Mhdt Laboratory "Havana" Non-Over Sampling Audiophile Grade DAC (GE 5670 triple mica 5 star tube).

The current Digital-to-Analogue Converter of choice that I use with my Little Dot, Mk VI headphone amplifier is the Mhdt Laboratory "Havana" Non-Over Sampling Audiophile Grade DAC (using a GE 5670 triple mica 5 star tube).


This DAC masterpiece from Mhdt Laboratory in Taiwan is one of the truly better audiophile grade non-over sampling DAC's available on the Market today and the Mhdt team must be congratulated on the design and production of this piece of equipment which has very superior sonic capabilities. It is a no frills DAC and does not have any HDCD decoding capabilities. The reason why this DAC is a real winner is mainly because there are "no op-amps" in the final resulting audio chain and the audio remains faithful without any sonic signatures which op-amps tend to inflict.

The sound is very fluid, musical and the finer nuances not normally noticeable are easily distinguished due to the high resolve capabilities of the DAC, but it does not have the usual hard digital sound which are normally associated with up market DAC and has a touch and warmth of analogue sound which I am accustomed to. Two thumbs up!

The Havana DAC is in fact the Flagship of Mdht Labs. weighing in at US$899. The two other models are the Paradisea 3 list price US$599 and Constantine+ list price US$399.

The service that is also provided by Lin-Li and his team are second to none. "Mdht Labs."

Details:

• This is a DAC mainly designed for the audiophile.

• CS8414 digital input with non-oversampling structure.

• This is traditional DAC, it cannot decode any HDCD signals.
  

• The digital signal accepted is based on the capability of CS8414 digital receiver, which means the max: 96KHz in Spdif format.

• There are "No digital filters", "no Op-amps".

• Utilizes the legendary R-2R multi-bits Burr Brown PCM56P (16 bits) DAC chip.

• There is No differential phase shift in both channels.

• More detailed yet natural and musical sounding.

• Metal case, with silk brushing aluminum plates , smoked acrylic front panel.

• 1 x USB input, 1 x Coaxial input, 1 x Toslink optic input.

• Tube buffered output, tube instocked GE5670.

• Tubes can be rolled: 5670, 2C51, 396A, 6385, 6CC42, 6854, 6N3, 6854, CV2575, CV4013, CV5894, CV8247, CV2381.

• 115/230V power supply selectable from internal PCB jump pins setting

• Output 2.6V, < 800 ohms,

• Dimensions: 28cm(L) x 15cm (W), 7.5cm (H)
  

• Weight: 1.8Kg (3.5 lbs)