[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by decooney

UPDATE: Bought the MHDT Orchid today.

Kinda came back full circle to where I started. Spoke to a few audio friends and industry colleagues this week, and they've been to a few different shows this past year reviewing winning rooms. Since I already have a SS DAC, this will be my tube DAC if it pans out. As for my requirements, the Orchid works on paper for these reasons:

Since I'd like to try to combine NOS, TAD1541 x version chip, with Tube, and 24bit/192khz for higher resolution streaming, and don't want a built-in headphone amp or need a volume control, it's Black in color, and closest to what I've been looking for.

Gonna keep the irDAC-II for now. It's growing on me as my stand-in DAC. Broken in now. Sounds pretty nice with a good coax. Will try both and maybe sell one later if they are close. If they are different in good ways, will keep both. Value of both for the price is reasonable too.

Hoping to have the Orchid in a few weeks to begin 30-day tube break-in.

Next step is to evaluate sound. Will report back around XMAS.

You are welcome to compare my Havana with the Orchid. I also have quite a few tubes that you can try. I seem to always come back to a GE 5 star 5670.