MHDT Orchid or Lampizator Amber 3?

 just a quick note about system matching.  Over the weekend I took my orchid up to my brothers place. In his system he has a rega CD player and an audible illusions preamplifier. One of their newer ones. Feeding into a big beefy parasound Power Amp and a pair of rega speakers. Don't know exactly which ones they are, but they're about 10 years old and they were around $1,500 a pair when they were new. Overall it's pretty good sounding system. But what I noticed was that in his system the Orchid really didn't sound that sweet. It sounded good, it sounded better than the DAC that came standard with the rega CD player but didn't sound nearly as smooth as what I'm hearing in my system. So I guess I am really in violent agreement with those who emphasize the criticality of system matching. If this had been the only exposure I had to the mhdt Orchid I would not have been impressed.

@grannyring Hey - did you ever post your impressions/review of the Amber 3 you (IIRC) picked up? If so, I missed it - please point me in the right direction. I'm curious how big the difference is between the Orchid and the Amber 3 (not that I could afford to pull the trigger at this point).

Best regards and all stay safe -

Greetings Bob and All -
Wonderful thread with lots of useful perspectives. I've had my Orchid for a couple of weeks and love it. It sounds a lot better now than it did when it started out and seems to take about 30-45 minutes before it really sounds great. 
Here are some questions to those who own Orchids and have been tweaking them.

1. What tubes have you rolled and what have you ended up preferring?

2. Have you upgraded the stock TDA1541A chip? If so, to what version?

3. What capacitors etc have you replaced?

4. Is anyone using a USB decrapifier like the Schiit Eitr?
5. What USB cable are you using?
Thanks all -
Markus

Cal3713,
That's gonna be a shootout I'll be interested in hearing the results of. 
Please post here. 
Thanks

@jzzmusician and I were talking and he asked me to post the following on this thread because it could easily have been overlooked on the MHDT Orchid tube rolling thread elsewhere on this Forum.
I read with interest 213cobra’s idea of using a 5670 to 6DJ8 socket adapter to allow substitution of a 6DJ8 in place of the GE 5670 tube or Western Electric alternative, so I purchased one of those adapters on the ’net and swapped in an Amperex made-in-Holland 6DJ8 for the GE tube. I think it is a very worthwhile upgrade. I’d describe it as on the scale of moving from the sound of a Baldwin piano to a big Steinway or Bosendorfer. Tonally the music is more fully fleshed out with a gorgeous midrange. Soundstage is larger, note trails and decays are clearer and more interesting. The music is warm, beautiful, illuminated, nuanced, emotionally rich.

If you’re interested in reading more on this please seek out the thread here on Audiogon titled something like MHDT Orchid tube rolling. There’s also a nice long thread on this topic on Head-fi.

 I haven't had a chance to compare the 6Dj8 to the Western Electric tube in the Orchid. However, 213cobra apparently has done that comparison and it was his idea of trying out this adapter and his opinion was that the six DJ eight variety was better. I can't really say. I just know that it sounds great.

I posted on this thread a while ago about installing a 6DJ8 in my Orchid via the 5670/6DJ8 adapter. I think in my post I mentioned. Something along the lines of the sound changing from that of a Baldwin Piano to that of a big Steinway. Well, I now have a Western Electric tube and the Tesla tube that are both on the MHDT Labs recommended Tier 1 tube rolling list. They all sounded good, and they all sound slightly different. 

I don’t want to derail this thread, but for those who are considering an Orchid you might want to do some internet searching for the TDA 1541A based DAC from Abbas Audio. Hand made in Ukraine and very competitively priced. Very nerdy parts selection.

I love my Orchid but have been really curious about the Abbas Audio pieces...

I think that all this attention being paid in this (very worthwhile) discussion might be drawing attention away from the fact that the stock Orchid is really super satisfying.  You don't have to modify it at all to get superb,  non-fatiguing music. Ok,  MHDT themselves suggest rolling the tube to the WE396 tube and others on their recommended tube list.  And doing that goes a long way towards the character being described via these modifications. But the stock unit is really,  really good. 

That's pretty high praise for the Shuguang tube.

I think the question of whether a Z is better than a T variant is open for discussion and might depend on other system characteristics. Don Sachs, who builds very well-respected Preamps and buys a ton of tubes from China and uses them in his equipment has a great deal of experience with these new Chinese tubes. He advised me that he believes that the T variant is better than the Z variant. I think the description that the Z variant is warmer aligns with what Don has told me. I have no experience with either of these tubes. Just trying to say that It might not be a situation where the T tube is always better than the Z tube.