I recently purchased a Musical Paradise MP-D2 Mk3 DAC. I’ve had a handful of DACs in my room over the last year at the recommendation of listening buddies- Holo, Schiit, Lampizator, and Denefrips. All brought something to the table but also lost some of the bottom end grip that I love about the CXNV2 streamer direct into my UFO25.

I’d been hearing about this Musical Paradise DAC for some time and took a chance on it based on the ease at which tubes and caps can be interchanged in it.

So this beast arrived a couple weeks ago. I was not prepared for this ~35 pound monster!


I’ve been listening for a week or more now as-is and really loving it. It has the articulation and separation of the Holo DACs, the air of the Denefrips without being harsh, and most importantly the tight, defined bottom end that makes cello and upright sound like it’s in the room with me the way the CXN does. I’ve done a fair amount of room treatment to control bass and I’m very sensitive to room modes and low end sloppiness, to the point that many of the higher end DACs don’t cut it in the bottom end department. There’s a good synergy with the Lii F-15s and this DAC, like my Cambridge streamer. Inside is pretty straightforward.


This DAC came with Mundorf silver copper oil caps in the primary position, stock caps in the secondary, older 6H6 tubes and a GZ32 rectifier.


After getting a good feel for what this DAC offers I decided to start playing. I moved the Mundorf caps over to the secondary position and added Jupiter copper foil wax caps as the primary, also switching in a Premier Audio fuse and a matched quad of Amperex Holland Bugle Boys. The cap change is very easy; there are simple binding posts just like on an amp or speaker. Simple loosen, pull the old cap, replace with new cap, and tighten back down.
Wow! It just keeps getting better, and the caps aren’t even 2 hours old. The vividness and “live” feel is just unreal. Anyone shopping for a new DAC or DAC/streamer, I would highly recommend checking out what Musical Paradise has to offer.

Hey Gilf.

This is very intriguing. Following your progress closely.

Very interested in a comparison to the Cambridge CXN. Is your CXN modded?