NuForce Icon uDAC-2 (Black) USB DAC (24bit/96kHz) and Headphone Amplifier

I just completed a full review of the uDAC-2 with measurements on my personal blog. Some of the results were bad enough I contacted NuForce before publishing my review to make sure I didn't have a bad DAC. They verified my results and confirmed my uDAC-2 was "within spec". At their request, I've included their comments in my review.

I plan to be testing other similarly priced USB DACs in the future, but based on what I know about the uDAC-2, I can't recommend it. Even the $29 Behringer UCA202 seriously outperforms the uDAC-2 in most areas.

I first bought the uDAC2 in the fall of 2010, and it blew me away with its quality as it was the first decent source I'd ever listened to. Sadly It stopped working within about a month. I returned it with it's cable under warranty and received a refurb model. Sadly, this new one wasn't sent to me with a cable, but no big deal. Fast forward to this week, and I've just had this one die on me as well.

While it was working, I loved my uDAC-2, but I can't recommend it to anyone after going through 2 of them in under a year and a half.

This little amp is a surprise. Alone it is actually not that bad with some HD650's. The sound is typical dark, liquid, and pretty nice to listen to if you're into that sort of tubey coloration.

Later, when you try to put this DAC into a revealing system, perhaps as a source for a revealing amplifier, the surprise is that the uDac 2 is actually quite terrible. And it has nothing to do with anything that has been ranted and raved about, forget the tech specs. The DAC section simply has a flat out horrid frequency response, it's boosting the upper mids in a way that makes revealing amplifiers sound ear piercingly bad...  This DAC could go well driving a tubey sounding tube amp, but anything even a little revealing is going to be terrible sounding.

Build quality is decent, it is metal and the connectors are gold plated. The first version (uDac v1) had problems with channel balance on the volume pot, that seems to be largely alleviated in the uDac 2. I do not have a channel imbalance issue with my uDac 2. My uDac (v1) on the other hand was almost unusable because the channel imbalance showed up at a relatively loud volume.

Once you add up everything it does, few amps can match it in features/price, and it really does sound good on its own. But if you plan on building a system and upgrading it and hope to use the DAC section of the uDac 2 with a better amp, just DON'T, save you and your ears the trouble.

Keep in mind that my star rating is weighted against price, and I'm reviewing the uDac2-HP. It sounds just like my laptop's out even though there are legitimate reasons to expect it not to. There's a sense of quality to the unit and its volume knob from their feel but the USB cable that came with it is poking wires out of the plastic shroud. Lame-o. I have another cable hanging around that I used instead.

Anyway, I like the sound well enough despite its supposedly massive shortcomings that others talk about. It isn't spacious like the Icon HD (which is an awesome product) but it sure sounds fine with some of the hidden details in the recordings no longer getting drowned out in the poor analog circuitry of my laptop. It's also so nice to deal with a volume knob again even if I am limited to the top 40% of the range for good-enough balance.