Dac ?

[decooney]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

The DAC is still improving. It's kind of weird to buy something you have not heard but I'm glad I did. I 'spose I'll go for his SPDIF cable. There just may be some synergy with his wire. It's $134 shipped and has wood covered RCA's.

Agree, as you may recall I recently I just replaced my SPDIF/Coax on my current DAC, with a decent Cardas Lightning, and I do like the difference. Got one for my sister as present and she and her friends noticed a difference too. Worth trying. Sounds like more time needed on the caps 'eh to let them open up, maybe?

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by decooney

Agree, as you may recall I recently I just replaced my SPDIF/Coax on my current DAC, with a decent Cardas Lightning, and I do like the difference. Got one for my sister as present and she and her friends noticed a difference too. Worth trying. Sounds like more time needed on the caps 'eh to let them open up, maybe?

Probably just more time overall. I think the Orchid will be no different. I probably have 20 hours or so on it. I may change the coupling caps to Audio Cap Theta. Tin foil and poly $17.50 each. I have them in the Havana and tried several other caps. These won. Dennis used them in a 45 amp I saw on the auction site. I'll wait until I get his wire before changing anything.

Cables are hard to wrap your head around. Someone loaned me a Kimber silver SPDIF cable years ago and I could not get it out of the system fast enough.

[decooney]

RECEIVED the new Orchid today from MHDT Labs. First update.


First Physical Impressions:
-Very well built. Facia, case, top, all nice.
-Heavy for its size. Semi-compact footprint.
-Looks even better in person than in photos.
-One tube installed, one extra tube, optical +nice USB cable.
-No power cable, had a Pangea AC-14 SE MKII power cord (Cardas wire) ready.

Early Listening Impressions first 4 hours of burn-in:
Immediately hearing a "velvet" smooth texture without being syrupy.
Nice detail coming through yet it's not harsh or overly rolled off.
Midrange sound stage is deep and clear somehow. Very cool.
Sound stage is nice, large, but does not have any kind of oversample type of echo.
Drums, violins, pianos sound realistic and voices are extra engaging.
All content has become enjoyable, listenable, even bad recordings sound nice now.
Personal "Lytmus Test": wanting to listen to every song, no skipping around (yes!).


If more break in time does not change the sound too much, this one might be a keeper!

[FloridaBoy]

All content has become enjoyable, listenable, even bad recordings sound nice now. Sound stage is nice, large, but does not have any kind of oversample type of echo.

Oversampling digital debris drives me nuts. Echo is a good descripter. I don't think the basic character of the DAC will change.

[decooney]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

All content has become enjoyable, listenable, even bad recordings sound nice now. Sound stage is nice, large, but does not have any kind of oversample type of echo.

Oversampling digital debris drives me nuts. Echo is a good descripter. I don't think the basic character of the DAC will change.

Ok, good. I'm glad I spent time reading reviews the past year about the various DACs and learning more about the "natural" sound of quality built NOS DACs. I was anticipating it might be a compromise in some areas. None so far with this DAC. It's not "closed in" either, as some have reported with other units.

The only thing I could complain about is that it's new, not broken in yet, and I can sorta hear the stock GE tube kinda changing tone in/out a bit the first five hours in. Started out kinda edgy first 10 minutes, then real smooth, now kinda edgy again but still sounds really neat. Can't wait to get 24hrs+ on it. While it's not as nice as your DAC, It sure is helpful to finally hear what a good NOS DAC/Design/Build sounds like in my system now. Probably should have tried this a while ago vs. different amps, tubes, and too long with speaker tweaking. This change is a very notable one, thanks!

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by decooney

Ok, good. I'm glad I spent time reading reviews the past year about the various DACs and learning more about the "natural" sound of quality built NOS DACs. I was anticipating it might be a compromise in some areas. None so far with this DAC. It's not "closed in" either, as some have reported with other units.

The only thing I could complain about is that it's new, not broken in yet, and I can sorta hear the stock GE tube kinda changing tone in/out a bit the first five hours in. Started out kinda edgy first 10 minutes, then real smooth, now kinda edgy again but still sounds really neat. Can't wait to get 24hrs+ on it. While it's not as nice as your DAC, It sure is helpful to finally hear what a good NOS DAC/Design/Build sounds like in my system now. Probably should have tried this a while ago vs. different amps, tubes, and too long with speaker tweaking. This change is a very notable one, thanks!

Not as nice? Really? I sometimes think I should have gone with the Orchid. Normal audio nervosa, but this one is just fine. It would be cool to compare them though.

I went through a few digital sources and was sold on NOS when I had the 47 Labs. The bad digital JuJu was gone.

Mine is still going through the sounds good sound weird thing too. It is still settling in.

[decooney]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

...Not as nice? Really? I sometimes think I should have gone with the Orchid. Normal audio nervosa, but this one is just fine. It would be cool to compare them though....

FloridaBoy,
Have you noticed your MHDT Havana DAC sounding better after it's been powered on for 3-4 hours?

Note: I'm trying to figure out why this new MHDT Orchid sounds so good after its been on 3+ hours, AND/OR if its really a synergy with my tube preamp and tube amp having been powered on longer too with all three components sounding better together at 3+ hours. Lastly, knowing the DAC and it's tube have more break-in, and I'm probably premature wanting to hear it's full broken in sound too early. Right now at 3 hours power on I like the sound exactly how it is, would not change a thing .

[FloridaBoy]

Have you noticed your MHDT Havana DAC sounding better after it's been powered on for 3-4 hours?


No. It needs a little warm up time just like a tube amp etc. I think your Orchid is still settling in.

The coupling caps in my DAC are Sprague metalized poly. I'm a PIO kinda guy but I am going to change them to Audio Cap Theta 2.0uf 200v. They are tin foil with solid copper leads. I have them in the Havana with a .022uf Arizona Blue PIO in parallel. The Havana never sounded better. Tonally rich and detailed. No syrup. I tried 5-6 other caps, but this combo was the best in my rig. I will use .022uf Duelund JAM copper & tin foil PIO's instead of the Arizona caps.

If you decide to keep the Orchid you may want to consider changing out the stock coupling caps down the road.

Check these out:

http://www.lab12.gr/dac1 There is a review online. A Greek DAC.

http://sw1xad.co.uk/products/?prod_c...onverters-dacs

I believe Abbas is involved with the company above. It was mentioned by a poster on his forum. The circuits and parts in some models look like his designs.

I started a topic on the MHDT dac's on audio circle. I await your considered reply...or any reply...for a good reason.

[decooney]

FB,

Wow, eight parallel DAC chips in that Lab12.

Will let my Orchid bake in for a full 30 days as originally advised. ��

Okay, will check out the AC thread.

[FloridaBoy]

Just post a reply...any reply.