[Lennym]

. . . Jinbo at Mu Sound sent me some aluminium blocks to fit to the underside of the 9038 chips . . .

Can you tell us more about this? Do you mean on the the other side of the PCB? An attempt to conduct heat to the bottom plate? Pictures?
Thanks.

 

[MadRiver]

So what exactly happens when the chips get too hot? Sound quality goes to crap? I see one for sale that the seller has yet to respond to, but now I'm having second thoughts.

I think my domestic arrangements may serve to create something of a 'perfect storm' for the DA-004, and it is a testament to its performance that I am happy to accept its occasional quirks: it really is an astonishingly fine sounding piece of technology.... but to answer your question: yes, SQ deteriorates and it will skip/ lose lock irrespective of BW setting on standard redbook CD fed by a top quality transport - switching it off and letting it cool down solves the problem immediately - I must emphasise that it has to get very hot before this happens, and very few users report their units ever reach these levels of heat
MR

 

[MadRiver]

Can you tell us more about this? Do you mean on the the other side of the PCB? An attempt to conduct heat to the bottom plate? Pictures?
Thanks.

Pictures would be a bit tedious as I would need to remove the main board and turn it upside down, but quite simply they are two small aluminium blocks with heat transfer adhesive tape on one side that act as a thermal bridge between the underside of the 9038 chips and the bottom plate of the machine ( I used a spot of thermal paste on the casework side as well) - your machine may already have these blocks, as I believe they were part of the 'product development'/beta testing that we all seem to be involved in...
MR

 

[OscarJr]

I think my domestic arrangements may serve to create something of a 'perfect storm' for the DA-004, and it is a testament to its performance that I am happy to accept its occasional quirks: it really is an astonishingly fine sounding piece of technology.... but to answer your question: yes, SQ deteriorates and it will skip/ lose lock irrespective of BW setting on standard redbook CD fed by a top quality transport - switching it off and letting it cool down solves the problem immediately - I must emphasise that it has to get very hot before this happens, and very few users report their units ever reach these levels of heat
MR

I see. It seems that installing even a small fan onto it should solve the issue altogether. I'm now very intruigued how much better my new ~$7000 Legacy Calibre speakers can sound with this upgrade. My current DAC has a single 9018 MKII and so far it sounds great. I can only imagine (or not, lol) how much better this unit would be.

 

[peteg]

Have the new ones been updated to handle the heat better?

 

[Lennym]

Have the new ones been updated to handle the heat better?

Yes. The transistors have been moved to the bottom of the PCB.

 

[brickears]

Can confirm with latest revision (output transistors at bottom, against a heatsink), no heat issues, no drop outs etc.

 

[littlexx26]

How about sound quality and characteristics?

 

[OscarJr]

Can confirm with latest revision (output transistors at bottom, against a heatsink), no heat issues, no drop outs etc.

Good to hear. When did you buy your unit? Did you buy it straight from ShenzhenAudio?

 

[hyperdanny]

sorry guys, but it's not clear to me...is this "no overheating" LKS an official new version. like a MKII, or is it the result of user's tweakings?

 

[tracer5]

Some observations about the LKS MH-DA004 I purchased from Shenzhen Audio, delivered October 4, 2017. It appears that there is not an overheating problem. I have made some measurements after having the MH-DA004 operating for four hours:
Room ambient = 21C (70F)
MH-DA004 = 29C (84F) measured at top of grill

Unknown is if there are any improvements or new version from L.K.S. Audio. There is nothing to suggest that there is any official new version. I have implemented no tweaks.

 

[peteg]

My Gustard X20 is on 24/7 and on top its 88F (31C), so the LKS should be fine. Wonder if the LKS would be an upgrade over the Gustard, looking at LKS DA004 or Holo Spring dac.

 

[Torq]

Wonder if the LKS would be an upgrade over the Gustard.

Yes, and quite readily discernibly so. Top end on the LKS is smoother, without the "artificial" sense of "fake" detail I got listening to the X20. If you listen intently, the LKS exhibits as good, or better, actual detail than the Gustard.

looking at LKS DA004 or Holo Spring dac

If you like NOS DACs, or enjoy a "sweeter" presentation, then the Spring DAC is an easy choice. I'm not a fan of the Spring DAC with it's onboard OS mode (it's a superlative listen in NOS mode), but if you can do the oversampling in software then it's a much more enjoyable unit, for me, than the LKS (or any other 90X8-based DAC). It's also finished more elegantly, won't make you worry about overheating if you choose to upsample, and is available with a US-serviced warranty (though you have to buy from the US dealer/distributor to get that).

Also, if you have much in the way of DSD content, then the Holo Audio unit is quite hard to beat. For a long time it was the best DSD-replay I'd heard at any price.

So, in short: Spring DAC L1 > LKS 004 > X20

 

[peteg]

Torq, thanks for the info. I have quite a bit of DSD on my NAS, is it a big jump in sound from L2 to L3 on the Spring dac.

 

[Torq]

Torq, thanks for the info. I have quite a bit of DSD on my NAS, is it a big jump in sound from L2 to L3 on the Spring dac.

I wouldn't describe it as a "big" jump. But then I wouldn't describe the difference between L1 and L3 as "big" either. Readily discernible, sure, but not "big".

That said, I would either save the money and go with the L1, or go the whole hog and do the L3/KTE version. I had a hard time telling the difference between an L1 and an L2, and that was with audition-style listening and my primary audition playlist. Doubt I could tell if I was just listening for pleasure.