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)
