[greg7]

I recently bought a 47 Labs Shigaraki DAC and transport. The MHDT Paradisea+ and Ack Dack 2.0 were two other DACs I seriously considered.
A friend sent his MHDT Paradisea+ and Ack Dac 2.0 (with the optional upgrade teflon output caps) for comparison with the offer that I could buy either if I preferred it to the Shigaraki DAC. While his Ack Dac came with the Ack silver digital cable and I also own an 47 Labs OTA digital cable, I chose to use only my Cablepro Vista digital cable with all three (I originally found little difference between the OTA and Vista with the Shigaraki combination). I also used only stock power cables. My system is listed at the end of the review for reference. The Shigaraki transport was used with each DAC.

MHDT Paradisea+
This unit came with the Western Electric 396A tube installed. My friend also sent a couple of other NOS tubes. Sonically it archetypically tube: smooth, soft, colorful, slow and bassy. All of this may have simply been a function of the WE 396A. However, for all of its pleasantness it had two major flaws. First, it also got easily confused by complex music (something the Shigaraki has never exhibited). Second, it had a glare in the upper midrange that was immediately noticeable and caused nervous tension. In retrospect this could have been tube glare. My initial suspicion was that it was digital related, though, so I never felt inclined to try other tubes. Because of these issues, it annoyingly drew too much attention to itself.

Ack Dac 2.0
The Ack had slightly better resolution than the Shigaraki and a similarly neutral, pure demeanor. It didn't have the glare the MHDT exhibited. It subjectively wasn't as pure or "fresh" as the Shigaraki, however. More troubling still, it completely lacked involvement. It seemed to place a barrier between me and the presentation -- the natural flow and ease I was accustomed to with the Shigaraki was distinctly lacking with the Ack. It was completely and obviously cerebral, whereas the Shigaraki seems to completely remove itself from the chain.

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I was fully prepared, even hoping to replace the Shigaraki with either the MHDT or the Ack. Certainly I prefer the aethetics of either to the Shigaraki by a large margin. Being my first non-oversampling DAC, I wasn't certain where the Shigaraki stood in relation to any of its non-oversampling competition. However, I judge the MHDT or Ack sonically inferior by my preferences.

System:
Leben CS-600 with NOS tubes
Vandersteen 1C Loudspeakers
Acoustically treated room with dedicated AC line
Yamamoto equipment rack
Cablepro Revelation power strip (purist, no AC filtration)
Miscellaneous cables (Zu, Cardas, Cablepro and stock AC cords)

[denjo]

 Have you tried an Altmann Attraction DAC?

[fu_man]

Nice wee review there, thanks Greg.

Certainly I prefer the aethetics of either to the Shigaraki by a large margin.

 

Beauty certainly is in the eye of the beholder...  for  me, if i was  to choose  ANY gear solely on  appearance alone - I would have the entire  Shigaraki  range.  first choice  above  all else!  I  think  they are a  design  classic!  I'm waiting till the day people  have  become  tired of their old gear and  start  flicking  off  those Shigi's cheap.  Give a few more years  and  people will be   hunting them down again.   

[greg7]

Have you tried an Altmann Attraction DAC?

No

[denjo]

If you have not, I think the Altmann would be more worthy of comparison with the Shigaraki. I have the Mhdt Paradisea and frankly the Altmann beats it in every respect. The Paradisea impresses at first blush but when you listen more closely to it, I agree with you that many of its shortcomings surface. If you have the chance, you should try the Altmann as its more an apple to apple comparison.

[greg7]

If you have not, I think the Altmann would be more worthy of comparison with the Shigaraki. I have the Mhdt Paradisea and frankly the Altmann beats it in every respect. The Paradisea impresses at first blush but when you listen more closely to it, I agree with you that many of its shortcomings surface. If you have the chance, you should try the Altmann as its more an apple to apple comparison.

I agree. I think it would be interesting to compare the two considering there was a review done on them (along with an Audio Note and Nixon) on Enjoythemusic.com. That reviewer and I seem to have different priorities in audio reproduction.

[greg7]

Nice wee review there, thanks Greg.

Certainly I prefer the aethetics of either to the Shigaraki by a large margin.

 

Beauty certainly is in the eye of the beholder...  for  me, if i was  to choose  ANY gear solely on  appearance alone - I would have the entire  Shigaraki  range.  first choice  above  all else!  I  think  they are a  design  classic!  I'm waiting till the day people  have  become  tired of their old gear and  start  flicking  off  those Shigi's cheap.  Give a few more years  and  people will be   hunting them down again.   

I agree. Aethetics are never a big consideration for me. Form follows function and all that. I have even owned speakers painted matte black or with black ash veneer. Actually I don't mind the Shigaraki units. They are elegant and understated, which I prefer. The Leben is about as "garish" as I would want. But, given the choice, I prefer the more "standard" look of the Ack and Paradisea. The perfect thing for me is the Shigaraki units in wooden boxes. I'm actually half considering this, LOL, since the circuitry is all attached to the rear panel anyway and the ceramic is thus mainly cosmetic. And I could always transfer the circuitry back to the original ceramic cases if/when I sell them.

[Charles Calkins]

 Who handles the Altman DAC?

                          Cheers
                         Charlie

[Gordy]

Charlie,

It's sold direct only from Altmann/BYOB... http://www.mother-of-tone.com/attraction.htm  Unfortunately, the price for the basic unit has risen in the last year from $750 to $1200 due to the falling value of the US dollar.

[Charles Calkins]

Gordy:
  Thanks and a big OOPS!! on the price increase.

 On the Gon I see the Benchmark DAC1 is a hot item. Might be worth looking into.

                                    Cheers
                                    Charlie

[Gordy]

I guess I should have added that it's still my favorite dac to date and I'd buy one in a second if I had the money      I'd love to hear a Shigaraki one day, I think one of the NY Ravers has one so it is possible!

[rajacat]

A few simple upgrades/mods can significantly improve the SQ of the Mhdt Paradisea or Constantine. Over on the Paradisea thread there is an ongoing discussion on cap upgrades. Hmm...I wonder if the difference in the sound quality between dacs is mostly related to the quality of the parts and not necessarily the circuit design?

--Roy

[greg7]

A few simple upgrades/mods can significantly improve the SQ of the Mhdt Paradisea or Constantine. Over on the Paradisea thread there is an ongoing discussion on cap upgrades. Hmm...I wonder if the difference in the sound quality between dacs is mostly related to the quality of the parts and not necessarily the circuit design?

--Roy

It's both. In my opinion, a major problem with most DACs is that they're overly complicated. I'm referring to the standard up / oversamplers. They require a pissload of components and thus layout, grounding, etc. all become critical. I'm sure there's other ones, too. I suspect the psychoacoustic affects of all that number crunching with over / upsamplers isn't so good. They all sound glaring, synthetic, etc. to me.

Here's the advantage the Shigaraki DAC has over everything else (including the clones):
1) passive output stage using just a resistor for the I/V conversion
2) separate power supply in it's own enclosures as well so you can place them well away from the sensitive stuff
3) an absolute minimum of parts, just one tiny board for the clock and dac chip, otherwise point-to-point wired

Item #1 I think is the key: no matter what boutique parts you may put in a Paradisea, you never get around that opamp. It is a TDA1545 and thus has to have an opamp. The Shigaraki is TDA1543 and can get away with passive I/V. So, yes, you can use a better opamp ... but it's still an opamp. I don't like opamps. The power opamps are good for amplification if you do it right (gaincards, gainclones) but I don't like them for low level signals like preamps and DAC outputs.

It's always a balancing act of upsides and downsides. The Shigaraki is far from perfect and many wouldn't like it. By my preferences it's the best I've found thus far. Upside: purity, smoothness, freshness. Downside: resolution (mainly), soundstaging. So with a different DAC chip and/or using oversampling, upsampling, etc. you get more resolution and soundstaging but lose on the purity. Always compromises.

[greg7]

Gordy:
  Thanks and a big OOPS!! on the price increase.

 On the Gon I see the Benchmark DAC1 is a hot item. Might be worth looking into.

                                    Cheers
                                    Charlie

There's a reason it's a hot item -- the buzz got out, everyone's trying one, everyone's finding out on their own that it's sterile and hi fi sounding. But that's just my opinion. It'll die down -- or Benchmark will put out a new revision and the circle will begin again. Reviews, esp. Stereophile, always drive the buzz. And I've agreed with VERY few reviews on gear I've had in my own home.