Another new DAC: Audio Mirror

Hello Gentlemen,

Well, I have spent around 30 hours listening to the SE Tubadour in the last three days.  Even not fully burn-in, it's a sonic "gem" across the board.

Here's the answers to some of the questions that have been asked on this thread or sent to me by readers of my reviews:

1) Is it on a higher level of performance then the Mhdlab Orchid DAC.
    
    Yes, it does everything with more finesse and performs on a higher qualitative then the Orchid DAC.  Do remember, its retail price is almost $1,500 more then the Mhdlab DAC, it "should" be better.  However, if you can afford it, with out a doubt it's worth the expense. Also, I cannot answer which is better, the basic Audio Mirror Tubadour or the Mhdlab Orchid because I have never heard the basic Tubadour Dac.  The Orchid is still a great DAC and very reasonably priced, I'm sure the basic Tubadour is very good too, but someone else will have to make the actual comparison who has both pieces.

2) Is the build quality and performance were it should be for this price range.

With out a doubt YES. This DAC competes with far more expensive Dacs, both in internal parts, and it's performance is superlative.  I'll get into all the sonic details when I write the review for Stereo Times.

3) Can you clearly hear differences by doing tube rolling in the SE version of this DAC.

Yes, I have already tried some very highly regarded NOS 6922's and 396's in the DAC.  The Tubadour is so transparent that each tube changes the overall flavor of it's presentation.  However, credit to Vlad, the 5977 tube set that he ships with is "spot on" and is my favorite for my tastes and system synergy.  Never had heard this tube before, these little suckers sound terrific in this DAC, I would like to try Vlad's 5977 tube set in some of my other pieces that use 6922's to see what would happen.

So, if you own the SE version of this DAC, congrats to you, you have a great piece, indeed.

 

@teajay Totally impressed by your objectivity and open minded approach to our hobby. This should shut up those in the far left field bleachers who always claim that reviewers are “on the take”. Your exposure to this dac happened spontaneously here on Audiogon, Vlad sent you a dac and you posted an honest opinion. Kudos to you and to Vlad.

@teajay thanks for the update.... but wait until it burns in properly. Then the magic happens. That typically takes about 2 weeks of non-stop running. 

I just sold my fully pimped up Audio Note Kits DAC 5.1 Signature and replaced it with this Audio Mirror SE. 

My Audio Note Kits had every possibly upgrade - Z-foil resistors, Duelund Caps, 5N silver wire, WBT connectors, Furutech NCF IEC, SR Blue fuse, the best tubes I could find, PSVANE WE274B replica rectifier, etc. 

I had both DACs running side by side for several months. Every time I listened to them my ears told me that the Audio Mirror is much better. Every time I looked at them, I was convinced that the Audio Note "must" sound better. It's so big and heavy, with all those transformers inside, big caps, sophisticated power supply, and so on. You look at the Audio Mirror next to it, and it looked like a little toy. My eyes were telling me that the Audio Note must be better. But my ears were telling me that the Audio Mirror sounds better. And it did sound better!

Well, I sold the Audio Note Kits DAC 5.1 Signature, kept the Audio Mirror and a bunch of cash, that I invested in a better source. I've listened to a lot of expensive sources, and whatever you put in front of the Audio Mirror DAC, it delivers. It scales with sources many times the price of the DAC. I have not heard it's limits yet. Put an Innous Statement or a PinkFaun streamer, and you would be amazed what it can do. 

Thanks for sharing your first impressions teajay!I've also found the Tubadour to be very responsive to tube and cable changes.Also @vassils appreciate you sharing your experience.It really helps those of us who don't have the opportunity to audition everything on our short lists before choosing.

Great update. A more fair comparison would be the AM SE to the Orchid upgraded with the mod package I have been performing. The upgraded Orchid performs at a much higher level across the board vs a stock unit. The difference is not small. The Orchid really responds nicely to well chosen internal upgrades.

The total cost of an upgraded Orchid is about $900 less than the AM SE. This would be an interesting comparison. Hope to listen to the AM SE soon.