MHDT Laboratory Havana HEAVILY Modified

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For sale is an MHDT Havana R-2R NOS DAC with VERY close to the absolute maximum it can be taken in the stock box.  I have thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at it with around $2,000 worth of upgraded parts.  It has the following mods:

- 115V R-Core transformer

- (4) Schottky diodes

- (6) Shinkoh tantalum around tube socket

- (2) Matched genuine Japanese K-grade PCM56P chips from vintage Technics SL-P1300 control board

- WBT-0210 Cu Ms (copper, metal nut) RCA connectors, connected to PCB with OCC copper leads and airlok insulation from V-Cap CuTF caps

- RCA input replaced with Vampire 75 ohm BNC

All capacitors replaced:

- (2) .47 uF V-Cap Copper Teflon (CuTF) output caps

- (2) .01 uF V-Cap CuTF input caps

- (1) .01 uF V-Cap CuTF C12 cap

- (1) .22 uF Jupiter HT Beeswax 

- (7) .47 uF Rike Audio S-Cap PIO

- (5) 47 uF/160V Black Gate VK

- (4) 3300 uF Elna ROB Tonorex

- (3) 470 uF/16V Elna Silmic II

- (4) 100 uF/50V Elna Silmic II

- (8) 100 uF/25V Black Gate F

- (1) 470 uF/35 V Black Gate F

- (1) 1000 uF/25 V Black Gate K

Cardas quad eutectic solder was used for all work.  I applied blu tack on the caps and dynamat on the under side of the cover for damping (and to keep the big Rike S-Caps in place).

Excellent condition.  There is what appears to be a bit of very faint adhesive residue near the power socket (not in it), but no scratches.  Solid 8.5/10 to be conservative.

Comes with an AEG 5670 NOS tube, which is every bit as good as, or better than, the vaunted Bendix 5670 depending on preference/mood.

Here is a massive thread on this DAC, where I learned of these mods and made several contributions with my testing and impressions of various capacitors:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mhdt-havana-dac.310441/  

This incarnation hits the right balance for me.  It absolutely maintains the organic and musical soul of the Havana but is on another planet in terms of clarity, detail, definition, immediacy, presence, dynamics, soundstage width and depth, etc.  This replaced a Berkeley Alpha DAC 2, and I liked it so much I built two of them.

Due to growing kids, I haven’t really had the time (and peace!) to enjoy my hi-fi for a couple years now so I’m selling off an entire system.

Asking $1300 including shipping to the US.  +$25 to Canada and will not ship to other countries.