From an MHDT to an Audio Mirror, quick impressions
A Tubadour IV SE I ordered on 10/12 appeared today. It replaces a stock Orchid fed by an n130 Node with PD Creative power board and Sbooster LPS. I’ve just finished a half hour session, including 15 min of warm up. Right out of the box it’s showing off. Smooth, articulate and quick with much tighter bass. It keeps the musicality of the Orchid and improves on the pace.
The soundstage is deeper with a more “You are there” feel than the up front “They are here” feel of the Orchid. That’s all for now. For three times the cost I hoped for a noticeably better DAC. What I got was a major surprise and a huge upgrade. Really anxious to put some hours on it.
Interesting. My own comparisons of the Orchid with several DACs show it either outcompeting similar DACs (such as the Denafrips Ares II) or getting very close to other DACs. I remain convinced that Terry London's review is still valid -- the Orchid is an amazing DAC for the money. That said, if people are willing to go way above the price of the MHDT Orchid, they may hear results in their systems. FWIW, I posted a thread about the Orchid, here:
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When I upgraded my MHDT Orchid with top-shelf Mundorf coupling caps and Tesla 6CC42 or GE 5-star Triple Mica tubes - the speed, sound stage depth, tone/texture brought it to a new level. In my rig the Tesla is very nice. Comparing to other dacs, this Orchid holds its own. The company owner is very supportive and responsive. Sure, spending at least ~3x in order to surpass it in some ways seems about right. Maybe 4x. DAC technology is on the move again past 2-3 years. The Orchid is a nice baseline stable reference to keep and compare what is better or just different. Swap back and compare once in a while if possible. Enjoy the new dac! |
I'm holding on to the Orchid for now. I still like it, will go in the garage system. Future comparison, though possible, is so past "just different" not likely. Newly engineered DAC IV.
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@wlutke which connection type are you using? (AES, SPDIF/Coax, USB, Toslink) I’m experimenting with another non-tube dac that formerly utilized a similar AD chipset and now on to something different. It’s good to read you are having favorable results with this proven r2r multibit chip design in this dac. Found some of these dacs are better than others by the connection type alone. Some not as good with USB compared to others. Not a big USB fan here. What’s your preferred type on this dac so far? |
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