Audio Mirror Tubadour - AD1865 DAC

Sold, please archive.

This is an Audio Mirror Tubadour DAC. I sent it to Audio Mirror in October in order to be upgraded to Mk.II status: it received new tubes, gigantic new Clarity caps, a new USB input module, and a new faceplate. It is possible that there were other upgrades done but those were the only ones noticeable to me.

I replaced the BNC connector with a Vampire RCA, as my preferred digital cables were RCA. I also replaced the stock feet, which were hard rubber, with sorbothane EAR feet.

There is another Tubadour for sale right now with internal pics: my DAC does not look like that so I attached an internal picture.

This DAC takes a similar approach in design as the Audio Note DACs, and is the best sounding DAC I've had in my system.

There are a few scratches: most notably one on the top of the case, towards the rear. I realized while taking pictures that I never got around to buying the screw that went missing. It's probably an M2.5 or M3 - I'll pick several up before shipping.
Update: the hardware store only had one kind of M3 (.5) screw, which were flathead and silver, but I kind of preferred how the silver looked and they're less likely to strip. I'll send along the old screws with the DAC.

The switch on the back either switches between SPDIF and USB or TOSlink and USB, I forget which, and the button on the front switches between the two inputs being used. Sampling rate is displayed on the front panel. The power switch is on the side of the case, just behind the face plate on the left.

Comes with an extra set of new tubes and a very standard IEC cable.

Only selling for economic reasons. It's a great DAC that I believe would keep up with very high-end amplification.

SOLD

 

What kind of tubes does it take? Looks fantastic. Just curious. GLWS

 

Another NOS R2R DAC with tubes. @Luckbad might be interested in it.

Personally I'm not a big fan of NOS sound, but comparisons with other NOS DACs in its price range (Metrum Amethyst and Holo Cyan comes to mind) might be intriguing.

There are people who are prejudiced against tube DACs, but some of the best DACs I've owned were tube DACs, namely Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 MKII and Processor 3 (they are R-2R but not NOS).

 

Two 6H1p tubes. The designer is Russian and very fond of his Russian tubes.