@wlutke not to digress too much but curious to know if your prior Orchid dac had the stock coupling caps in it from MHDT, or if they were upgraded? Reason for the question is the stock caps are fairly smoothed over. Nice, yet can be optimized notably. Several colleagues and I upgraded Orchid dacs with really nice caps and other tube options. Achieved an increase in sound stage size, width and depth, nice tone, texture, and retaining gentle detail. If you still have your Orchid it can be a keeper too fwiw. Enjoy the new dac!
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.
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My experience is limited to my original post but I'll try. The AM recently opened up, bringing more feel to the venue. Powerful below 30 Hz or so (compared to the Orchid.) A big factor in choosing this DAC (by reputation) was electric guitar glare. That's been taken care of - on Spotify. I'm just now giving Tidal a try. One session so far. Some songs were Very Good, some were meh, some were too hot on top - Is Tidal revealing the recording or the DAC or the streamer? Too early to tell. I'm giving Tidal, me and the DAC more time for the dust to settle and reality sink in. Streamer next, I think. |
Thanks for the heads up. I've tube rolled the Orchid including 6922 family to some effect. Per my last post the biggest reason for moving on from the Orchid was predominant glare. How is your output cap mod in that area? It would be an absolute long time keeper for me (second system.) Love the musicality. |
While its all "system & speaker dependent" and varies by individual and rooms of course...Three things I found with Orchid. Mine is very sensitive to input cables/types used. Results can vary greatly. Tried all, prefer high quality digi-coax with this dac. Using Analysis Plus Crystal or Cardas Digital. As for tubes, the Telsa 6CC42/2C51 was a great midway tube, smooth. My favorite in this dac, as I have an all tube system. May vary for those with SS preamps/amps. Tried two highly acclaimed (many like them) Western Electric 6CC42/2C51s, even smoother, a bit too much so for my taste in my system, speakers. Back to Tesla as my preference. Nice balance. Liked it so much may have a fully custom dac built next year, as tbd. As for coupling cap upgrades in this dac, yes, it makes a rewarding difference. The stock MHDT caps are plenty good as-is for 95% of the people out there. I went with familiar top shelf Mundorf Silver Gold Oil caps in mine, and so did a few friends. Definitely picked up nice tone, texture, expanded sound stage. Rewarding results, yes. A long break-in and forming with these caps before they settle in, heads-up. Can be aggravating first 1-50hrs, better at 100hrs. Totally worth it once they form and settle. |
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