Looking for a tube (or tube sounding) DAC

I don't want to twist your arm to spend about 1/5th of your budget, but the MHDT Orchid DAC sounds incredible with my Quicksilver tube gear, my Node streamer, and my Salk Speakers. I've matched it also with Atoll solid state gear. In all cases, it is clear without being edgy and always adds a third dimension to the imaging. There is no smudging of the image. It is available via MHDT on Ebay or via Linear Tube Audio, who are great to work with. That said, if I were to try another, from my research the Audio Mirror Tubador is at the top of my list.

sympathetic colorations and system synergies are the lifeblood of assembling beautiful sounding systems

we listen with our ears, for pleasure and to stir passion

'accuracy' and measurement geeks have always missed the central point of why this pursuit exists

The MHDT made my system sounds so much better

Thanks for your suggestions. It's not the I don't like the Yggy, I have an itch to upgrade to a higher level and I love the sound of tubes.

I think the Aquahifi DACs are out of my budget of $6,000, but they sure look nice!  I'll check out the MHDT Orchid.  I do have the Holo Audio May KTE on my list, but it's not tube.  Definitely still on my list.

I'd love more suggestions, and comments on the Tubadore III and Lampizator Baltic 3.

George, you and I traded comments in an earlier thread when I bought my PL.  You had the same comment then.  I demoed the Saunders AMP with my Parasound preamp against the PL and decided on the PL.  I never listen to music loud (wife doesn't like it).  I've not noticed any issues with the PL and my ML Summit X speakers.  Now maybe it's clipping and I can't tell, but I think if it is, it would be rare.

Thanks again.  This is indeed a great community of folks.  

I am doing some testing with my new tube DAC and 3 amps. I have the AMT3SE fully loaded except the XLR for longer than 1 meter runs. I have the default XLR. I am comparing this DAC with the KRELL K-300i internal DAC and a Benchmark DAC3B.

To make a long story short I find that the AMTSE really shines with my Class A amplification. That is the KRELL and the now sold CODA CSiB. The AMT3SE has a slightly warm relaxing, yet detailed sound. I also found that using the very best streamer I have had a profound affect on the AMT3SE. Streaming from ROON using my Fibre Optical system (not Toslink) was noticeably better with the AMT3SE. Actually I can say that with all the DACs I have, but it was something I noticed was a significant improvement on the AMT3SE.

I have 4 streamers available to compare.

- 2 opticalRendu’s with 2 different LPS power supplies
- 1 microRendu with LPS
- KRELL internal DAC RJ45 Ethernet streaming

The AMT3SE on the Benchmark stack (my reference stack) is something I am going back and forth with. Sometimes I find I love it and other times I am thinking it is just a minor softening compared to the Benchmark DAC3B. The gain matching with the DAC3B vs AMT3SE is a pain and may determine if I continue to use the AMT3SE with the Benchmark stack.

Next week I will retest my AMT3SE with the internal KRELL DAC to see if it is worth me having 2 DACs for my headphone use, a RAAL SR1a. I use an integrated amp for this sole purpose (a little crazy).

BTW - ROON’s feature of TRANSFER ZONE is a great feature to do this type of comparison. Love ROON, it has gotten to be transformative for my use.