Some DACs I am Considering-Any thoughts?

I have the  Audio Mirror Tubadour 3, with Cary Audio SL-80 F1 Signature (upgraded caps and orange fuses), Manley Chinook phone pre-amp, VPI Classic 3 TT, Fritz Rev 7 BE speakers (87db) with morrow cables and Furtech power cables. I am VERY picky about my definition of musicality. And my definition has to be approved by my wife who has gone to MANY more live concerts (rock, Jazz and Clasical) than I have. To both of us, Musicality is sitting back 10-15 rows from center stage and hearing the liveliness of the moment through the technology platforms (mike, speakers, amps, etc.). While I enjoy my Vinyl, I have been listening more to CD and Tidal  because of the musicality of the Audio Mirror. I demoed MHT - not the same signature musically for me in my system. Hope this helps and good luck on your journey - as has been said before, it is a constant state of improvements relative to your unique system and each component does affect the overall musicality to your ears!

correction, I have the  Audio Mirror Tubadour 3 SE @ $2,500 and did add the orange fuse - although did not notice that much overall improvement in sound quality.

Hey I'm wondering if anyone has experience with DACs from Border Patrol?  
The name is sketchy I know but I have a friend who has one and swears by it.  I know it's R2R but not sure if there are tube variants.

NUJonathan

@phill55 I have the same AMT3SE as you on order. Can you tell me long it took for the unit to fully break-in?

Couple A/Bs from yesterday:


Yesterday we tried some a/b comparisons between your dac Audio Mirror Tubadour and 2005 vintage dCs CD player P8i model. $14k new.
Another friend brought the PS Audio Direct Stream DAC. $5k new.
As you may know they both are software based DACs.
Although volume matching was not perfect I found I preferred yours to the PS Audio model.The owner of the PS model felt his had some strengths over the AM. The openness and presenceof the AM was in my mind the big difference.
The dCs comparison was a bit harder to judge. The owner liked his dCs better. I found it a very closecomparison and could not make a definite judgement. With his we were able to volume match more closely.
Our Arizona Audio/Video Club has a Van Alstine Comparator unit which I may use next time if another DAC comparison is to be done.