My dac progression has been in the sub 1000.00 range and frankly I doubt I will ever exceed that mark further I find it hard to believe there is anything better in this price range. My musical tastes are what set my radar on the Havana, as a (N.O.S.) Non Oversampling Dac is reputed to be less harsh I wanted to hear it for myself. I come from a vinyl background and frankly most digital playback was fatiguing, frustrating, and acceptable at best (certainly not my definition of exceptional)
Enter Havana (NOS) , running my pc with JRiver palying Flac Loss Less, into my musical fidelity V-Link 192 converter, SPDIF into the Havana, and then connected to my Kenzie (Darling Circuit) Headphone amp,to which I connect my HiFiMan He500. My PC playback now rivals my ONLY CDP I have owned that I felt was worth owning The Electrocompanient Emc1up, for a 900.00 dac o reach the level of a 4+thousand dollar CDP was wholly unexpected and yet a pleasure to be sure
What can you expect from the sound, that's easy nice extension with sweet high end No grain the cymbals shimmer through decay (no hot sizzle here), Bass that is surprisingly deep and articulate (maybe not the last word in tight, But certainly not muddy or smeared), Mids that are as organic and natural as I have ever heard, You get an amazing amount of inner detail (yep you will have those moments
"Huh I have heard this song 100's of times and never heard that" ) one that stands out for me Bruce Springsteen, Seeger Sessions, Oh Mary Don't you Weep (he is actually having a conversation at the beginning of the song) there have been other moments to be sure but you get the point The Havana has GOBBS of inner detail and yet it is not so much that you could call it analytical
Moral is if you are looking for a great sounding DAC that will get you very close to vinyl SQ you owe it to yourself to check out MHDT Labs Havana
Enter Havana (NOS) , running my pc with JRiver palying Flac Loss Less, into my musical fidelity V-Link 192 converter, SPDIF into the Havana, and then connected to my Kenzie (Darling Circuit) Headphone amp,to which I connect my HiFiMan He500. My PC playback now rivals my ONLY CDP I have owned that I felt was worth owning The Electrocompanient Emc1up, for a 900.00 dac o reach the level of a 4+thousand dollar CDP was wholly unexpected and yet a pleasure to be sure
What can you expect from the sound, that's easy nice extension with sweet high end No grain the cymbals shimmer through decay (no hot sizzle here), Bass that is surprisingly deep and articulate (maybe not the last word in tight, But certainly not muddy or smeared), Mids that are as organic and natural as I have ever heard, You get an amazing amount of inner detail (yep you will have those moments
"Huh I have heard this song 100's of times and never heard that" ) one that stands out for me Bruce Springsteen, Seeger Sessions, Oh Mary Don't you Weep (he is actually having a conversation at the beginning of the song) there have been other moments to be sure but you get the point The Havana has GOBBS of inner detail and yet it is not so much that you could call it analytical
Moral is if you are looking for a great sounding DAC that will get you very close to vinyl SQ you owe it to yourself to check out MHDT Labs Havana
Joe, not sure what tube your using in your Havana but I highly recommend the Tesla tubes as you will need only one. PM me if you would like me to send one of the "O" getter Tesla tubes, I have spares and I would have no problem sending one to a fellow Havana owner~!