MHDT Paradisea tubes

I've been interested in the Paradisea for years now. I ended up going for the DacMagic in January of this year. I've been fairly happy with it, but I've always felt that digital combined with all solid state gear can sound a little dry, but I've not heard state-of-the-art digital or solid state. That said, I find that a little bit of tube sound somewhere in the audio chain can make digital sound a lot more pleasing and more "analog". I recently have been getting into headphones, and I've been using the DacMagic with a few different headphone amps and the Sennheiser HD650s. The first amp I tried was the Audio-gd Compass solid state amp. This unit all around was not that great. I then ordered the Elekit TU-882AS tube amp, and wow what a difference. It really helps the DacMagic come alive.

My point to all this is to say that I too would have a hard time wondering if the Paradisea sounds "smooth" because of the tube output stage or because of the NOS design. I have heard that in general, NOS DAC designs sound a bit smoother at the cost of detail. I also have a feeling that a tube output buffer on a DAC combined with an all-tube amplifier might sound a bit *too* creamy.

I'm guessing that you should be able to get stock tubes from MHDT. http://dhost.info/mhdtlab/

I run a Squeezebox Duet via coax through the Paradisea+ and I use the fiber connection for the digital out from my Sony NS999ES. I've ripped almost my entire CD collection to PC based storage, so most of the time I'm listening through the Squeezebox; don't use the Sony as a cd player much at all anymore (although I do use it's analog outputs for two channel SACD playback). I usually leave the Paradisea on, because I agree, it's nice to just fire up the music whenever you want from across the room! Haven't had any problems with that so far.

I had a DAC Magic as well and for the price it's an amazing little DAC. Ultimately, I like the Paradisea much better because there's a certain smoothness and "reality" to the sound that just didn't seem to be there with other, upsampling DAC's. I'm still not 100% sure if that has to do with the NOS DAC implementation or the tube buffer stage, but I know I like it! I currently have a Raytheon tube installed that works great, plus an extra in reserve. I'd like to update to the Havana somewhere along the line and give it a spin.

I have to agree with you completely on the giant-killer bargain opinion. I sold my 3500.00 Wavelength Cosecant in favor of this. I really want to give the Havana a listen too.

I leave mine on all the time and it still seems to be sounding pretty great. I've had it for more than a year. I figure the stock tube is pretty cheap and it's' nice to be able to fire the system up from the iphone so I just don't even bother turning it off. I bought 2 of the 396 tubes that everyone was raving about and I didn't really like the sound of either compared to the stock tube.

On a side note. I also picked up a Cambridge DAC magic and I have to say it sounds pretty incredible too. I still think I like the Paradisea better but the DAC magic is pretty great too.

Do you know where to get a spare stock tube from?

I usually leave mine on unless I leave for more than a day. I've used WE, Bendix, and other tubes with no issues. The ones that come stock aren't that bad, either. I run my Paradisea between a Squeezebox and a Marantz receiver. Sounds great for inexpensive digital.