Since nobody has yet mentioned the Audio Mirror Tubadour VI DAC here, I’m going to share some fairly subjective thoughts about it. First, for some personal context, the main goal of all the equipment I own is to provide good sound and enjoyment. I do not subscribe to specific audio concepts or trends like class A vs AB vs digital amps, NOS vs upsampling DACs, etc. I prefer solid state amplification for its low maintenance needs and lack of potential paranoia inducing variables like tube rolling. I tend to keep pieces of equipment I like until I think the change is necessary due to age or technical progress.
My taste of sound was formed by being exposed to live music in places ranging from a basement practicing spaces to royal concert halls, from stadiums and open air venues to pubs with stages the size of a pool table. I like full range sound and having the ability to play on sound levels you’d experience during live concerts (if the occasion calls for it). I consider any type of bass my favorite instrument. My taste of music is very eclectic; from all forms of jazz to dub, from old school punk to whatever new release of any genre catches my ear.
Here’s a history of all the DACs I’ve owned — I started with the Electrocompaniet ECD-1 DAC. Personally, I think the ECD-1 has earned a place in Audio Hall of Fame. For many years it provided me with great sound with a CD transport. It sounded even better when computer based audio came around and then streaming. Nothing in its price range compared. It had a huge soundstage, it was very natural and had a non-fatiguing sound (not so common back then). Its great bass was one of its signature features. Though, it did lack some details and perhaps some dynamics.
Wondering what’s new, I did some looking around and ended up buying the Bryston BDA-3 DAC. It was a very nicely made and versatile pice of equipment. I experimented with upsampling, and playing DSD straight from a Blu-ray player, etc.
Yes, the BDA-3 produced more details and more dynamics but the thrill was gone. The music had lost its soul. I started to regret selling my trusty Electrocompaniet but I just couldn’t admit my disappointment to my family since I had just spent a good chunk of money on new DAC. My family, like me enjoys music and good sound. I guess they had similar thoughts about my Bryston but I guess they did not want to hurt my feelings and they stayed silent.
Now, as a time make a disclosure: Vlad, the owner of Audio Mirror is a family friend. We’ve known each other for over 20 years. Although we share love for good sound and music, his preferred equipment esthetics are different from mine. He’s a big fan of tubes and horn speakers. When he visits me I almost want to hide my subwoofers to appeal more to his preferred taste in sound. Over the years, I have witnessed the evolution of Vlad’s products, I’ve listened to his prototypes, and pieces he was experimenting on, then we would discuss what we were hearing. In the past, I’ve never owned any Audio Mirror pieces because of my different preferences compared to Vlad’s concept of the sound system. I admire his products and I love the sound of his system. Vlad has never tried to sell anything to me.
So, back to DAC story. Vlad just finished working on the Tubadour III SE DAC and brought the prototype to my place. Alright, I admit, it sounded great, better than the Bryston. My family also liked it and they said straight up that it sounded better. I praised the Tubadour but remained short of totally condemning my Bryston. With that, I thought I had to live with my decision of buying the Brytson and kept listening until my birthday.
My family decided that the Tubadour III SE was so good in fact that I deserved to have it, and they struck a deal with Vlad (to this day I do not know the details) and they gave me it for my birthday. I am still very grateful for what they did. Heck, it was even custom made in black and with blue lights to match the rest of my equipment.
The DAC I got sounded better than the prototype Vlad brought over to my place. The thrill was back and even more. For a while I was listening to the Tubadour with its original miniature tubes but after some experimenting I settled for some early 70’s Tesla tubes. I think of tube rolling as tailoring the sound to one’s own preferences. So, the Teslas may not be the right choice for other listeners.
Since I got my birthday DAC it went back to Vlad several times for upgrade surgeries. Each of them brought significant improvement to the sound. From my experience Vlad is only changing something if he is happy with the changes, and when they're are significant enough that you can hear them from the get-go. These are the type of changes you don’t have to think twice about and figure out if there is actually a difference.
Some of the most significant upgrades were adding the Lundahl output transformers. Additionally, I liked switching to one tube from a pair, because cost of buying some exotic tubes was cut in half.
For the past few years I have witnessed Vlad working hard on his new line of Wave products. I believe some of the upgrades to the Tubadour DAC are coming straight from his work on new Wave DAC he presented on Axpona 2025. Unfortunately for Tubadour owners the size of the DAC’s box may be limiting factor for some of the upgrades. But do not worry! The new Tubador VI is like the Tardis: bigger on the inside than the outside. The box is packed with electronic parts. I will leave writing about the technical aspects of DAC’s design for some other owner who is more technically inclined than me. I will just say that weight of my Tubadour DAC increased over the years noticeably.
Whatever improvements Vlad implemented into his design of Tubadour VI, changed my views on Analog Devices AD1865 chip. Over the years I had a chance to listen to other brands of DACs using AD1865 chip. The general opinion is that it is nice organic sounding DAC chip. Despite not liking generalization like that I had to agree with it. As much as I liked previous versions of the Tubadour and other companies designs with the AD1865 chip (e.g., Audio Note) based on my listening sessions I always thought that that the chip itself lacks high tone extensions and sound airiness of modern chips. On the other hand I’ve listened to quite a few DACs with newer chips and found many of them lacking body and naturalness of sound. I always wished the sound of AD1865 was more dynamic,
Here comes Tubadour VI. After latest upgrade there are extended highs, sound is airy and open. I have never experience that type of sound from any other design using AD1865 chip. The soundstage is huge, extended in every direction. The realism of sound is exceptional, especially with jazz tracks (Bill Frisell "Ron Carter”/ Erik Tuffaz “Les choses de la vie”), but it stays there with more dense recordings. The degree of delicacy and shimmering of high tones (Sun’s Signature “Underwater”) is something I did not expect from the AD1865 chip. But what is the use of all this for a person, who loves bass like me? Well, there is more. Whatever Vlad changed in his design, it made Tubadour VI to become quite ballsy and dynamic. The deep bass which was already there became faster and more articulated (Saya Gray “H.B.W” / Bill Laswell “Space - Time Paradox”). Dynamics are quite explosive, where there need to be (Bjork “It’s Oh So Quite / Dead Weather “I Feel Love”). Tubadour VI is great in conveying music with unique moods (O and The Mo “Make Way for the Sun” / SLuG “There is Something Happening” ).
I can’t really call what I wrote a review. It’s more of a note of appreciation to Vlad’s newest Tubadour DAC and to Vlad himself. I like that idea that older models can be upgraded or like in this case totally transformed to something totally new despite living in the same shell.
