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.

wlutke

@wlutke would be so hard to advise on this not seeing or hearing your system. The factory caps are good too, and I did not experience glare with my Orchid in stock form before upgrading the tube and caps.


btw, Are your speakers toed in or faced perfectly straight forward? How big is the room?

The speakers and room sound fine with analog and the AM.  It’s the Orchid.  Sounds like your tube gear has a necessary synergy, 

@wlutke are you utilizing the exact same digital input and output cables on the AM dac as you did with your Orchid - in other words did one cable/type change by chance?

Also did you ever try the other Tesla -or- Western Electric optional/recommended tubes in your Orchid dac?

The reason for asking is friends across forums shared notes about MHDT Orchid and Pagoda DAC findings with particular cables and tubes to fine tune results even more. Of those half changed caps to get even more out of the dac.

 

Nothing changed out but the DAC.  Had the GE.  Have Millard installed.  Have used the Orchid with tube pre (Herron).  Now Have Luxman integrated.   Have tried cables.  It’s a good DAC for the money,  Has glare though.

@wlutke Got it. And, so it appears you’ve not tried the other factory prescribed tubes (Tesla 6CC42 or Western Electric WE396/2C51) for the dac many have found to gel well the Orchid and no glare. The standard non-triple mica GE 5670 tube in that dac can be bright or seem like glare in detailed systems. Not sure which Mullard you are referring to - - unless you’re running some kind of 6922 adapter which can lead to other voltage issues in that dac. I have 6 friends with MHDT Orchid dacs, none report issues with glare. Its a soft analog sounding Philips TDA1541 r2r ladder dac chip in there too. Pretty mild in my system and friends too. Something else going on there I would suspect. Best of luck.