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MHDT Labs Pagoda - Any owners out there?

Sep 5, 2014 at 2:48 PM Post #17 of 174
They stated a month and I should be good. I've been burning her in daily but not 24/7. I've done a lot of listening too so i hope to hear a difference as she burns in properly.
 
When I do my half assed review I'm sure it won't be to the standards most of you are used to but I'll do my best.
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Sep 9, 2014 at 2:35 PM Post #18 of 174
amish said:
  They stated a month and I should be good. I've been burning her in daily but not 24/7. I've done a lot of listening too so i hope to hear a difference as she burns in properly.
 
When I do my half assed review I'm sure it won't be to the standards most of you are used to but I'll do my best.
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No worries mate
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. I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions, in whatever shape they come
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Sep 9, 2014 at 9:12 PM Post #19 of 174
Some first impressions would be nice. You can always update later.
 
If a DAC sucks after a week, there's a good chance it'll suck after a month. Only difference is that your ears will have adapted (somewhat)
 
Sep 14, 2014 at 2:42 AM Post #20 of 174

turn&cough said:
  Some first impressions would be nice. You can always update later.
 
If a DAC sucks after a week, there's a good chance it'll suck after a month. Only difference is that your ears will have adapted (somewhat)
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I think I already provided that on page one.
 
With maybe a dozen hours with the Pagoda so far if anything I would consider this a ref. dac. It is not colored much at all. pretty flat FR. Very clean and natural sound.
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Sep 14, 2014 at 9:27 AM Post #21 of 174
Had read that but not sure how to interpret it. In a musical sense ''natural'' is usually a good thing. My MHDT Paradisea was natural but fell short on detail and PRaT.
 
''Ref'' and ''clean'' reminds me of the Benchmark DAC which is not what I'm looking for either.
 
I'll be patient and wait another couple of weeks for some more subjective comments.
 
Sep 14, 2014 at 2:34 PM Post #22 of 174
I wish I could hear the other models by MHDT Labs because I'm sure it would be easier to provide a difference between them.
 
This is going to be a hard review for me as the DAC doesn't add anything 'extra' to the music. To me it seems to provide what the source was meant to sound like without boosting any of the FR or taking away. It's almost like the DAC is totally transparent. Even with it having a tube it just doesn't make the music sound any warmer. It's very detailed, open sound stage, excellent separation, excellent timbre; the entire FR comes off as neutral to me. With my amps and LCD-2 I feel I am hearing the music as it was meant to be heard faithfully with no coloration. This may or may not be what some people like but I love it so far. I imagine the sound will continue to change over time. Prat is great. My idea of what prat is; is when my equipment can handle sudden changes to music while keeping the tempo correct. The DAC and my Amp do this well. Music sounds beautiful through this DAC. I hear everything in the music. Very detailed. The music just wraps around me and it's easy to get lost in it. This DAC has excellent mids, lows that go very deep yet remain clean and far reaching highs that don't sound bright but smooth.
 
I hope this helps some. Trying to use audiophile terms isn't my strong suit. I have my ears and my ears know what they like. They like this DAC.
 
Sep 14, 2014 at 5:42 PM Post #23 of 174
Sounds like a winner.
 
PRaT is hard to describe until you switch out a device that has it for one that doesn't (or vice versa) - then you'll know.
 
Sep 14, 2014 at 8:48 PM Post #25 of 174
My pleasure! I still plan to write up a more formal review later when I feel the Pagoda has broken in and I have had a good amount of time listening to it. But I figure the above info might help. I fully expect this DAC to change as time goes on. I'm not using the stock tube either so I may swap the tube back and forth to get a feel for how each tube changes the sound.
 
Sep 15, 2014 at 4:53 PM Post #26 of 174
I've just ordered one too, so will post some impressions when it arrives. With the short supply of pcm1704 chips in the world, any reasonably priced dac is worth buying!
 
Oct 2, 2014 at 5:08 PM Post #30 of 174
lordearl said:
I've just ordered one too, so will post some impressions when it arrives. With the short supply of pcm1704 chips in the world, any reasonably priced dac is worth buying!
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Lordearl, have you received your DAC yet?  I ordered my Pagoda this morning but haven't gotten an update as to when it might ship.  I'm hoping it arrives as soon as the OP's did, but having ordered other items from outside the USA I realize that customs can sometimes hold packages hostage for an  ungodly amount of time before releasing them.
 
I'm very curious to hear this DAC as I'm hoping it'll be my final resting spot.  I've been on the hunt for a good DAC for a couple years now and I've tried quite a few already and haven't been blown away.  I did try my hand at a NOS DAC when I first started in this hobby about 4 years ago and was hooked by the sound.  Unfortunately that experience was short lived as the DAC (Teradak V3.1) burned up after just 2 days.  
 
My most recent DAC was the Yulong DA8.  It was an excellent DAC on all fronts but didn't really get me "there" when listening to music.  I'm needing an emotionally connecting experience and something that can invoke the feeling of realism into my music.  Hopefully this will be the ticket to my own personal audio nirvana.  Will report when it has arrived and burned in for a couple hundred hours.  I plan to leave all things stock until full burn-in to get a good reference point of it's performance.  Mods will be carefully chosen if I feel the need arises.
 
Cheers,
Steven
 
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