Another new DAC: Audio Mirror

Has anyone had to replace the tubes in your Tubadour dac?

It looks like the tubes don't have pins in the glass, just the bare wire sticking out, and need to be soldered to an adapter. I know other tubes can be used but gain goes up and sound quality, according to some, takes a hit. Seems like the original 5977 subminiature tubes are probably the best.

Any thoughts?

For my upcoming review for The Stereo Times website I went through extensive tube rolling with excellent NOS tubes to see If the Tubadour III SE performance could be enhanced, not just changed, to a higher level.  Well, Vlad was correct, the DAC performs at it's optimum level with the 5977, which for his taste sounded the best.  He was right!

I've tried several ECC88 tubes.They all sound good to me,just different from each other.One thing they have in common is there is a wider and taller soundstage.

" It looks like the tubes don't have pins in the glass, just the bare wire sticking out, and need to be soldered to an adapter."

When the 5977 tube needs changing does AM provide the tube/adapter , and/or is there an upfront option to buy a backup tube/adapter? 

Vlad has, builds sets of the 5977 tubes to just plug-in for replacement if needed. I actually asked him to send me a pair so I could experiment with other gear that uses 6922’s because of how terrific these mini tubes perform in the DAC.