Orchid vs TUBADOUR III - Help me choose

Hey martin-anderson,

I'm the one who wrote the review on the Orchid for Six Moons.  Since I wrote the review I have had another two DACS in-house to compare it to and it's still my favorite for the reasons stated in the review.

Waltersalas, has great taste and ears, so I'm sure the upgraded Tubadour III is a wonderful DAC.  However, its twice the price and I don't know if its a better performer.  Remember, if you purchase the Orchid from Linear Tube Audio you get a 30 day in-house trial and can return it if its not what you are looking for.

Well martin-andersen, you tried the FPGA approach, and if you liked the far more expensive PS DirectStream then my conclusion would be the Orchid would be a delight for your musical tastes.  I'm not saying it's the "greatest" DAC in the world.  But, for my tastes, that I state in the Six Moons review, the Orchid it delivers what I'm listening for in my system.  It competes with much more expensive pieces.

This morning, Vlad, who is Audio Mirror's owner/designer sent me an Email if I would be interested in reviewing the Tubadour III DAC for Six Moons.com.  My response was this would be a great project to work on and explained the procedure to set this up.

I shared I would like to review the piece with all his upgrades to see what his ultimate attempt can sound like.  Furthermore, since I just reviewed the Orchid, which is a great DAC in its own right, I could help shed light on how the two DACS compare to each other in my review.

Hope, Vlad would want to pursue the review in the future.

Hey martin-anderson,

Rest easy tonight!  Congrats on purchasing the Orchid.  I just stopped a listening session of four hours with Orchid driving the system with beautiful tonality and air and space around each player without a hint of digital dryness or flatten of images that so many hi-rez DACS create when used in my system.

I'm sure the Audio Mirror is an excellent DAC in its own right, but that does not necessarily mean its better then the Orchid.  Enjoy, and let us know what you think when you finally get it.

Hey audio123,

The ball is in the hands of Vlad.  I told him the details about how to setup a review for Six Moons.com, which level DAC would be best to review and then he completely went away.  I'm still game to do the review, it's up to him.

Hey nenon,

You can read the policy on what it takes to setup a review and the rational for it right on the Six Moons website.  To get a review the manufacturer has to pay a one month advertising fee up front.  This insures a review will be done, but does not in any fashion guaranties a positive or flattering one.