Thread: Tube DAC Recommendations

I am looking for recommendations for a good tube DAC. I will put a $3K cap on it for now.

Thanks.

The latest Tubadour III SE is a great bang for the buck. Manufacturer is in Minnesota and Vlad, the owner, offers excellent customer service. I sent mine back as an RCA input jack was wonky. He replaced both input jacks free of charge and while the DAC was there, upgraded the USB input without my even asking. Listened to mine today; highly recommended!

Thanks for the recommendations. I will research every one. The list is shorter than I expected so I will raise my bar to $4,999.

Raising to $4999 gets you a much bigger list to choose from. Just throwing this out there, $4999 can get you a very nice single box player that could out perform a two box setup. I really like single box players as it is easier to know what voicing you are getting.

Let us know what you decide, we like to spend money that is not ours.

And if you can stretch a bit, the Lampi Baltic3 gets my recommendation.

+1 on the Lampi DACs. I had the Amber 3 a couple of years ago and it would be hard to beat in your price range.

On the other hand, I just bought the Baltic 3 and it is on another level. As Devg says above, if you can dig a little deeper into your budget and get a Baltic 3, I think you'd be thrilled with it. I compared the Baltic 3 to the internal DAC in the Boulder 866 and much preferred the B3, for whatever that may be worth.

I have a Lampizator Big 7 and see no reason to change. You can pick one up for under $5k. I love how one can change the flavor by switching direct heated triodes in and out. I’ve assembled quite a collection of DHTs. Of particular note are the fabulous sounding antique triodes like the 01a, 112a and 71’s. You can pick up a pair of those for well under $100 on the auction site and they sound every bit as good as the 45, 300b, 2a3 etc. Given what I have amassed in my collection of triode tubes, including the Lampizator Edition 45 EML, which can’t be used in most other Lampizator models, I’ll be happily living with my Big 7 for quite a while. Highly recommended!

Another one that is getting some vibe in the $3-4k price range is the Musetec MH-DA005. The internals seems to use some quality parts and a clutter free design. I haven't had the chance to hear it but its being compared to far pricier dacs, like Mola Mola, Holo May, etc.

MH-DA005

I just picked up the LAB 12 DAC 1 Reference. It's a NON OS dac with a pair of 6922 in the output. I am really enjoying this DAC , it is a lot better than the RME dac it replaced in that it is super smooth and has zero listening fatigue. At around $3k it is worthy of audition. This DAC definitely has a unique presentation so I only recommend if you can listen before committing as I did. Great bottom end without being obtrusive, beautiful midrange and sweet highs . Build quality is better than most in this price range. It is really solid , high quality.