

LKS004 main strength is (1) in particular, the analog stage with the final operating state in a high bias Class-A.
One of the reasons Class-A output stages when properly designed, can have very wide bandwidth and this is needed if the DAC is expected to show improvement with music of higher sampling rates. The LKS 004 performs very well with high bitrate material, at DSD512 the highest sampling rate is 24.576MHz

The analog stage will need at least 50-100MHz in order for the converter to not run into signal induced slew rate limiting of the output stage.
One element of that is a high bias current.
The LKS 004 has a measured idle output stage current of between 60-70mA this is about 3-6x that of competing designs.

This makes the DAC expensive to manufacture and prices have not moved since it was introduced in early 2017

There is stiff competition from the likes of Gustard and Matrix at this pricepoint.
The analog portions of these competitors are not as good, relying built in custom DSP processing to make up the difference.

The LKS uses the stock filters from ESS relying on a good analog frontend for the performance.

Either option (LKS or the competition) will do the job, more so if you are looking for a single box to plug in to you digital music source.

If you go with the LKS you never have to worry about firmware updates as it does not have any custom "special sauce" that requires firmware maintenence.
The USB interface is licensed from Amanero and the updates come from Amanero directly, updating is optional.

If you want to take this further, major portions of the DSP processing chain can be done outside of the DAC, typically with a reasonably capable PC, running specialized audio DSP software for example Roon or HQPlayer.

This can be done with the LKS or any of it competitors, with the competition much of the custom DSP is bypassed and with it the money spent there.
This gives LKS the advantage as most of the manufacturing budget is spent on the good analog stage and good quality power supplies so there is less waste.

When used with a properly implemented outboard DSP resampling, ordinary 44.1kHz CD source material can take a greater advantage of higher sampling rates on offer today.
Higher sampling rates give more headroom to implement sophisticated DSP algorithms, which in turn, can do more to move the sampling noise and artifacts further away from the audio band.

This, of course, assumes that the analog part of the DAC is up to the task, as it under a lot more stress with increasing sampling rates.

Beyond this is hardware modification like installing a better master clock.

This is very helpful, thanks

 

[Gilberto 62]

Well, my LKS is already ordered and on my way home ...

 

[aggielaw]

Say, the new Amanero FW indicates native DSD512 on both Windows and Linux. One great frustration I've had with the LKS is its inability to do more than DSD128 with Linux. I have a capable Windows 10 64-bit PC running my roon server, but it feeds an SOtM sms-200ultra neo streamer, which is Linux-based.

Can someone confirm flashing the latest firmware will enable DSD up to 512 with the Linux-based device feeding the LKS?

Many thanks!

 

[b0bb]

Say, the new Amanero FW indicates native DSD512 on both Windows and Linux. One great frustration I've had with the LKS is its inability to do more than DSD128 with Linux. I have a capable Windows 10 64-bit PC running my roon server, but it feeds an SOtM sms-200ultra neo streamer, which is Linux-based.

Can someone confirm flashing the latest firmware will enable DSD up to 512 with the Linux-based device feeding the LKS?

Many thanks!

The latest Amanero firmware (2006be11) works in native DSD mode on the SMS-200.
Don't forget to enable DSD512 and Native mode on the Roon widget on the SMS-200.

 

[aggielaw]

The latest Amanero firmware (2006be11) works in native DSD mode on the SMS-200.
Don't forget to enable DSD512 and Native mode on the Roon widget on the SMS-200.

Thanks b0bb!

 

[aggielaw]

Well, the firmware flash does not appear to have gone as intended. I updated as shown in the photo, and it was successful. However, now roon does not show DSD capability in the device setup page when I set the SOtM configuration to Native and x512. If I select Native/DOP in the Eunhasu roon widget, I get DSD x64 and x128.

Also, I blew the fuse in the LKS carrying it back to the basement. I have a Mundorf Supreme and a Synergistic Research fuse to get me through, but I like the stock fuse best. I have an inquiry in with Jinbo to learn how I can order more stock fuses.

Any ideas as to why I'm not getting DSD out of roon with thew new Amanero firmware?

On the bright side, I finally installed the L3042 USB power supply I bought from minishow028 on ebay nine months ago. Playback via USB is noticeably improved now.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[b0bb]

Well, the firmware flash does not appear to have gone as intended. I updated as shown in the photo, and it was successful. However, now roon does not show DSD capability in the device setup page when I set the SOtM configuration to Native and x512. If I select Native/DOP in the Eunhasu roon widget, I get DSD x64 and x128.

Also, I blew the fuse in the LKS carrying it back to the basement. I have a Mundorf Supreme and a Synergistic Research fuse to get me through, but I like the stock fuse best. I have an inquiry in with Jinbo to learn how I can order more stock fuses.

Any ideas as to why I'm not getting DSD out of roon with thew new Amanero firmware?

On the bright side, I finally installed the L3042 USB power supply I bought from minishow028 on ebay nine months ago. Playback via USB is noticeably improved now.

Thanks for your advice!

The USB interface has to be disconnected and powered off in between the 2 flash updates, turn off and unplug the LKS.
Just put it into firmware flash update mode and try again.

If the flash update is successful the card will announce Altset2 for DSD over usb

 

[Gilberto 62]

Good morning guys. Finally, I already have my LKS at home. I'm still waiting for the usb cable to arrive, an Audioquest diamond. Please, you who understand all this, I would like to ask you a question. I have always read that it is necessary to burn the dac for a few days, blah, blah, blah ... You think it convenient that, as long as the usb cable arrives at my house (... one week ...), keep the LKS on. ..? Or do you think this is huge nonsense ...? Sorry if the question seems idiotic, but it's my recent start in the dac world. Thanks for your opinion.
P.S. : "... maybe I'll be lucky and our great connoisseur" b0bb "will light my way ..."

 

[oldearwax]

Good morning guys. Finally, I already have my LKS at home. I'm still waiting for the usb cable to arrive, an Audioquest diamond. Please, you who understand all this, I would like to ask you a question. I have always read that it is necessary to burn the dac for a few days, blah, blah, blah ... You think it convenient that, as long as the usb cable arrives at my house (... one week ...), keep the LKS on. ..? Or do you think this is huge nonsense ...? Sorry if the question seems idiotic, but it's my recent start in the dac world. Thanks for your opinion.
P.S. : "... maybe I'll be lucky and our great connoisseur" b0bb "will light my way ..."

For the mean time, use the factory cable to setup foobar , DSP and DSD plugins, drivers (from Amanero web site) .
I returned my first copy of this DAC (one channel failed).
Please report what you think of the sound ?
PS: b0bb is very generous, very appreciated here.

 

[b0bb]

Good morning guys. Finally, I already have my LKS at home. I'm still waiting for the usb cable to arrive, an Audioquest diamond. Please, you who understand all this, I would like to ask you a question. I have always read that it is necessary to burn the dac for a few days, blah, blah, blah ... You think it convenient that, as long as the usb cable arrives at my house (... one week ...), keep the LKS on. ..? Or do you think this is huge nonsense ...? Sorry if the question seems idiotic, but it's my recent start in the dac world. Thanks for your opinion.
P.S. : "... maybe I'll be lucky and our great connoisseur" b0bb "will light my way ..."

That very much depends on the specific model, with the LKS004 the sound and presentation will undergo changes in the first two weeks.

Leaving it on contiunuously is one option but keep an eye for early failures as @oldearwax mentioned

 

[b0bb]

Well, the firmware flash does not appear to have gone as intended. I updated as shown in the photo, and it was successful. However, now roon does not show DSD capability in the device setup page when I set the SOtM configuration to Native and x512. If I select Native/DOP in the Eunhasu roon widget, I get DSD x64 and x128.

Also, I blew the fuse in the LKS carrying it back to the basement. I have a Mundorf Supreme and a Synergistic Research fuse to get me through, but I like the stock fuse best. I have an inquiry in with Jinbo to learn how I can order more stock fuses.

Any ideas as to why I'm not getting DSD out of roon with thew new Amanero firmware?

On the bright side, I finally installed the L3042 USB power supply I bought from minishow028 on ebay nine months ago. Playback via USB is noticeably improved now.

Thanks for your advice!

Double check the firmware file you are using the ones for DSD are
firmware_2006be11 and cpld_1081_dsdswapped.

The settings in your screencap below is for the non-DSD firmware but the CPLD file selected is for the DSD firmware.

You should re-flash your card