Tubes or not

I don't have an MHDT Orchid DAC but check the thread on it by member teajay, he did a professional review on it and others have it. It is within your budget and folks seem very pleased

For a non tube DAC under $1500 I'd look at the RME ADI-2 DAC. Also doubles as an excellent Headphone amp too. I've had it in my system for over a year and half.

MHDT Orchid for $1100.  Get the Western Electric tube.  Amazing dac that will make you smile!

Audio Mirror Tubadour, Border Patrol Dac SEI, MHDT Orchid. These three dacs seem to be the go to tubed dacs in your price range. The Border Patrol only uses the tube in the power supply, the others in the out put stage. Preowned Lampizator Amber would also check a few boxes for you. Solid state, the field opens up but it would be hard for you to go wrong with one of the Schiit multibit dacs. Depending on the model, the Schiit could leave you with some extra cash to apply toward other parts of your system. Best wishes.

I have owned a number of DACs and the MHDT Orchid is my favorite.  I think it sounds as good or better than my Auralic Vega, which was $3500 when new.  I haven't A/B compared them both in the same system, but they are the two least "digital" sounding DACs I have owned and I think the Orchid would definitely hold its own against the Vega.

Elizabeth, the OP listed that he/she already had tubes upstream. I always enjoy your posts but usually you don’t make blanket statements like “all mid priced dacs” and then opining that they are “all flavor of the month”. In retrospect, you probably didn’t intend it to come off that you had heard these and other dacs in your system and summarily dismissed them. There is so much great equipment being built today and the advances in the digital arena requires open minds and actual listening.

I'm not interested in a lateral move. I have multiple Richard Gray power conditioners in my system. I live in New Orleans we have multiple issues with clean power and water in the city. I'm not looking to spend $3k+ for a new or used DAC. I'm going to look into the ones that have been mentioned. Many I'm not familiar with which is why I asked the question. I'm not trying to correct anything or fix the treble. I just want to be able to hear an audible improvement if i go with a new dac that doesn't cost a few thousand.  I like tubes. I like the sound of tubes and I like rolling tubes but maybe at my price point that's not the way to go. That's why I asked. Red herrings like PC, cables and other hardware just opens a bottomless pit. What file formats I listen to and what inputs I need are more legitimate questions. I need the standard inputs. 2 coax and 2 toslink along with a USB would be ideal. I have most HD file formats including DSD. So it has to handle DSD also.

Any mhdt tube DAC (NOS) should fit the bill of providing a sound different than your current DAC that you might like better.

I use a mhdt Constantine (SS DAC) still in my main system.  It's been there happily for several years.   

I had both that and mhdt Paradisea tube DAC at first.  If the newer mhdt tube DACs are like the Paradisea, they will respond greatly to tube rolling which will give you a new way to perhaps tune the sound as desired.

Given your stated budget and your requirement for DSD, the Audio Mirror would be a fine place to start in the tubed dac world. Even though I am not personally a fan of Chord or the Chord Qutest, many people are and it does DSD.

As an aside, I prefer everything that's been mentioned above to your existing dac. No intention whatsoever to offend anyone but the Wadia you have was a long way qualitatively from the old Wadia or the sound being achieved these days by many manufacturers. You should experience considerable improvements from this upgrade. It is unlikely though that you will get the quantity of inputs you mention above. Most dacs dont offer 2 toslinks, et al. Thats the specialty of A/V amps.

I have owned a lot of dacs and recently sold my very good $6k 
PS audio dac, for the Latest Tube dac from Lampizator 
the Amber-3. It is very natural and detailed ,just go to Enjoy the music.com .look it up the review was 5 stars across the board for sonics, you can better it still witha top 3.1 amp fuse, and 
upgrade the 6x5 rectifier tube to the great Bendix and 1 12au7 tube to a Top NOS tube like an Amperex PQ the ecc99 is good , and a good power cord  that is all for $2750 for sonic realism 
nothing better even at 2x the price ,and has a 14 day  return policy. Every one is built and tested in Poland ,distributor is here in NY, read the review then check it out.

If you really want a tube dac I would second the Orchid. However if you have a tube pre or power amp the Pure Audio Lotus 5 beats the lot and you can probably get Wally at Underwood Hi Fi to sell for $1599 and maybe less.

I really liked the Musical Paradise MP-D2 when I heard it. It's a modular design that allows for upgrading DAC chips and other parts down the road as well. I think it's a killer buy for the money. Maybe someone else can speak to how it compares to some of the other DACs mentioned. I believe it meets all your other requirements as well. 

Just check out this new Lampizator Amber3 dac for under $3k 
it is a steal ,I sold my flagship PS audio dac that was 2x the price .

https://www.headphone.guru/lampizator-amber-iii-hi-res-dac-review-by-enjoy-the-music-com/

nikonnola
  Currenty I have a Wadia Di22 .

Wadia's are great dacs, this Wadia has a great output stage ,<100ohms output impedance and is capable of giving up to 4v se, 8v xlr output!!

 I hope you took the preamp out (if one was used) and tried it direct into your power amp and then used the Wadia's inbuilt volume control

Cheers George

 tubes! but only nos...
when i buy tube gear i think about what's the best nos tubes i can afford for it. i also try to get components with tube types that i know and like (12ax7 12au7 6v6 el34 for example) .ive recently added the ifi itube(tube buffer/preamp 100$ used ) to my system after the dac and i love it. you can get a fancier tube buffer or preamp for 1k and a nicer ss dac for 500 more and get a big improvement without losing the ability to upgrade only the dac in a few years time. 

You can buy a completely transparent DAC for less than $500, in some cases much less.  Tubes are not required.

Never required, but sometimes preferred.  

@georgehifi 


The latter badged Wadias are nothing like their predecessors. Not even close. The OP can almost throw a dart at a board with 10 popular current dacs on it and improve materially.

Audio Note 1.1 Signature and 2. 1 tube dacs are extremely good value on the used market and within you price range. 

I went from a highly rated and enjoyed NAD M51, $2500.00 new and received a noticeable improvement in the musicality. 

OP, check out the Doge Audio tube DAC. It’s about $1400 shipped. Parts and build are fantastic. It’s feature rich and sounds amazing. Like you, I’m a vinyl guy. This DAC is just wonderful.

It does DSD, which is one of your requirements. Some of the DAC recommendations above do not, but IMHO are good otherwise.  It has two optical toslink inputs as well as two coax and usb. The chip and usb driver are worth reading about and comparing to other recommendations.