TDAC or Havana?

My setup is fairly resolving. I say this as I had a sterile/analytical setup before with a benchmark dac1, musical fidelity a308 and a pair of quad 22l2s. U could hear every little detail but it was brutally harsh with some recordings. My assumption being the dac1 was at fault but the bel canto yielded similiar results.

My present setup is a macbook, ea offramp turbo3, tadac, rogue stereo 90 modded by rogue, livingvoice ibxr2 speakers and a hydra8. I get almost the same detail but a very analog/smooth sound. Digital cabling was crucial, as things didn't relax until I threw in a purist digital RCA and an axis USB cable. I don't prefer upsampling so that may have something to do with my take on dacs.

And to macdadtexas's point, each system and each person's taste has impact. It's been said here on agon and elsewhere a million times.

Goes w/o saying, but tubes, digital cabling and ICs can make one DAC sound miles better than another. I guess the key thing I found is the Havana and Tadac were more similar in my setup in that they're tube versus solid state and can be driven in simple 16/44.1 with similar good to great results, particularly with a clean/low jitter signal. The TADAC has the built in preamp and though many quip about the "tubyness" nob on it, it actually helped quite a bit in fine tuning my setup to match cabling/etc.

Macdad, I doubt you're the guy I sold my Havana too, but I did eventually sell it to a guy in Texas. Can't recall who it was though...

Marc

I've used both and prefer the Tadac, the Havana is too soft for me.

I find it a little odd that someone who wasn't all that thrilled with the Tadac would then go and purchase the Predac? From what I understand you need to use the tubiness control on the Tadac judiciously or you could ruin the sound. That being said I would dare to compare the new Tdac with anything sub $1000.00 and then some.

I didn't hate the TaDac, but when I bought the Havana, and in my system it was so much better, I sold the TaDac. I thought the PreDac would be an improvement, that would be a normal assumption, don't you think?

It was not any better. Since I tried so many DAC's, let me put them in the order of how I rated them, and I have actually had all of these in my system.

1) Berkeley Alpha

2) Bryston BDA-1 (so close to the Berkeley and about half the price, I bought this one)

3) MHDT Labs Havana - not the last word in detail, but super musical and a very rich full sound.

4) Bel Canto DAC3

5) PS Audio D Link III

6) Benchmark DAC 1

7) TaDac/PreDac (sounded about the same)

I have listened to the PS Audio Perfect Wave Dac extensively, but not in my system. It is also an excellent DAC and I would put it in the same company as the Berkeley and Bryston. It is actually a bit more flexible than either of those, and may have a better top end than either. Hard for me to really tell since it was not my system.

good luck.