[Towert7]

I'll be interested to see what you think of the Bendix 6385.

 

[jdimitri]

Oh.. cow i forgot all about this thread

Well.. in short: i sold my constantine and kept the paradisea
It just restores the feel of live music back into live cds really

I'll probably update the OP later.. sorry folks, i haven't had too much time and my home internet is broken (had to use my mobile!)

 

[Turn&cough]

I heard that MHdt have changed the OP amp on the Constantine to an LM4562 (same as Paradisea)
Can anyone confirm, dispel or offer any feedback on this?

 

[jdimitri]

Oh, and a bendix, a worthy upgrade? I can get some at a decent price.. but i'm not sure
Currently using a WE396A

 

[Towert7]

Nice to see you remembered this thread jdimitri, I totally forgot!

Glad to see you are enjoying the Paradisea!

 

[happybob]

well, i received the bendix 6385, installed it into my paradisea+, and listened to it for a little over a week. took it out a few days ago, and put my we396a back in. i think i'm sticking with we396a.

as i posted in another thread earlier, the bendix 6385 did have that "veil-lifting" effect, and seemed to provide more slam and dynamics at first listening. after a little over a week of listening, i started to get the feeling that this effect was mostly due to a more forward presentation of the sound stage. with the bendix, i felt like i was sitting closer to the front row, while with the we396a, maybe closer to the middle. upon closer listening, the details, resolution, and amount of slam between the bendix and we396a really weren't that siginificant, with maybe a very slight edge toward the bendix. but it was more likely that they were just presented in a different manner. the difference was no where as drastic as the one made by my power cord upgrade (with either my zu cable birth or my audioquest noise buster power cord). maybe in another setup the bendix would have a bigger advantage in terms of resolution, but at least in my setup with my use of the silver-coated dh lab silver-sonic rca interconnect, i didn't really notice a significant improvement in resolution and details with the bendix.

one huge advantage the we396a had over the bendix in my setup was the overall smoothness of the tone and the sweet midrange. the overall sound was much more analog and enjoyable. so perhaps i'm giving away a little resolution, but the gain in the overall smoothness/sweetness is quite worthwhile at least in my setup. to be blunt, i thought the sound i was getting with the bendix was a little on the boring side. again, my findings are only applicable to my systems and my personal taste, so your experience might be very different. but my findings were consistent with both of the systems under my signature. maybe my expectations are now higher since i'm spoiled by the sound from my excellent "modded" ps audio digital link iii, but even if that's the case, i feel that the only thing the paradisea+ can compete with the modded ps audio digital link iii is its smooth/sweet midrange while the we396a is used.

 

[happybob]

btw, for those of you who use the usb connection a lot on the paradisea+, and are interested in streaming music through your network using the usb connection of the dac, you might want to check out my comparison of the usb vs optical inputs on my modded ps audio digital link iii using the new belkin network usb hub (an excellent device) and apple airport express. check out my post in the "review of modded ps audio digital link iii" thread.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...42#post3257942

 

[ttan98]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough /img/forum/go_quote.gif I heard that MHdt have changed the OP amp on the Constantine to an LM4562 (same as Paradisea) Can anyone confirm, dispel or offer any feedback on this?

the constantine's part list still lists as AD826 opamp. change over is easy if a socket is provided.

 

[ecclesand]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough /img/forum/go_quote.gif I heard that MHdt have changed the OP amp on the Constantine to an LM4562 (same as Paradisea) Can anyone confirm, dispel or offer any feedback on this?

They did based on the pics I saw of a recent Ebay ad. It clearly showed the internals and it looked different from my Constantine. I thought...What!?! On closer inspection, the opamp is in a different location on the PCB and it is an LM4562.

 

[MrLA]

i've got a constantine plus a month now, and i am impressed with its imparting sonic characters - very pleasant(read musical) to listen to. i was going get a paradisea+ based on towert7 posts. but happybob's discovery of upgraded power cords and interconnects make the most change in sound with these dacs have me wondered...

has anyone else had the same experience as happybob regarding different power cords and interconnects with these dacs?

has anyone had compared paradise+ with cal labs alpha dac - impression?

 

[Turn&cough]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecclesand /img/forum/go_quote.gif They did based on the pics I saw of a recent Ebay ad. It clearly showed the internals and it looked different from my Constantine. I thought...What!?! On closer inspection, the opamp is in a different location on the PCB and it is an LM4562.

There is a thread going on an other forum where a few Paradisea owners bypassed the tube buffer stage and didn't look back. Some of the advantages mentioned were: better definition but just as smooth, deeper soundstage, better imaging, better high-end extension and tighter bass. Aside from the tube buffer there were other differences between the original Constantine and Paradisea - a few parts(caps, etc) appeared to be of a higher grade in the Paradisea. I'm wondering how much of an improvement changing the OP amp to an LM4562 would have made in the new Constantine. I suspect the gap is a lot narrower than it used to be.

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm wondering how much of an improvement changing the OP amp to an LM4562 would have made in the new Constantine. I suspect the gap is a lot narrower than it used to be.

I had an older constantine, and a newer Paradisea+ (and now an even newer Paradisea+), and it was a nice upgrade over the constantine. Not subtle, it was well worth it.

I'd also like to mention the great support I got from Mhdt labs. My old paradisea+ had a problem, and I e-mailed them. They asked me to check something, which I did but the problem still happened. And without hesitation he said he would either refund my money in full, or send me out a replacement. WOW!

I just received my replacement yesterday, problem solved. I can not get over how friendly MHdt labs is, and how much they value their customers. Wow!

 

[Towert7]

Nice to read your opinions on the Bendix 6358 Happy bob.
I have a funny feeling that's what most of us could expect from that tube over the WE396.

Think I'll stick with the WE396 and save myself a bundle of money.
^_^

 

[happybob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Towert7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had an older constantine, and a newer Paradisea+ (and now an even newer Paradisea+), and it was a nice upgrade over the constantine. Not subtle, it was well worth it. I'd also like to mention the great support I got from Mhdt labs. My old paradisea+ had a problem, and I e-mailed them. They asked me to check something, which I did but the problem still happened. And without hesitation he said he would either refund my money in full, or send me out a replacement. WOW! I just received my replacement yesterday, problem solved. I can not get over how friendly MHdt labs is, and how much they value their customers. Wow!

even newer paradisea+? do you know if they made new changes in the latest paradisea+?

 

[happybob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is a thread going on an other forum where a few Paradisea owners bypassed the tube buffer stage and didn't look back. Some of the advantages mentioned were: better definition but just as smooth, deeper soundstage, better imaging, better high-end extension and tighter bass. Aside from the tube buffer there were other differences between the original Constantine and Paradisea - a few parts(caps, etc) appeared to be of a higher grade in the Paradisea. I'm wondering how much of an improvement changing the OP amp to an LM4562 would have made in the new Constantine. I suspect the gap is a lot narrower than it used to be.

do you know if those modders were able to evaluate how Paradisea with those higher grade parts (caps, etc) yet still with a tube buffer sounded compared to the stock one? i'm wondering whether the improvement they saw were mostly from the higher grade parts or from the bypassing the tube buffer. it does make sense that by bypassing the tube buffer, you might get better definition, high-end extension, and tighter bass, or basically a brighter sound. these are often the qualities solid state dacs have over tube dacs especially in the mid to low-priced range. but in terms of better smoothness, imaging, and soundstage, those are a little harder to understand as to why you would see improvement in those areas simply by bypassing the tube buffer as the often quoted advantages of tube are its smoothness, warmth, and imaging.

towert7, did you have to return the defective paradisea+? if not, since you are in the unique position of having 2 paradisea+, maybe you wanna consider doing the tube buffer bypassing mod on the defective one and do a direct comparison?