Mhdt Labs Pagoda Review (R2R Tube DAC)

[ousi]

... gotta love the vanity capacitor labeling. That right there's worth a hunnert bucks, easy.

Wait until you see these in the Nagra Classic Preamp that I have. Guess that explains why they ask 10K+

 

[Walter]

Wait until you see these in the Nagra Classic Preamp that I have. Guess that explains why they ask 10K+
View attachment 169270

Send it to Amir for testing!

 

[aj625]

R2R lovers, we've found the DAC end-game you can rest assured you will never find better before you see the grave.

Everytime I see bad SINAD my eyes hover straight to the clocking metric. Had no idea what I was looking at, all I knew, is it was bad. This bad though? Just wow.

the modus operandi is simple. take a so called classic r2r chip, add some tube, discard the concept of reconstruction filter, put that thing in a fancy looking rather heavy chassis and manage some glowing reviews stating how natural r2r nos without filter can sound and voila ! you have a perfect recipe to make money. actually they feed on the fear of "ultimate nightmare" of an audiophile that is having to listen a so called cold, sterile and clinical sound from their system. over the years with the advancement of technology you can record more details in throughout the audible band and those details can be reproduced more faithfully than ever, bringing you closer to real life performance.

that kind of detailed and transparent sound is perceived by most so called audiophiles as cold and clinical which is not correct. many people term the warm softer sound of some dacs as more analog sounding which is also not correct as people who are familiar with analog format( reel to reel and vinyl ) would agree that analog recordings on analog medium like vinyl and reel to reel sound more open, have faster transients albeit with slight roll off to highs which is more of a limitation of recording medium. i would suggest the members to listen some very good modern digital recordings of ralph alessi band and mandolin orange. on a good transparent system these can take you to right at the venue of performance.

 

[aj625]

Wait until you see these in the Nagra Classic Preamp that I have. Guess that explains why they ask 10K+
View attachment 169270

for modern digital recordings pre amp is just an extra piece of electronics in the path which can be avoided by digital volume control of j river or hq player or by using a dac like tt2. feed a digital pre into benchmark ahb2 in low or medium gain depending upon your listening volume and save huge cash by avoiding a dedicated pre.

 

[ousi]

This just makes me want to mail a eBay TDA1541A DAC to Amir for testing

the modus operandi is simple. take a so called classic r2r chip, add some tube, discard the concept of reconstruction filter, put that thing in a fancy looking rather heavy chassis and manage some glowing reviews stating how natural r2r nos without filter can sound and voila ! you have a perfect recipe to make money. actually they feed on the fear of "ultimate nightmare" of an audiophile that is having to listen a so called cold, sterile and clinical sound from their system. over the years with the advancement of technology you can record more details in throughout the audible band and those details can be reproduced more faithfully than ever, bringing you closer to real life performance.

that kind of detailed and transparent sound is perceived by most so called audiophiles as cold and clinical which is not correct. many people term the warm softer sound of some dacs as more analog sounding which is also not correct as people who are familiar with analog format( reel to reel and vinyl ) would agree that analog recordings on analog medium like vinyl and reel to reel sound more open, have faster transients albeit with slight roll off to highs which is more of a limitation of recording medium. i would suggest the members to listen some very good modern digital recordings of ralph alessi band and mandolin orange. on a good transparent system these can take you to right at the venue of performance.

 

[ousi]

for modern digital recordings pre amp is just an extra piece of electronics in the path which can be avoided by digital volume control of j river or hq player or by using a dac like tt2. feed a digital pre into benchmark ahb2 in low or medium gain depending upon your listening volume and save huge cash by avoiding a dedicated pre.

I still have analog (the last Sony turntable PS-X800) and the oh so restrictive SACD source. If not I would have run direct from DAC which has proper output stage.

 

[aj625]

I still have analog (the last Sony turntable PS-X800) and the oh so restrictive SACD source. If not I would have run direct from DAC which has proper output stage.

that is why is said modern digital recordings.

 

[ousi]

that is why is said modern digital recordings.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like to run DAC direct until I merged my bedroom system (it was all Digital) with my main system (Digital, SACD and vinyl). The bedroom system chain was very simple: RPi Roon endpoint -> Benchmark DAC2 DX -> Pair of NC500MP -> KEF LS50. Now I do have the preamp in the mix. Maybe I should get a good AD and convert the Vinyl output to digital

 

[aj625]

Don't get me wrong, I actually like to run DAC direct until I merged my bedroom system (it was all Digital) with my main system (Digital, SACD and vinyl). The bedroom system chain was very simple: RPi Roon endpoint -> Benchmark DAC2 DX -> Pair of NC500MP -> KEF LS50. Now I do have the preamp in the mix. Maybe I should get a good AD and convert the Vinyl output to digital

converting vinyl to digital is a good idea for archiving. to get the best out of vinyl rip to max possible sample rates. To get a best possible and most transparent digital playback you can use chord tt2 with m scaler and feeding directly to ahb2 both tt2 and ahb2 in low gain .

 

[Frank Dernie]

One thing that continues to surprise me is the continued criticism of digital for having a step wise waveform from the sort of enthusiasts who choose DACs without the reconstruction filters that remove the out of band artefacts

 

[aj625]

One thing that continues to surprise me is the continued criticism of digital for having a step wise waveform from the sort of enthusiasts who choose DACs without the reconstruction filters that remove the out of band artefacts

Exactly, it is like those audiophiles who can easily find differences between r2r and ds dac (R2R sound more natural to them ) but discard better measurements as inaudible.

 

[Balle Clorin]

But how does is sound? Is the faults very audible ? and in what way?

 

[Svperstar]

But how does is sound? Is the faults very audible ? and in what way?

I can't speak to the Pagoda but I owned the MHDT Labs Paradisea+ years ago. Basically music was lacking a lot of detail, everything was kind smeared together with a severe lack of any kind of dynamics or presence. Kinda like listening to a tape that has been copied multiple times. When I plugged my then top of the line X-Fi Elite Pro back in the music came back to life again.

Songs I had heard 1,000 times suddenly had the mix blended together like no instruments stood out from another. Everything was very far away and dark, I don't mean far away as in a wide soundstage, I mean like pulling your headphones away from your ears.

 

[TunaBug]

I still have analog (the last Sony turntable PS-X800) and the oh so restrictive SACD source. If not I would have run direct from DAC which has proper output stage.

I won't deny the experience of removing vinyl from the sleeve and dropping the needle. But the SACDs? I just rip them once and then box them up with their CD brethren.

 

[EB1000]

This "reviewer" thinks it sound great and worse every dollar

Mhdt Labs Balanced Pagoda DAC by Terry London

In the last seven months, I have received scores of emails from readers on two superlative balanced DACs (Bricasti Design M3/Rockna Audio Wavelight, which retail for around $5000). Many readers wanted to know and seek a DAC that was a truly balanced design yet would come in at a lower price point.

v2.stereotimes.com

 

[Spocko]

This "reviewer" thinks it sound great and worse every dollar

Definitely "worse every dollar"

 

[noel_fs]

cringe

 

[Pietro]

oooooooouuuu, expensive, energy inefficient 24bit to 8 bit converter

 

[Jimbob54]

I don't agree. The device is well made with the right parts (desirable ones for audiophools) and has the exact measurements that is needed.
They were not aiming for low distortion and top notch performance.
This was deliberately designed this way and well executed with good knowledge of electronics and how to achieve what they were after.

I would not buy it but the isn't a cobbled together monstrosity but well designed purpose made device for a specific market.

Let's go with that. But I wonder if they marketed it by saying its a distortion box rather than the usual superlatives, would it sell?

 

[solderdude]

What's a distortion box for ASR is wonderful, musical nirvana to owners.

They're not getting my money. Audiophools are easily parted with their money though. Targeted advertising and glowing reviews will do that.