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Audio Mirror Tubadour III SE


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I rarely post and this is my first OP but I'd like to make a case for what I believe is an extraordinary DAC at an incredible value.

 

There's a 2 year old thread on this DAC at Audiogon but as I have no posting history there I thought this would be the more appropriate place to share my thoughts.

 

Simply put, this is a killer DAC. I took receipt of it 2 days ago and with only 8 hours of playing time it has performed far beyond what I would have thought possible for a $2500 purchase.

 

It's replacing an Ayre Codex and, frankly, there's no comparison. The tone, imaging and dynamics of what the Audio Mirror produces is superb and light years ahead of what I've had before (including an Exogal).

 

I'd be interested to hear other impressions, particularly from those who may have heard the Audio Mirror compared to a Lampizator, a Mojo Mystique, etc. Without personally hearing the aforementioned DACs I can't comment comment on the Audio Mirror's performance relative to much higher priced DACs but I know what I'm hearing is very special. A Terry London review at Stereo Times (http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/audio-mirror-tubadour-iii-se-nos-tube-dac-by-terry-london/) mirrors my thoughts. 

 

Vlad, the owner of Audio Mirror, also makes an incredible Mono Block SET amp that has been enthusiastically reviewed. He's based in Minnesota, a pleasure to deal with, and deserves, to my mind, the support of those who value beautiful sound. 

 

 

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Well, that confirms what I'm hearing. Particularly the replacing the Audio Note part.

 

I'll live with the DAC a few more weeks before offering any more thoughts on its sound qualities, as it reportedly benefits from a fair amount of hours to get all the way there.  

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I bought my Tubadour with all the upgrades at the outset so I can't speak to the difference but I can tell you that Vlad has obviously heard both and he suggests the upgrades so I would not hesitate to upgrade the DAC.  This DAC is very musical and analog like.  I play vinyl with high end equipment and the Tubadour gives it a run for the money.  Go for it.

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I have the upgraded SE model. I just wanted to sing Vlad’s praises. The left RCA output wasn’t working. Vlad kindly not only paid for round trip shipping but quickly repaired the DAC free of charge. From Vlad:

 

“It was something really simple.
The center pin of the RCA was pushed in.
I replaced both RCAs with silver ones. I also installed better filtering caps on the USB input which should give you better sound from USB.
Sorry for the troubles.”
 
Not only is this a great DAC but Vlad provided stellar customer service! Kudos to Vlad. 
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  • 2 months later...
On 10/27/2020 at 3:52 AM, k27R said:

I also have one of these and yes, it is quite good!  Replaced my Audio Note UK 2.1x Signature and Chord Hugo TT I had previously 

Hello! Wow. I wanted to buy the AN 2.1x signature actually! How would you compare both? Very very surprised the tubadour is better, can you please give more details on the differences and why you prefer the tubadour. I’m genuinely interested. Thank you very much in advance!

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I have a friend who recently bought the May++ top of line $5k+.

I plan to visit him in the next few months and bring mine for a

comparison. I would expect at 3x the price his should be a lot better.

 

Interesting your AN experience. I know someone with a 4.1? kit

AN DAC he wants $3k for. He wants to build the 5.0 Kit now.

 

Vlad has experimented with his offering long enough to have

setup the right tube and chip. I think the AN uses the same

AD1865 chip, correct?

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5 hours ago, Chorus said:

I have a friend who recently bought the May++ top of line $5k+.

I plan to visit him in the next few months and bring mine for a

comparison. I would expect at 3x the price his should be a lot better.

 

Interesting your AN experience. I know someone with a 4.1? kit

AN DAC he wants $3k for. He wants to build the 5.0 Kit now.

 

Vlad has experimented with his offering long enough to have

setup the right tube and chip. I think the AN uses the same

AD1865 chip, correct?

Yes, same chip. You can also use this chip in the Aqua La Voce s2 DAC as optional board. 

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  • 2 months later...
On 4/20/2021 at 9:01 PM, Chorus said:

I have a friend who recently bought the May++ top of line $5k+.

I plan to visit him in the next few months and bring mine for a

comparison. I would expect at 3x the price his should be a lot better.

 

Interesting your AN experience. I know someone with a 4.1? kit

AN DAC he wants $3k for. He wants to build the 5.0 Kit now.

 

Vlad has experimented with his offering long enough to have

setup the right tube and chip. I think the AN uses the same

AD1865 chip, correct?

 

Vlad also uses some high end parts in the SE version, so its quite good.

 

Can't comment on Audio Note Kits since its quite different from Audio Note UK, but with the latter, they uses better and better parts as you go up the line. It's gets expensive, but in my experience the jump in performance at each level is significant. 

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Having started this thread 10 months ago, I had been very much still enjoying the Tubadour until this week when one of the tubes went bad. 

 

Has anyone replaced tubes in this DAC? If so, how? They appear to be soldered. The task looks daunting but perhaps it's easier than I'm imagining.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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1 hour ago, Dicky said:

Having started this thread 10 months ago, I had been very much still enjoying the Tubadour until this week when one of the tubes went bad. 

 

Has anyone replaced tubes in this DAC? If so, how? They appear to be soldered. The task looks daunting but perhaps it's easier than I'm imagining.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

They're two tubes each soldered into a 9-pin base. Just order replacements from Vlad.  He'll provide them soldered onto the base already, so you'll just need to pop out the old assembled tubes and pop in the replacements..

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