Decware Z Box


Has anyone had any experience with this particular tube buffer?  This is a " ....I can't stop tinkering..." question for sure.  I use an Electrocompanient ECM Dac/Streamer which is very very nice.  But recently while shopping for a dac for my second system in my office I listened to a tube dac and upon return home to my ECM noted that the tube dac added texture and overtones to voices and made woodwinds sound more "woody" for lack of a better description.  I have had several dacs and really do not want to replace the ECM.  So I wondered if adding a tube buffer might nudge the ECM towards the tubed dac's sound.  As always thanks in advance for your insights.

rivinyl

Tubes add distortion. I prefer accuracy. You mistake distortion for "musicality". That is not what the source material producers wanted. I want to hear the source material as the producers intended!

The tube DAC you tried may simply be better than the ECM. It’s a winner if it sounds more musical to you. Adding a tube buffer won't necessarily turn a pigs ear into a silk purse.

A tube buffer is quite different than actually using tubes for a bona fide purpose in the electronics.  It may add some coloration.  If you like it, go for it...but as above it's like layering a second window on top of the picture window in your house and saying it improved the view. 

i have a wonderful decware z-stage -- single 12au7 ultra simple tube stage with attenuation/gain capability -- an added benefit of the single dual triode is that you can really hear the differences amongst tubes you use in it!  fun!

it does what you would expect, add a modicum of tubey goodness to an otherwise too sanitized solid state sound

i have since moved to lampizator tube dacs - but i keep this little jewelbox of a component around for potential future use!

https://www.decwareproducts.com/product-page/zstage-10-deposit

much written on this online, just search