Closest DAC to Vinyl Sound?

Once I got the Mhdt Havana hooked up to my Cary 308, I lost my preference for vinyl over cd sound. The vinyl rig is a Rega P25 , Soundsmith'ed Clearaudio Wood MM playing through a MAC C220. My vinyl is mostly Jazz, cds' are classical and other.

Depends what your definition is of analog sound. Most people I know think analog is bloom sounding sort of like the tube dacs in Kora Hermes and Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista. If you are saying that you want an easeful sound then that would be one way to look at it. Some of my favorite DACs are the Museatex Bitstream stock and modified form, the Lampinzator DAC and the one I had built for me which uses a stacking chip set and transformers. Adding the transformers really improved the sound by removing AC noise and keep a few caps out of the signal path. This produced fantastic tone and let the music just flow out. While all this worked for me, the most improvement I hears was using direct heated tubes in a custom built preamp. That has been the single biggest upgrade I have heard.

Happy Listening.

BigKidz,
Which DHT tube is in your preamp? And does it utilize coupling caps or an interstage transformer, just curious.

The new Tranquility Signature DAC does a pretty darn good job of delivering a sound with a lot of vinyl-like characteristics, IMO - extremely smooth, lush, detailed, nice dynamics and presence. Doesn't necessarily deliver the sheer weight, momentum and huge soundstage you're going to get with a high-end vinyl rig, but I haven't heard another DAC that would do a better job at a price that isn't stratospheric. There's a review out now in something called "Digital Audio Review" that compares it to the new WFS DAC 2 and it comes out very favorably, especially in terms of sounding more analogue.

Bigkidz,

I agree. The new Lampizator level 3 DAC with the penodes in triode config are supposed to be a killer.

I will let you know when I get to hear on and can compare to the level 2 equivalent I currently have.