Orchid vs TUBADOUR III - Help me choose

Well martin-andersen, you tried the FPGA approach, and if you liked the far more expensive PS DirectStream then my conclusion would be the Orchid would be a delight for your musical tastes.  I'm not saying it's the "greatest" DAC in the world.  But, for my tastes, that I state in the Six Moons review, the Orchid it delivers what I'm listening for in my system.  It competes with much more expensive pieces.

I was in the same position and went for the Audio Mirror. The deciding factor was I couldn’t find anyone rave about the Orchid and the Audio Mirror is designed around the same chip Audio Note has been stuck on for years. There is a review on the Pink Fish on the Orchid the person loved it at first, got obsessed about changing the chip then later sold it off. Look into Audio Note reviews you will get an idea how the chip frames the music. I have the standard model and will look at upgrading once solid comparitive reviews come in. Standard sounds great just enjoying it for now. Curious what tubes worked better over stock? The SR blue fuse works well. Can someone comment on tube options.

I have had my Tubadour III for a few weeks now, fully upgraded. With 100 hours of play time on it I can say that I love this DAC, it has bested a Yggdrasil Analog 2 for me which previously was the best DAC I had heard. The Tubadour sounds more human, alive but causes me less listening fatigue. The Yggy is no slouch either and better in the bass department by a few % but that's the only area I think it really wins.

Going to ask again what upgrades are available and where on the site are they listed?

@facten 

To the best of my recollection, the upgrade options are not on the website. Here is the info I received from Vlad via email:

1. Duelund caps 
2. Z-foil resistors 
3. Balanced outputs 
4. I2S input 

I did not include associated costs for each upgrade in the event that they may have been adjusted since I purchased mine. Emailing Vlad directly is the best bet, though it would surely be helpful if the information were available on the website.

The cap upgrade is the most expensive, but by far the most significant, according to Vlad. Even with all of the upgrades the Tubadour is still less than half of what I paid for my last DAC. 

@teajay 

Thanks for the kind words. I'd sure love to hear a head-to-head comparison of the Tubadour and the Orchid, which I have no doubt whatsoever is every bit as special as your review suggests. One thing that occurs to me is that we are very fortunate to have such quality choices at these price points.

@1markr 

I've really enjoyed comparing notes, my friend. I'm so glad you're getting your Tubadour dialed in to your liking.