For the whole review, please use this link:
https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/audio-mirror-tubadour-v-dac.11144/
Here is a short excerpt:
So we got a box around 1:00 today.. I was ready, had everything already ready, already. So you know I was..
The first time I plugged it in, I let it all warm up for 30 minutes. Site lit. says 15 minutes fine but I figured, new, why not splurge and give it 15 more.. ;D
I hooked it up with the DDC in line, first, out of habit–> unnecessary since the V has a built in DDC, saving me rack space, reducing a power signature and 2 cables from my system.. win.
Right off, I noticed it was.. different. I walked out of the room, was listening, walked back in and had one of those, ‘had not heard that part on that song before’ things that you get when you boost detail or lower noise floor.
The Audio Mirror website stated a break-in schedule on the tubes, transformers etc.. don’t recall but I think several hundred hours so I’m not really trying to listen too closely.
I’m pinned into a spreadsheet right now, filling in some numbers, clicking buttons.. my system is filling in the backdrop with the streamer set to ‘play anything’. I’ll leave it running tonight and for the next several days, with a few cool downs, in between.
Ravel’s Ma Mere.. was liquid and seemed to have more space into the notes.. Mahler something right now, just an ok recording but it’s different a bit now from the IIISE. I want to say better and I think it is.. but I will keep that to myself for now.
One difference between 3 and 5 is how it handles lower res 44.1 FLAC files.. the IIISE was excellent w lower end files, CD rips etc.. glossy badly recorded CDs, melted into a river of opulent audio flow..
the V has the same magic in spades. i noticed similar [++] sound on a badly recorded QOTSA- Blues for a Red Sun. A little more detail, a little less smear.
–> just going to listen, burn in some hours on those tubes and transformers.. robots in disguise.
