There are so many good DACs these days that it must be hard to pick a reference.
I am a fan of mhdt for their overall "musicality". I also tend to like the concept of NOS DACs.
I had a mhdt Paradisea (tube) and Constantine (SS) both at the same time for comparison for awhile. I found myself rolling tubes in the Paradisea to get it to sound more like the Constantine, and ended up keeping the Constantine, which I still use.
Perhaps if I had a SS pre-amp, I might have gone the other way....don't know.
I have not heard the newer mhdts but have no reason to expect anything but good things from them as well.
WHen the time comes, I plan to try a BEnchmark DAC and see how I might like that in comparison. I would expect that to sound more like most good DACs these days.
I also have a Bel Canto c5i digital integrated with built in DAC and Chord Mojo portable DAC that I have plugged into my main system on occasion and those each have a unique sound, both good but in different ways.
I am a fan of mhdt for their overall "musicality". I also tend to like the concept of NOS DACs.
I had a mhdt Paradisea (tube) and Constantine (SS) both at the same time for comparison for awhile. I found myself rolling tubes in the Paradisea to get it to sound more like the Constantine, and ended up keeping the Constantine, which I still use.
Perhaps if I had a SS pre-amp, I might have gone the other way....don't know.
I have not heard the newer mhdts but have no reason to expect anything but good things from them as well.
WHen the time comes, I plan to try a BEnchmark DAC and see how I might like that in comparison. I would expect that to sound more like most good DACs these days.
I also have a Bel Canto c5i digital integrated with built in DAC and Chord Mojo portable DAC that I have plugged into my main system on occasion and those each have a unique sound, both good but in different ways.