Audio Mirror Tubadour V

The V to me is bigger in sound with more clarity while keeping that smoothness I like with the Tubadour. It is still breaking in.I have maybe 25 hrs. on it so it will just get better. I use it with my Mano Ultra MKiii connected by a Jorma AES. Very nice to my older ears.

I have had 2 days with the new Tubadour V and I’m not going to lie, it is much more different than I expected. I was expecting the same as the III and IV but bigger, but Vlad is doing something different with the sound. The vocals, while beautiful on the III and IV, used to feel like it was constricted in some way (like a tense ball). That is gone now, the V is more fluid and clear (accurate) but not as much reverb and romantic aura. The V brings details, details, details. Like someone with a flashlight is revealing voices, bass lines, and other nuances that I never noticed before. It seems like a 2 edged sword because some songs that I have listened to for ages, now sound a little different with these new details (like an intruder!). I swear I thought the Dac was making crap  up on some songs that I knew intimately but now have like a whole new instrument in the back. I don’t know if I like that or not. I will wait for it to break in a bit more and will report back.

I love my IV! Don’t have the funds right now to move up to the V.

Any updates on how the V compares to the III and IV now that they are broken in?

I have the IsoAcoustics ZaZen II platform under my Audiolab 9000CDT CD transport and it is amazing! Great value also.