Rega DAC vs Havana DAC

Artmindes I wish I had the answer you are looking for but unfortunately I don't neither will any of the other respondents to your query other than those that have heard both but then again it will come down to personal preference in your system. I can say that some of the adjectives that you use in describing the sound of the Havana are right on. There was one though that peaked my interest which is "overly detailed" I'm not too sure if a component can be overly detailed if it resolves musical information without it becoming over emphasized, or in a manner that brings too much attention to a facet of its presentation. If it is detail in a totally whole, believable, organic manner then it isn't too much. This can surely be the case with some components but you are right, the Havana doesn't do this. I happen to love its presentation. I haven't heard the Rega but I can only say that to find out you will have to listen or if this isn't possible take a leap, the risks for either is relatively small. I'm sure both will be satisfactory although one may and probably will be more preferable to you. Good luck in your quest.

Haven't heard the Havana. I own the Rega.

The Rega does a respectable job of detail and soundstaging. They're not the Rega's strongest suits though. If your top priority is as wide and deep a soundstage as possible, you'll probably move on. It's no slouch in either department by any means, but it's the last word in them at all.

The Rega's strengths are exactly what you described.

Tubegroover, thank you for your response.

True that unless I listen to both DACs I will not know for sure which one suit my preferences better.

Regarding the over-detailed issue, I meant the "over emphasized" details. It looks like Havana has this 'good' kind of detail:)

Generally I am looking for a DAC for my headphone rig. It's an interesting thing, but it appears that most people on headphones perceive the soundstage of Havana as deep and wide. However recently I've had a chance to meet a person on head-fi forum, who listens to Havana on speakers. He said Havana soundstage appeared flat to him and also Havana provided grayish sound. I got worried after reading about these two issues. Maybe it was his speakers, maybe something else...
What is your perception regarding Havana soundstage and grayish sound? Are you on speakers only? And have you upgraded your Havana in any way?

Thank you!

Kbarkamian, appreciate your answer.

I like everything what I read about Rega, but this one little issue with soundstaging bothers me.
Deep and wide soundstage is important to me as I listen mostly through my headphones and headphones' inherent weakness is less dimensional sound. I would like to compensate this through the right choice of the source component (DAC/transport).
Otherwise everything about Rega sounds so good to me. Ehhh, tough decision to make!

I've had a Rega DAC (from Signature sound) to audition for the last week and I plan to order one next week. My review of it and comparison to a Cambridge 840c was posted in the review section. Tonight I'll be comparing to a W4S Dac 2 in my system as well.
My observation thus far (the DAC is broken in) is that the Rega improves depth of soundstage and that is it's key advantage. Soundstage width as always been very good with my system. The Merlin speakers are noted to be excellent in this respect. I had previously felt that depth was also good, but adding the Rega made other sources sound flat across the field by comparison.
Sorry that I have not heard the other unit you ask about, but I'd like to once again point out that I find the differences between between good digital sources exceedingly small.

Rob