Gauging intereest, Havana Dac

[joessportster]

I found the dac I want to upgrade to but would have to sell my Havana in order to afford the Metrum so I am gauging interest here

 

I will include upgraded tubes for rolling and 2 extra pairs of the dac chips that were sent to me by MHDT

 

original prices were

 

Havana,  899.00

 

spare chips  40.00

 

Raytheon 5670 windmill getter tube 25.00 (60's vintage)

RCA 5670 50's vintage  20.00

GE 50's vintage 15.00

Western Electric Jw2C51 / 5670, 1951 vintage 45.00

and the original GE 5670 which is I believe around 80's vintage

 

The DAC sounds amazing with my headphone setup, and has TONS of positive reviews, it is the Non Oversampling Design, and sounds very much like analog, you get none of that digital edge,  If I had the means to keep both I would not sell this dac especially at the used price

 

heres a link to the manufacturers description ( http://dhost.info/mhdtlab/havana.htm )

 

I would like to get 550.00 plus shipping and IMHO you will not touch this dacs performance level for anywhere near this price, plus you get some really nice tubes for rolling and 2 pair of spare chips

 

This sale hinges on the fact that the metrum deal happens  which is looking pretty good right now so if you are interested please post here and I will contact forum members in the order they appear

 

Condition is near mint, the dac is about 18 months old, I am the 2nd owner it is 100% stock except the tube

Edited July 1, 2015 by joessportster

[muel]

The Havana is a nice sounding DAC !  

[opusk2k9]

Buy with confidence from Joe.

Good luck with your sale.

[joessportster]

Thanks for the words guys

 

Metrum is in the house, and I must say so far its a wash as to which is better, Nothing shines out as BETTER,  Going to set up a blind AB test using my SYS and see if I can tell anything different  

[muel]

If they still seem pretty equal you might try it without the V-Link (assuming you are using it on both).  It would be interesting to hear how the Metrum deals with USB VS. the Havana.  

[joessportster]

Muel

 

That would be cool except my Metrum only has Toslink and Spdif (usb was and still is an added option on metrum), I am feeling more Solidity with Metrum, and it seems like mid bass is somewhat more refined IE...Drum sets,  Overall the Metrum sounds a Very small amount brighter that may be my tube of choice in the Havana (WE. JW2c51 from 1951) 

 

I completely expect the Metrum to be better so bias may rear its head (Metrum is about 300.00 more) these are both considered R2R Dacs and any differences are minor Frankly I feel like this speaks very highly of the Havana that it is this close to the Higher Priced Dac,  Some tube rolling Might put them neck in neck.

 

My patience and living space wont allow me to do the tube rolling thing again, I went through about 6 different tubes before settleing on the WE,  I have read thet a Bendix 6385 is a better tube but at 100+ each I cant afford to try them    

[Shakeydeal]

Interesting. 300.00 is more or less on the same playing field in my mind. I really like my Havana and don't expect to be able to best it under 1500.00 or so. Good luck and keep us posted.

Shakey