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Rega DAC vs Havana DAC

After reading many impressions/reviews of Rega and Havana DACs, the two seem to have lots of in common. People say they are "analog sounding, they sound earthy and organic, tonally dense, overall "rightness", musicality, good rhythm, not over-detailed".
The main differences I could spot after reading others' impressions (unfortunately I haven't listened to either of the DACs) are that Havana provides more delicate, subtle sound (which as some people claim, might not be aggresive enough for rock music) and Havana has a wide and very deep soundstage (which I consider a big advantage - not sure about the soundstage of Rega DAC..)

Anybody compared Rega to Havana? What are the main sonic differences between the two DACs?

I am considering buying one of them and it is difficult for me to decide which one to choose as I don't have a chance to audition them beforehand. (I'm interested mainly in their sonic abilities. I will use coax input only).

Any help appreciated!
artmindes

Showing 4 responses by robbob

robbob
273 posts
 
I've had a Rega DAC (from Signature sound) to audition for the last week and I plan to order one next week. My review of it and comparison to a Cambridge 840c was posted in the review section. Tonight I'll be comparing to a W4S Dac 2 in my system as well.
My observation thus far (the DAC is broken in) is that the Rega improves depth of soundstage and that is it's key advantage. Soundstage width as always been very good with my system. The Merlin speakers are noted to be excellent in this respect. I had previously felt that depth was also good, but adding the Rega made other sources sound flat across the field by comparison.
Sorry that I have not heard the other unit you ask about, but I'd like to once again point out that I find the differences between between good digital sources exceedingly small.

Rob
robbob
273 posts
 
Don't worry. Unless the HD file is mastered differently there's no audible difference between it an a 16 bit file.

Rob
robbob
273 posts
 
BTW...I had the W4S DAC 2 to compare and I posted the results in the review section. Long story short....We preferred the Rega when connected to the CD player and the W4S had a very small edge via USB. They were very close. The W4S sounded brighter, the Rega had a deeper soundstage.

Rob
robbob
273 posts
 
BTW, I added a Pangea AC-14 power cable to the Rega. I really expected no difference, but the Rega was suddenly AWFUL sounding, bright and almost grainy. The effect was so strong that I switched back to the Rega stock cable to be certain. Since the Rega is in the burn-in cycle I've left the Pangea cord in. After three days it's more transparent sounding than with the Rega cord, but still just a bit bright. I've switched back and forth a few times.

This has been interesting as I was a non-believer with power cords.

The burn in will continue. There is now about 120 hours on the Rega DAC and about 50 on the Pangea powercord.

Rob
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