Ah, got it, thanks! I'm intrigued by the Pagoda but can't find any comparative reviews vs. the Havana. I love the sound of my Parts Connexion-modded Havana (with V-caps, etc.) and am a bit leery of moving away from that sound but would also love to have high-res capability as I'm not really...

Does anyone have any info on the MHDT Havana 2? It's listed on their website and it's evidently 24bits/192kHz capable but uses the same PCM56-J DAC chip....intriguing....   http://dhost.info/mhdtlab/mhdt%20dac%20families.htm .

I really enjoy the DF over my Denons and was thinking of running my Dragonfly to my preamp to compare the sound over my speakers to my Havana DAC. Can anyone recommend a good quality mini to RCA cable? I was looking at the Zu Audio Mission cables on eBay....

Quote: I'll try that but I'm still a bit concerned about the combined weight of my Grado adapter plus the cable from my Denon's on the DF and the USB port....

Quote: Thanks to the advice I got here, I was able to source a local  AQ DF dealer, National Audio-Video here in Edmonton. Nice bunch of guys and, as a bonus,  they also pointed me towards a local audiophile group, the "Black Hat Desperaudios"...:)   Got another question though...I was...

Quote: Edmonton

Quote: Thanks, II was looking at the Grado but it doesn't seem to be available here in the GWN (Canada).....

Thanks for the info re the D7000's. A couple more questions; I will need a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter for the DF, are there any sonic differences between the cheap brands and something like the Grado? Alsocould there be any advantage to geting a USB 3.0 extension cable vs. a USB 2.0? They're only...

Going to order one from the store here in Vancouver that was suggested. A question, will I need to use my KICAS headphone amp between the DF and my Denon D7000's or will it drive them fine without it?. I 'm going to take it on the road, it would be great not to have to add another piece of gear....

Nothing that's shown on the AQ website dealer locator. In the meantime, I'll try other channels suggested by a member here.

Apologies if this has been asked before ( a quick search didn't bring up any info) but can anyone advise as to the best way to get a Dragonfly in Western Canada? The AQ website doesn't indicate a dealer in this region and the cost to ship one via Amazon.com (it doesn't appear on Amazon.ca) is a...

FWIW, some users of the the Sabre ES-9018-based DAC's report issues with drop-outs in thier systems with some claiming that this chip is very sensitive to jitter (there is a thread on this on A'gon).  It may be that the DI just passes on too much jitter for this chip? In my personal experience...

Any idea if these are made in Japan or not? Or doesn't it matter......

I'd be in for two as well! :)

Digi-Key has them (no indication if they're made in Japan or not) but the minimum quantity is 50 for ordering. http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/482814-ic-serial-input-16-bit-d-a-16dip-pcm56p-k.html

A quick (and definitely noob) question: I have a Black Cat Veloce SPDIF cable to run from my DI to the DAC. It is actually a BNC-terminated cable that comes with 2 BNC-RCA adapters attached. Can I run the BNC out from the DI to the SPDIF input on my MHDT Havana (which has no BNC input)  without...

Thanks Currawong, a new DAC is actually in my plans. I think I post you refer to was about my experiences with the new EE Minimax DAC with the DI and the dropout problem I had which prompted me to start looking for alternatives to the DI.. It seems the problem was related to the  ESS 9018 chip...

Quote: Being rather inexperienced with DAC's I was wwondering if the MHDT Havana, in your opinion, might benefit fromt the Audiophilleo 2 or is it more on the Cambridge's level as you decibe above? I am currently using an Audio-GD DI and am also interested in direct  comparisons form...

Quote: Thanks for the props but I wouldn't really consider myself to have really good 'listening skills" it was just that the difference was really quite stark...I didn't try the NO-C jumper setting as with both the upsampling and stock settings, the EE DAC still wouldn't lock properly...

Quote: Just an update,  I did try the 96 upsampling option with the DI into the EE DAC but it collapsed the soundstage and lost a lot of detail. I then tried the USB directly into the EE DAC (by-passing the DI)  and while that worked well and had no drop-outs, it was not at all...

I'd really appreciate some help here. I installed and burned-in the new Eastern Electric DAC and tried it using spdif via the DI with a Veloce SPDIF cable. The sound was one thing (tilted a bit too froward for my liking) but what I did have is constant drop-outs. I have read in a couple of...

So I set the jumpers for 192 but leave the oversampling off? I read the following in a review by Doug Schroeder of the Minimax DAC in Dagogo.com that would seem to support this :   "In order to test the consistency of the 32 bit upsampling I tried several tracks fed to the Minimax via 16...

Forgive my confusion but I can't seem to get this straight in my head, must be age....:) I'm planning on trying out an EE Minimax DAC to compare it with my NOS Havana. The Minimax can play 24/96 files  so do I need to set the jumpers inside  my DI to the specific setting to allow this or will...

It must vary from laptop tp laptop as I'm using my DI with an Asus netbook running on AC only out to a Havana DAC and it works beautifully. I removed the battery to preserve it as recommended by the manufacturer.

Mostly a lurker here but I'm in for one of the new clocks for my B version DI.