Others opinions on the new MHDT Stockholm DAC?

Hmm, why bust a gut getting this DAC to sound 'right'. Have any of you guys tried the Audio Note DACs? They are NOS and No filtering, and have tubed power supply and analogue boards.

Fir me, the NOS and no filtering is 70% of the signature i.e. no digital edge and an organic smooth sound. Then the quality of the supply and output stages and the sum of the parts is the remaining 30%.

I would recommend an Audio Note 2.1 Factory or an Audio Note 3.1 kit from Canada if you are a tweaker. The kits are great quality on a budget, and have LOTS of parts upgrade and circuit weak possibilities, aside form the tubes.

The mhdt Havana and Havana Balanced will go up against the Audio Note right out of the box. Being a DAC with a tube output buffer section, and the circuit supporting over a dozen tube variants, that happens to be an obvious variable to experiment with for tuning the sound. The fact that the chipset sockets support an additional variant is a further opportunity for voicing the DAC for those who care to try, but it's not necessary. The further upgrading of internal parts, particularly capacitors, is an area for modification in which the mhdt is neither more nor less susceptible to improvement than anything else, given that everything is built to a price point. But stock, Havana and Havana Balanced, as well as the Stockholm successors, are exceedingly fine DACs.

The last worthwhile thing even if you never open up the mhdt, or an Audio Note for that matter, is experimentation with what it sits on. But absolutely *every* DAC I've had my hands on is improved by finding the right support for dissipating internal vibration, and decoupling from external vibration, right up to 4 and 5 figures DACs, and the mhdt are no exception to this. For mhdt DACs, bearings-based supports are best.

Phil

Just ordered the "K" DAC chips. Will post back in a few weeks after break i

Chips are in & Immediate performance upgrade!

WOW is all I can say. This DAC with a realtively simple upgrade is killer!!