Audio Mirror Tubadour V

I've had the Toubadour V for several months now and it is very satisfying. I have compared it with some other DACs and much prefer Vlad's house sound. I did ask Vlad to upgrade the fuse on mine for an extra upcharge.

Highly recommended. Punches way about it's cost, and sounds like a lampizator that costs 3x the price of this Toubadour V. 

I've never had the IV or III so I can't compare.

@timski Before settling on the Toubadour V I had a Schiit Yggdrasil OG. I had previously listened to a Denafrips Aries (not sure which gen), a Weiss 204, a Gold Note IS 1000 integrated with DAC included, and a Mola Mola Makua pre with DAC included (my understanding is that this is the same Tambaqui DAC stuffed inside the Makua).

When corresponding with Vlad, I told him that the Weiss was my favorite followed by the Makua and he suggested that I would probably benefit from a more analog sounding DAC and to give the Toubadour V a shot. I’m very glad I did.

Since then I’ve compared it with a Cayin Tube DAC (forgot the model), a Merason Frerot, and a Lampizator Pacific (don’t know which gen) and I few others that I don’t particularly remember anymore, or I didn’t have enough listening time to form any meaningful opinion.

I’m buying the Cayin Tube DAC for my second system and will pass on the Okto DAC8 and the Yggdrasil to an employee shortly.

One final note, I added a Denafrips GAIA DDC to the chain and I noticed an immediate improvement with paired with the Toubadour V. I still can’t put my finger on what exactly improved, but it sounds better to my ears so far.

I forgot I had also auditioned the Chord Dave. The fact that I forgot about it shows that I was not super impressed by it at that time.

I would say 15-25 mins warmup is enough.

@nwres Definitely a case of "more can't hurt".

I tried pairing the GAIA DDC with the Okto DAC8 and that too yielded improvements.