MHDT Orchid or Lampizator Amber 3?

Ordered the WE tube from Fleabay.
Should have a few hours on the Orchid by the time it arrives.

I was worried when I first powered it up as it did not sound pleasant at all.
But literally 3  hours and it opened up very nicely.

Just got to keep burning it in overnight as I did last night for a few more days.

Orchid on the way... What's life without a little risk

Love it! True that. 

I bought an adapter to convert to a 6SN7 tube (I used a Sophia Electric) and gave it a brief tryout in my stock Orchid. I couldn't get it out fast enough. Not recommended. Should have listened to grannyring.

I always listen to Bill.....at least in this arena.

Hope to have the WE tube before the weekend, left the Orchid cooking last night on a playlist so will see today what it sounds like, should be just over 30 hours on it by now.

I bought my Orchid second hand here, and it came with an assortment of tubes and DAC chips.  Being already "burned it" it sounded great from the moment I first inserted it in my system.  I haven't tried them all yet.  I have the original chip in and I think at the moment a  WE 396A tube.  It was only $35 for the 6SN7 adapter and I already had the Sophias, so it was a relatively cheap experiment, but the 6SN7 definitely was a change for the worse.

 I have a Mullard CV1988 from Swedish military  which is an OEM Osram metal base B65,will try as soon my adapter arrives.

@denism  Did it sound as if the LTA Z10 had any problem driving the Spatials? Even though they are sensitive, I heard their impedance curve does not do well with lower powered amplifiers.

@devilboy 

Guessing not as LTA is offering a bundle package on its website - see link below

https://www.lineartubeaudio.com/products/spatial-m3-lampizator-amber3-lta-z10-integrated-caf-system

Well I probably have 50 to 60 hours on the Orchid now and.....
Still was not really digging the sound.

Which leads me to .... Cables and if anyone needs any further proof of how different cables can bring a different flavor read on!

All of my IC are Straight Wire, PC are home made, SC are WE cable home made.

Well I had no more straight wire IC left so used a pair of XLO IC between orchid and amp... I should have known better.

Another pair of straight wire IC I had ordered were delivered this morning so I replaced the XLO with these and I'm floored at the difference!

A lot more warmth and body with seemingly no loss of detail or dynamic.

Now the fun can begin!

devilboy,
It sounded pretty fine and the sound was not too loud, bedroom for showroom, not the best conditions. A few systems used the LTA integrated.The Lampi Pacific with the monster VAC amp were amazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew2qb8FpI6Y
The Volti Audio room with Rival speakers, Border Patrol DAC and amp was special too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew2qb8FpI6Y

WE tube arrived today.
In and warmed up and playing.
Immediately a sense of more depth and body and certainly more mid bass impact.

Things are sounding good!

Yes indeed.  Sweet little dac really. 

Has anyone tried a RCA Red Base 5692 ( 6sn7) with the Orchid?

+3
My experience as well. Although I am using an adapter and a NOS Mullard ECC189/CV5331 which I have found to be superb in my Grannyring modded Orchid.

 just a quick note about system matching.  Over the weekend I took my orchid up to my brothers place. In his system he has a rega CD player and an audible illusions preamplifier. One of their newer ones. Feeding into a big beefy parasound Power Amp and a pair of rega speakers. Don't know exactly which ones they are, but they're about 10 years old and they were around $1,500 a pair when they were new. Overall it's pretty good sounding system. But what I noticed was that in his system the Orchid really didn't sound that sweet. It sounded good, it sounded better than the DAC that came standard with the rega CD player but didn't sound nearly as smooth as what I'm hearing in my system. So I guess I am really in violent agreement with those who emphasize the criticality of system matching. If this had been the only exposure I had to the mhdt Orchid I would not have been impressed.

In my experience the synergy “culprit” is often found in the cabling.  Often times a simple cable swap wether USB, IC, digital etc... can bring greater sonic harmony.  

@grannyring 

I am sorry if I missed this but I want to add a orange fuse to my amber 3, Do you know which one it takes? I assume it is inside since I did not see a spot to change on the outside?

Thanks

If anyone knows what fuse goes in a mac 2600 tube preamp also would be much appreciated:)

Get a 1.6amp, slow blow, 5x20mm small fuse.  The SR lettering should read from back of the unit to the front for proper direction. 

@grannyring the manual states a 1a fuse. Are you recommending 1.6 with mods?

also have any of you done comparisons is usb vs rca coax on the orchid?

Need a 1.6a aphile fuse as they tend to blow at lower ratings. Very expensive lesson. Use a 1.6a SR Orange. I only use USB.

kray,

I recently bought an Orchid, grannyring modified it (at a very reasonable cost), I added the SR Orange fuse upon his suggestion, and also bought his Acoustic BBQ interconnects and USB (also at a very reasonable cost).  I am extremely pleased with the results - a full bodied, quick, warm, detailed, analog sound, with excellent spacing and soundstage.  I'm especially pleased with the lower mids and bass now sounding proper, having previously been a bit on the weaker side in many recordings as I use an 8 watt SET.

Again, I cannot recommend grannyring's modifications or cables highly enough - very professional and well-executed.

I think the best compliment I can give my stock orchid with the we tube is that I just switched from listening to vinyl all evening to Qobuz streaming and......

It sounds near identical.
And yes that is a very good thing!

If you are going to get Orchid modyfied,orientation of components is important for sound.Not only capacitors and fuse also resistors.

Quick post. About 5 hours into my new Orchid with standard tube (Western Electric 396A 2C51 D Getter JW military en route). Very impressed so far. Was using an Oppo 105 as may DAC for my Roon prior. The complete sound stage seems to have changed. Almost like listening to a live performance if that makes sense. I by passed the Oppo DAC and connected it in the Orchid via CoAx and my CD’s never sounded better. I was initially concerned that my HiRes files might not sound as detailed. Nope all sound amazing. Definitely warmer and very natural. Will report back after burn in and again after new WE396 installed. Cheers. 

I've read the entire thread and am very interested. My CDP died and I'm thinking about getting a CEC TL5 and an Orchid. I have mild tinnitus and I've been out of audio for a while as a result, but getting back in. This sounds like the DAC for me since I prefer warmth over neutrality and my collection has tons of poorly recorded discs that have sounded less than stellar on some high end systems I've heard. I'm more interested in music than "resolution." A  few questions:

1. How long to get from the US distributor? Wondering if they have stock or if we're waiting on international mail. Which might be a problem at this time. 
2. Where are people getting the tubes? Previously, I had bought tubes from Upscale Audio but I don't see the Western Electric there. 
3. Should I get the Tung Sol upgraded one MHDT offers? Though that would be less interesting to me if it slowed down shipping.
4. As someone who would be listed in the "do not let near a soldering iron" class of individuals, is there someone that does the mods?
5. I listen to mostly rock, punk, alternative and a fair amount of jazz and classical. Wondering if it can keep the rhythm of rock music. Don't want something too 'polite' if that makes any sense. 

Thanks in advance. 

@ghasley looks as though we're on similar sonic trajectories again. Pitting the Amber 3 against the Atlantic TRP and Sonnet Morpheus recently, I have to declare the Amber fully competitive with both. Perhaps absent a little extension at the extremes relative to the TRP but the midband is at least as informative and seductive, if not moreso. 

I have been putting a brand new Amber 3 through it’s paces. Was using a Schiit Gumby multibit so my current baseline might not be sky-high but after trying a number of DACs including the Yggy and some NOS Dacs, with modest gains/differences here and there, the Amber 3 has easily exceeded my expectations so far ... and this is with limited burn-in so far. My first impression is that the sound is spacious, open, detailed, and dynamic. Bass is very solid. One would not think its a tube dac. (it’s running into a Line Magnetic SET amp).

My Amber has their very new standard USB module - apparently based on JLSound’s I2SoverUSB vIII instead of Amanero. (Lucas wrote "USB - JL - Superb!" next to his signature on the sign off on the bottom of the specs/test page). My Gumby has the gen5 usb but I always preferred BNC SPDIF. But the USB on my Amber 3 is absolutely fantastic. And bonus points for fast, silent changes between various PCM and DSD formats (up to DSD512 native).

Very happy so far.

One other note on my new Amber 3. It came with ECC99 input, 12AU7 output, and 6C5S rectifier tubes.

@letch   I ordered direct from Liner Tube Audio and received the Orchid in 2 days. Very easy to deal with. I initially ordered with the upgraded tube and cancel at the last minute. I want to roll into a JW396A D getter W-E military tube , witch is en route. Having about 60 hours on the stock tube is really opening up. Really looking forward to the new tube. Should have been here about 2 weeks ago. Held up at USPS. 

@gelle 

Thanks for your resposne. I realized (duh) I could contact them and they were speedy in response. I'm about to pull the trigger. Where did you get the tubes? Looks like a lot of different places. 
I also realized I could buy one and if it didn't work out it would likely get sold here pretty quickly. I'm going to go with the Tung Sol. Doesn't sound like anyone sticks with the stock tube. I'm looking for one of the Western Electrics as well. 

@letch  Yea they really do get gobbled up pretty quick on the F/S forums. I just installed the WE JW364A military type and it sounds amazing right out the box. I purchased from Brent Jessee audio tubes. If you don’t see what you want on his wen page, email him. I’m not sure he updates the stock real time. BTW the delay in receiving the tube was all on USPS. He shipped it the very next day. 

@gelle  Thanks! I don't see it but I'll ping up and let him know what I'm up to. I 'spose everyone's doing what I'm doing except I'm late to the Orchid party. Mine should be here in a couple days along with a CEC TL5. I got the Tung Sol upgrade from Linear Audio (nice guys to deal with) so I can try that with stock until I can find something a little more ooh, la, la. Thanks for the response. 

Did anyone compare SR Orange to SR Blue fuses?

@grannyring Hey - did you ever post your impressions/review of the Amber 3 you (IIRC) picked up? If so, I missed it - please point me in the right direction. I'm curious how big the difference is between the Orchid and the Amber 3 (not that I could afford to pull the trigger at this point).

Best regards and all stay safe -

@transcience

Pitting the Amber 3 against the Atlantic TRP and Sonnet Morpheus recently, I have to declare the Amber fully competitive with both. Perhaps absent a little extension at the extremes relative to the TRP but the midband is at least as informative and seductive, if not mores

This is really interesting considering the $5K price difference between the balanced versions of both Lampizator DACs. In your opinion is the Atlantic TRP not worth the extra price over the Amber 3?

Sorry I just saw your post on the Amber 3. I ended up selling the Amber 3. It is a very good dac, but in the end just not for me. The longer I had it the more I found myself dissatisfied with my system. I found myself listening to music less and getting caught up with sound. I focused on its sonic feats of strength, but was unable to relax into the music. Sound over music. 

The Amber checks off all the right audiophile sonic attributes in terms of individual sonic attributes like bass impact, top end extension, resolution, vividness etc... it was all there. However, it never sounded completely right in my rig. Impressive at first, but over time it just did not connect me to my music.

Over time I found it lacked top to bottom cohesiveness with the upper mids being too present and vivid. Too much of a good thing that I started to find distracting.

In the end the upgraded Orchid was more enjoyable for me. I now own the Mojo Audio Mystique and love it. It is a very special dac that connects me to my music and brings full contentment.

Hope this helps.

@grannyring would you say Orchid without the upgrade is a no brainer vs. the Mystique? Because it is seven times more expensive than the Orchid:) 

So from what I understand from an earlier post here, the Orchid can only output 16/44. I use Qobuz and Tidal (don't care too much about MQA though) and wondering if it's better to go with Pagoda. Has anyone compared the two when streaming 24 bit files? Is it worth the extra cost?

Hi, this is a great thread, although older, and I hope some of might respond. I am wondering if anybody has compared Audio Mirror, Orchid, Amber 3 to a Terminator or Holo May. Seems the May and Terminator are pretty similar sounding, wondering if anyone could compare to the tube dacs? Thanks so much 

@caglioti  Hi there, from the above list I've had the AM T3SE, Amber 3, and Holo May in my system for 7 day or longer home demos.  Here are my brief thoughts.  Feel free to ask for elaboration.

Amber 3 - Bright and lively, energetic and dynamic.  Too incisive for my system.
Holo May - Extended, accurate, and incredibly even handed across the frequency spectrum.  The largest soundstage I've experienced in both height and width.  Extremely quiet with great tone & timbre.
Audio Mirror Tubadour III SE - Holographic and real.  The most flesh and blood sounding of any dac I've tried.  Provides a more 3-dimensional image than any other dac.

If I could design the sound profile of my ideal dac, it would combine the extension and frequency reproduction accuracy of the May with the 3-dimensional soundstage and realness of the AMT3se.  

Cal3713, thanks for the input! 1 more question for everybody... I’m using 97 dB sensitive speakers and always concerned about noise floor, any of the main dacs in discussion have any discernible noise? Thanks so much, this a great, informative thread!

I'm supposedly at 94db/1w/1m and haven't had any problems at all with the dacs listed above. The only product I've had an issue with is the PS Audio Directstream, although they improved the noise floor issue somewhat with firmware updates.

Also, a slight clarification for my previous post in the AM section.  Hopefully the implied qualification wasn't lost.  Should read as:  "Provides a more 3-dimensional image than any other dac [I've heard in my system]"

Hello all - newbie here. There's a lot of exotic sounding DACs in this thread - can I ask if any of your have found the Chord DACs competitive, or maybe even better, than some of these aforementioned ones here.
I'm thinking along the lines of the more affordable Chord Qutest - reviews have always been consistently good - but many of your experiences here of all these DACs would be very useful feedback against the Chord.
One example review here which really stands out: https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/hifi-review-chord-qutest-dac-review/
 

Hi everyone,
I just got my own stock Orchid with WE 369 tube. The mid range from it is the best I have ever heard in years. Very detailed, smooth and musical. 

However, there are some areas that I wish it can improve: the dynamics, high and bass. Do you think that Orchid should be more dynamic, the bass should be tighter, and high should be more airy? I believe these areas can somehow improve by upgrades. 

Could you advise which upgrades are available for Orchid and which upgrade improves which area? 

Thank you for your input. 
Huy

The WE tube is known for the mids, but does have rolled off highs and less defined bass.  

As far as upgrades.  I have done some 14 units for Agoners now.  Replace the output caps to Vcap Odam 2.2uf/400v. You can add Vcap Cutf .01uf in a bypass position for a little more top end sparkle and air. 

Replace 8 key resistors around the tube with a mix of Vishay Nude Zfoils, Audio Note and Shinkoh. 

You can uograde the fuse to SR Orange.  If using USB make sure you have a nice cable. 

All of this will open up the sound and improve the resolution and articulation top to bottom. 

Thank you Grannyring! I will try the SR Orange and 7308 tube first.