DAC for all tube 2 channel set up?

I had an MHDT havana (supposedly a step up from the Paradisea) in my system and recently purchased one again to play around with. I think, for the money, they make great DACs. It may not have the amount of detail retrieval as my Bel Canto Dac3, or the fullness to the bass, but it's not far off, and considering the retail is less than 1/3rd of the bel canto, that's pretty amazing. I've had the Benchmark, which I didn't love, and the only thing I know of the Cambridge and the PS Audio is from reviews, so taken with an extreme grain of salt.

My guess is--and it's precisely that, a guess, since I don't know what the rest of your system is like, etc-- that as you're an analog person, you would probably like the MHDT gear, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't like one of the other dacs you mentioned. I don't find the MHDT Havana stereotypically tubey, so I don't think it will slow down your system, unless it already sounds that way.

I think Blindjim has a point here, which I was alluding to by stating that I didn't know what the rest of your system is comprised of. As not all tube gear is the same, give us an idea of what you're working with. I stand by my assessment that the MHDT gear I've heard (and this includes the Paradisea+) doesn't sound overly lush or slow in any way. Sure, rolling the tube will provide some changes, but it's not going to go from a romantic and full red wine to an ice clean vodka doing so. Ultimately nothing will be as good as listening to a piece in your system. For the last 2 months I've had 3 Dac's in my system, and while the Bel Canto that I've had in place all along isn't going anywhere, it's illuminating to compare and hear the differences for yourself (which is especially easy to do with a computer-based source).

I totally agree with Blindjim's assessment of the Bel Canto--it's a great dac, as my latest DAC shootout proves. If you can spend the extra dough, it's a good buy. I use the Bel Canto UBS link to output usb to SPDIF from my mac and that way the USB input isn't an issue.

The MHDT Havana (have heard the paradisea plus, but not extensively) sounds slightly diffused compared to the Bel Canto. What I mean is that if a voice is dead center and occupies a particular space in the soundstage with my bel canto, then with the Havana, that space is slightly wider, and less pin-pointed. What this means for sound staging is that it isn't as detailed as the Bel Canto, but is still very good. All my judgments are relative to the bel canto, so when I say less detailed, I mean that the guy in the third row who farts during a recording is there, just quieter with the Havana than the bel canto. Bass is a little rolled off compared to the Bel Canto, but at least in a nice-sounding way. If you're looking for "tight fast bass response" as you said, then the Bel Canto will be tighter and faster, but the MHDT won't suck.

All-around the Bel canto is more versatile, as pointed out. The MHDT has multiple inputs, but the switch is on the back, and it needs to be reset if you switch between sources. I think that given what you say about your system and your listening prefs, you may want to experiment and see what works best. Benchmark has a 30 day return policy, as does PS Audio. Music Direct will also let you return before 30 days, and they care a couple of dacs. The MHDT's sell used quickly, so it's not risky buying one and selling if it doesn't work out. I say take your time, and see what works best. If SS makes you nervous, start out with a tube one and move from there. If you don't like NOS dacs, then start with an oversampling dac., etc. Upsampling is a whole other can of worms.