[Pharmaboy]

Considering a Orchid....
I have a Soekris 2541 and a iFI iDSD dac in house now.
Had a Bifrost 2.

Wondering if the Orchid is still worth it for $1300 ?

Thanks
Alex

The answer really depends on your sonic preferences. If you're one of the people who is thrilled by resolution and detail, and liking treble that goes all the way up beyond human hearing, The Orchid might not impress you.

I'm from the other camp. When I stumble over an audio component that gives me even a hint of the warmth, organic quality, and natural bass weight of real music--I jump on it. Of course I don't want to hear muffled, indistinct audio: but audio gear that emphasizes musical quality (like the Orchid) over sheer resolution always sounds better to me.

An interesting subset of NOS and R2R DACs consists of those that have relatively high resolution, yet still sound musical. The Soekris is described that way. And I'm finding that my still relatively new AIO, the Audio GD R2R-11 MK2, is another. These DACs let me have it all. Still, I think the Orchid's relaxed, dimensional tonal quality trumps the others.

 

[adydula]

The answer really depends on your sonic preferences. If you're one of the people who is thrilled by resolution and detail, and liking treble that goes all the way up beyond human hearing, The Orchid might not impress you.

I'm from the other camp. When I stumble over an audio component that gives me even a hint of the warmth, organic quality, and natural bass weight of real music--I jump on it. Of course I don't want to hear muffled, indistinct audio: but audio gear that emphasizes musical quality (like the Orchid) over sheer resolution always sounds better to me.

An interesting subset of NOS and R2R DACs consists of those that have relatively high resolution, yet still sound musical. The Soekris is described that way. And I'm finding that my still relatively new AIO, the Audio GD R2R-11 MK2, is another. These DACs let me have it all. Still, I think the Orchid's relaxed, dimensional tonal quality trumps the others.

I have one on order....will be interesting..now to find a TDA1541A-S1 or S2....

 

[Pharmaboy]

I have one on order....will be interesting..now to find a TDA1541A-S1 or S2....

I heard those get pretty expensive.

 

[adydula]

I heard those get pretty expensive.

and finding a "real" one is also an issue...

 

[Pharmaboy]

and finding a "real" one is also an issue...

yup

 

[Dawgfish]

Considering a Orchid....
I have a Soekris 2541 and a iFI iDSD dac in house now.
Had a Bifrost 2.

Wondering if the Orchid is still worth it for $1300 ?

Thanks
Alex

I don't have the Orchid but I currently have a Pagoda and Steeplechase and have owned the Paradesia Plus and Havana in the past. I also own a Bifrost 2. To my ears the Pagoda is easily worth that and the Orchid should be also from everything I've read. The Pagoda is vastly superior to the Bifrost 2 imho (and for the record I think the Bifrost 2 is great in its price category).

 

[adydula]

I ordered the Orchid from Linear Tube Audio with the upgrade tube...they will send the stock tube as well.
There seemed to be a USB interface issue for earlier versions of windows.
It seems from what I understand that with W10 this is not an issue and the included W10 USB drivers should work.
We shall see.
Fedex says its already out for delivery! We are in North Carolina so its not that distant from us.
Still after a late PM online order thats pretty fast...

Later!
Alex

 

[Pharmaboy]

I ordered the Orchid from Linear Tube Audio with the upgrade tube...they will send the stock tube as well.
There seemed to be a USB interface issue for earlier versions of windows.
It seems from what I understand that with W10 this is not an issue and the included W10 USB drivers should work.
We shall see.
Fedex says its already out for delivery! We are in North Carolina so its not that distant from us.
Still after a late PM online order thats pretty fast...

Later!
Alex

Congratulations!

FYI, I have 2 computers in the home office. Each is still running Windows 7 Professional (why is a long story). Normally I run both systems' DACs via coax from the Matrix DDC (main system) or a SPDIF converter (side system). But I've had occasion to install the Orchid on each system using Windows drivers and had no problems whatsoever.

I get slightly better sound out of coax than USB with the Orchid, but that's hardly unique to the Orchid. This has been the case with most of the DACs I've had here.

 

[adydula]

The pc i use for playing my flacs and Qobuz has no optical or coax out, stuck with USB.
I might pull out my old Oppo BD83SE CD player to try these other outs...

Also Schiit might come out with their URD in the near future...thats a possibility here as well....for the purist track.

Should be here anytime now...also have a lead (fingers crossed) on a S1/S2....

Alex

 

[adydula]

Its here, and its working...

A real DUST magnet!! LOL!

Got the upgraded Sweedish Ericsson tube...CV 4013. A Ratheyon tube came with it also.
Only 10 minutes so far..its very different from what I have heard in the past..

Stay tuned.

:>)

 

[adydula]

Just testing with the Schiit Magni 3+. Surprisingly good!

 

[adydula]

Testing with the iFI ICAN Pro amp and ADX 5000's..
Will test with the HPA-1 later.

One thing immediately pops out is there is a real difference here....bewteen other dacs that are not NOS.
You may or may not like this...

First thing I noticed is the depth, imaging and soundstage....golly gee its really very very nice...magical for sure.
Very "airy"...

Some have said this is not the most revealing or resolving, but its not too shabby....might be the clarity that for me is
showing a clean crisp clear picture of what the source material is....

EDIT: I opened up the box, via 4 T8 screws, easy to check out the build qualty. EXCELLENT. Well laid out and good soldering.
I wish other units were this easy to open up.
Make swapping tubes very smooth....

 

[adydula]

Brandi Carlile....her "THE STORY" CD, Late Morning Lullaby....
The ADX 5000's have been touted as being bass light....nope not with this dac....lol.
Melt in your mouth delicious sound...Bass is so accurate...full, taunt and hits you so nice.
This is with SE cable stock from Audio Technica.
Awesome pairing here.

 

[Dawgfish]

Congrats! It will only get better as it burns in.

 

[adydula]

What is amazing IMO is that I have been doing this head stuff for many years and MHDT never came on my radar ever....
I was looking for what there was available out their in a NOS dac...and the ones I looked at had a really hefty price tag and I
do have a NOS iFI iDSD, but wanted another NOS only and discovered the Phillips TDA 1451A Dac chip and then discovered it
was not made anymore but the internet search found the Orchid...$1300 still not cheap and not that well known..

Well here we are come full turn, back in the late 80's, early 90s CD players with this chip!!

LOL...

Amazing times in the headphone and audio world..