[s1rrah]

OK....anyone heard it yet.  Any idea how it differs from the paradisea+

I've had a Paradisea+ for six months now.

I've been listening with a Bendix 2C51 tube and have truly loved what I've heard thus far.

Natural, musical and smooth.

That said ... and fortunately enough ...

MHDT Labs (god bless "Mouse and gang!") ... was nice enough to send me a demo unit of their latest Havana DAC for review at the upcoming Houston Head-fi.org meet this Saturday (Oct. 25th 2008): Houston Head-fi.org Meet

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...

So far (after 100 hours or so of continuous play time) ...

Here's some of my thoughts on how it differs from the Paradisea+:

...

Number 1: Significantly more detailed; could be a plus or a minus depending on your preferences. But the detail is several notches more with the Havana. This might have to do with the lack of an OPAMP.

Number 2: More "air" and space to the instrument seperation. Again, fairly substantial of a difference. This, of course, enhances the sound stage effect (which I personally sort of like).

The difference in detail and transparency is pretty darn impressive, I can say that unequivocally ...

The Havana is certainly a bit more "refined" of a transmission ... rather surprising clarity ... the sort of trait one never even knows was missing from one's previous equipment ... that is until something different is sitting on one's desk.

Anyway.

Just some thoughts ...

Hope that helps.

Best.

 

[rajacat]

Thanks for the review. It's nice to know that Mhdt labs is continuing to refine their product. IMO obviously improved transparency and detail indicates an improvement in design especially for a NOS  dac. 

-Roy

[s1rrah]

Thanks for the review. It's nice to know that Mhdt labs is continuing to refine their product. IMO obviously improved transparency and detail indicates an improvement in design especially for a NOS  dac. 

-Roy

A little update:

After 150+ hours play time the Havana has improved significantly.

A slight "edginess" that was apparent at first listen (esp with my Grado RS1's) is now completely gone.

Utterly smooth and easy sounding. Very real and analogue-like character (I keep thinking vinyl) while retaining all of the "air" and detail I first commented on.

Also ... I finally located the near mythical and revered Bendix 6385 tube and it's the most quiet, detailed and musically pleasing tube I've heard in either the Havana or Paradisea+. 

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Also ...

If your interested in getting your own MHDT Havana DAC, you better get to it quick as, according to "Mouse," the lead designer for MHDT ... they are going to stop production of the Havana some time this year due to it's high cost of manufacture.

He sent me the following email while I was attending the Houston head-fi.org meet yesterday.

(BTW: I've cleaned up/edited his english a bit  I'm sure he wont mind ... )

....

Hi Joel,

During the development and "trial testing" of the Havana DAC, many considerations needed to be taken into account.

To us, the source of real digital music ... the center of the DAC world, is the Havana DAC ...

So, we arrived at the name, "Havana."

Meaning that this DAC was all encompassing enough ... all inclusive enough of a DAC ... that it could perform well with any kind of music produced nowadays, ... jazz, classic, rap, rock, electric ... etc.

Some of the more important and essential aspects of the Havana DAC?:

It's more detailed and refined, all the while remaining musical and natural... the same general characteristics that are hallmarks of all of our NOS DACs.

AND ... a surprising fact ... though being a digital DAC, ... the Havana produces "REAL and NATURAL SOUND"

Find yourself an instrument player such as a pianist, violinist, drummer...etc..., and let them listen to the Havana DAC ... then, let them comment on what they hear ... and you will know what I mean.

Real instruments play real sound.

It could be smooth, sharp, loose, edged, harmonic...

Whatever the originally recorded and musical qualities were/are ... that's what you get from the Havana DAC.

The Havana uses dual PCM56P DAC chips; it is a true R2R DAC.

FYI: We will be stopping production of the Havana within the next year due to its expensive manufacturing cost (when compared to other delta-sigma DACS).

...

Otherwise ... and regarding your questions/comments ...

There are many secrets to the Havana DAC, however, I am to busy at the moment to discuss them (I haven't even been able to post new Ebay ads!).

If I have time later, I shall talk more of these "secrets" with you ...

Best Regards,
Jiun-Hsien
Mhdt Labs

...

FYI.

Get it while the getting's good.

 aa

[Scott F.]

<big snip>

FYI: We will be stopping production of the Havana within the next year due to its expensive manufacturing cost (when compared to other delta-sigma DACS).
Best Regards,
Jiun-Hsien
Mhdt Labs

Get it while the getting's good.

Hey s1rrah,

Just a quick clarification. I just finished up my formal review of the Havana for EnjoyTheMusic.com. After reading your email to Jiun-Hsien I was a little worried about doing an article on a product that is to be discontinued, so I asked him the direct question if the production of the Havana is going to cease next year as he stated in your correspondence. He wrote me back and clarified with this (unedited) statement;

Hi Scott,

I meant Burr Brown will stop maufacturing PCM56P chip in Feb, 2009.
We already sotck enough PCM56P chips for our product so we will keep supply Havana DAC for a long time.

Best Regards,
Jiun-Hsien
Mhdt Labs


According to this last communication, it looks as if the BB chip was the issue in production. It seems that MHDT has stockpiled a fair quantity of chips to insure production into the future.

Just wanted to ease anyones mind who might be considering purchasing one of the Havana DACs that the production run won't be severely limited.

[donunus]

By the way guys, I'm using windows vista and the usb input of the havana. Should the plug and play drivers give me optimal sound? do i need asio or anything special here? I havent really been caring too much since i got it because i figured asio didnt improve 16 bit/44.1khz audio much. Am I wrong here? Please guide me on what I should do for best sound out of windows vista. Thanks

[musicman06]

By the way guys, I'm using windows vista and the usb input of the havana. Should the plug and play drivers give me optimal sound? do i need asio or anything special here? I havent really been caring too much since i got it because i figured asio didnt improve 16 bit/44.1khz audio much. Am I wrong here? Please guide me on what I should do for best sound out of windows vista. Thanks

You don't need to use the ASIO driver with Vista. That was primarily a workaround for the "kernel mixer issues" of older versions of Windows up to and including XP.

[EDS_]

By the way guys, I'm using windows vista and the usb input of the havana. Should the plug and play drivers give me optimal sound? do i need asio or anything special here? I havent really been caring too much since i got it because i figured asio didnt improve 16 bit/44.1khz audio much. Am I wrong here? Please guide me on what I should do for best sound out of windows vista. Thanks

The Benchmark wiki instructions worked for me better than anything else I've tried.  Someone here on AC turned me on to the link.


http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/wiki/index.php/ITunes-QuickTime_for_Windows_-_Setup_Guide

[donunus]

tried the quicktime settings. changed the audio to 24/96 from 16/44 and I didn't notice any difference.

[Rashiki]

tried the quicktime settings. changed the audio to 24/96 from 16/44 and I didn't notice any difference.

Even though the USB receiver can handle 24/96, the PCM56P DAC is limited to 16-bits, so the extra bits aren't used. If your source material is 16/44, I doubt that software upsampling to what ends up being 16/96 would make all that much difference.

 -Rob

[anthony a.]

does anyone know if the paradisea+ or havana need a driver if using mac?  i know windows requires one, but is that also the case with mac?  and if so, what is the driver?  thanks.

[wilsynet]

For both Mac and PC there is no need for a special driver; it just works.