My 1st Tube Equipment Experience

My Tubadour Signature arrived today.  The DAC came expertly packed.  The build quality is excellent and it looks good.  And, it was a pleasure doing business with Vlad.

Out of the box, the Tubadour sounds much better than my Liberty DAC. It should considering it cost more than twice as much.  I didn’t know what to expect; better sounding for sure, but in comparison, this DAC is in a different league.

The Tubadour sound is lush, more detailed, with a wider soundstage.  I fits very well with my existing equipment.  I can’t imagine how much better it will sound once it’s broken in.  I plan to do some serious listening over the next couple of weeks.  

I’ll be selling my Mytek Liberty DAC starting tomorrow :-)

^ have fun and listen in good health. 

@jmolsberg  Thank you for mentioning the Tubadour DAC.  Next up, a better phone preamp than my Parasound JC3 Jr.  I think I see a Herron  VTPH-2A in my Christmas stocking.

A quick follow-up after a half-day of listening to music with the Tubadour DAC in my system.  I get the best SQ with the Herron pre-amp gain set to Hi and the NAD pwr amp gain set to Lo.  (With the Liberty, the Herron was set to Lo and the NAD to Mid.)  

I've also noticed a larger difference in sound volume when I switch between my analog and digital sources (Analog: Technics SL-1200G w/ Ortofon Quintet Black/Parasound JC3 Jr; Digital: Innous Zenith MKII/ sonicTransporter with Roon DSP/Tubadour DAC.)  In summary, at the same volume setting, when I switch between inputs, the digital music is noticeably louder.  With the Liberty DAC, the music was also louder, but there was much less of a difference.

I was thinking of adding an Ortofon ST-7 SUT to get more analog gain, or buying a better phone pre.  Thoughts anyone?

It's normal enough to have louder digital. As long as your vinyl sounds good, don't get hung up on the difference.