Hey soix,
With out copping out, and not going into all the details, if your system is single ended, I would choose the Tubadour SE, because if you run the Balanced Pagoda single ended, not balanced you lose the beauty of this DAC. However, if you have a balanced system I would then recommend the Balanced Pagoda because it’s the equal of the Audio Mirror piece and slightly better in certain sonic parameters and costs $500 less.
With out copping out, and not going into all the details, if your system is single ended, I would choose the Tubadour SE, because if you run the Balanced Pagoda single ended, not balanced you lose the beauty of this DAC. However, if you have a balanced system I would then recommend the Balanced Pagoda because it’s the equal of the Audio Mirror piece and slightly better in certain sonic parameters and costs $500 less.