What CDP gets really close to vinyl?

I fully agree with you, Mapman, that one device in a system with tubes is a good thing. Mine are in the DAC. The DAC is my system's voice. The transport just hands over the perfect digital reading.

Muralman1 thanks for the link to the review.

Mapman I have checked out the mhdt NOS DACs and the reviews. It seems all the reviewers came to the same consensus concerning the sonic characteristics of these DACs, excellent build quality, lack of digital etchiness, natural presence and timbre accuracy seem to be the consistent theme here. There is also the top of the line Havana which also uses a tube buffered output as well as the Paradisea 3. Looks quite promising especially at the price point. Thanks for your input.

One area where my experience with the mhdt DACs differs a bit from the reviewers is that I believe the COnstantine to have better high and low end frequency extension and better dynamics overall than the Paradisea. The Constantine's bass may come across as leaner overall though but is spot on in my main rig.

Tube rolling does make a very significant difference though with the Paradisea and I have only tried two different tubes to-date.

Also I find the Constantine is dead quiet.

I have some background hiss with the Paradisea, but you have to put your ear right up to the speaker with the volume well up to be able to even hear it, no worse certainly that what you would expect from most decent if not the absolute best phono rigs.

Thanks for the info Mapman. I will weigh this in my decision as I am seriously considering trying one of these units for the hell of it. I sure haven't been convinced as closely as this to anything else I've read or listened to lately at this price point.

The Playback Design 5 I've heard had a very analogue sound in my opinion. I'm not sure why don't more people mention it.