Dicky

I received this unit last week. It produced an immediate improvement in my system. Better spacial cues, dimensionality, and a general uptick in overall sonics. I want to listen for another week before temporarily removing it and commenting about what I'm hearing with and without. But at $500, I'm thus far incredibly pleased with the purchase.

This is clearly still in beta stage at best. Marcin is getting what he should regard as invaluable feedback. Were I him, I'd work out the kinks and extend the trial to at least 60 days.

Thanks, k27R. I'm emailing Vlad now.

Having started this thread 10 months ago, I had been very much still enjoying the Tubadour until this week when one of the tubes went bad. Has anyone replaced tubes in this DAC? If so, how? They appear to be soldered. The task looks daunting but perhaps it's easier than I'm imagining. Any advice would be much appreciated.

The PC at 1.5 meters is apparently on sale for $549 - https://www.essentialsound.com/product/MCord-PRO_ES.html I have a number of cherished Jim Anderson sessions - particularly his work with David Murray and David S. Ware. He's helmed the board for quite the array of jazz artists.

Well, that confirms what I'm hearing. Particularly the replacing the Audio Note part. I'll live with the DAC a few more weeks before offering any more thoughts on its sound qualities, as it reportedly benefits from a fair amount of hours to get all the way there.

I rarely post and this is my first OP but I'd like to make a case for what I believe is an extraordinary DAC at an incredible value. There's a 2 year old thread on this DAC at Audiogon but as I have no posting history there I thought this would be the more appropriate place to share my thoughts. Simply put, this is a killer DAC. I took receipt of it 2 days ago and with only 8 hours of playing time it has performed far beyond what I would have thought possible for a $2500 purchase. It's replacing an Ayre Codex and, frankly, there's no comparison. The tone, imaging and dynamics of what the Audio Mirror produces is superb and light years ahead of what I've had before (including an Exogal). I'd be interested to hear other impressions, particularly from those who may have heard the Audio Mirror compared to a Lampizator, a Mojo Mystique, etc. Without personally hearing the aforementioned DACs I can't comment comment on the Audio Mirror's performance relative to much higher priced DACs but I know what I'm hearing is very special. A Terry London review at Stereo Times (http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/audio-mirror-tubadour-iii-se-nos-tube-dac-by-terry-london/) mirrors my thoughts. Vlad, the owner of Audio Mirror, also makes an incredible Mono Block SET amp that has been enthusiastically reviewed. He's based in Minnesota, a pleasure to deal with, and deserves, to my mind, the support of those who value beautiful sound.

Chris - At the risk of redundancy I"ll reiterate... 1) not @Superdad's first foray into political discourse and 2) not why I'm here. I'll add a 3)... You'd have to be sympathetic to his POV to react as you did. Your site. Your prerogative.

Offense doesn't enter the equation. It was a clarifying comment that screamed, "I don't want your business". Not the 1st time that @Superdad has engaged in a little virtue signalling. What his political bent has to do with audio, power supplies and galvanic isolation is a mystery to me. It's not why I'm here. But apparently Uptone has made a determination that disparaging and alienating half of its potential customer base is a sound business model.

Congrats... you just lost a sale.

Thanks so much for this. It's too late at night for me to play at a level where I can hear any sonic benefits, but this has cured a host of ills I was experiencing from a Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade I made last night.

Following up on my #20 post regarding the Comet Plus where I wrote in part, "If it continues to improve I'll be whatever surpasses delighted". Well, it has and I am. I've had it for 30 days and as of today (about 200 hours) it's performing at a level beyond what I had hoped for. There were ups (including a gain increase) and downs along the way but as of now, direct to amp, music is just flowing and exploding.

Wilbur Harden's "The King & I" is an exquisitely recorded 1958 quartet session on Savoy courtesy of Rudy Van Gelder. Harden plays trumpet and flugelhorn with support from Tommy Flanagan. Stellar album and a beautiful clear sound rather distinct from RVG's Blue Note efforts.

I can't comment on the Ion but I received an ever so slightly used (seller said he purchased a demo and never set it up) Comet Plus DAC about a week ago. Out of the box I was happy. It has since undergone a transformation that has made me delighted. If it continues to improve I'll be whatever surpasses delighted. I purchased the Comet (over the Ayre Codex) because from what I read it's designed specifically as a pre direct into an amp. Even through the not so hot temporary speakers I'm using (need to get my Audio Notes repaired) it produces alluring, dynamic, properly scaled, faithfully reproduced music that sounds like... music. Not a digital representation thereof. The only other somewhat pricey DAC I've had was the Mytek Stereo 192 DSD. The CA thread on that unit some years ago triggered that purchase and, despite months of trying, it wasn't a very happy experience.. I should note that @jhaagenstad was incredibly responsive last week via an email exchange when, through my stupidity, I couldn't get the app to work (overlooked connecting the antenna). If Jeff is following this thread - what benefit is there in updating the firmware? I have yet to gather the nerve and wonder if there's a functional or sonic upside to doing so.

File drag and drop functionality appears to be no more in latest versions. Is there a workaround or am I missing something?