I am surprised that there were no reviews of this dac on head-fi. So let me be the first.
  I have had this dac for over a year now and it has blossomed into a very good dac in my desk top setting. I am using a pair of emotiva airmotiv 5s monitors and the set up is sounding pretty impressive for monitors of their size. It has taken awhile to get the most out of my set up. I have settled on interconnects and power cords . I am using balanced nordost heimdall v1 interconnects to my powered emotiva airmotiv 5 monitors and emotiva power cords on the airmotiv 5s. On the teac ud-501 dac I am using a nordost brahma power cord .
   The teac ud-501 has turned out to be a excellent performer. The sound is very dynamic and tight sounding. There  is ample weight in the presentation with good clarity as well. The headphone amp sounds very good as well with my akg 701s with good clarity and decent detail reproduction. You will definitely not be bored with its presentation .
   The only negative is that the teac ud-501 does not have any preamp function ability. I have had to rely on the volume control on my emotiva desk top monitors . If it had a preamp function the ud-501 would be pretty much a perfect desk top solution . It would have been interesting if it had single ended and balanced preamp outputs . But as it stands I have little to complain  about this excellent dac.

 I have had the brahma for awhile now and I saw there were no user reviews for it in head-fi. So I thought I would give some impressions of this very fine power cable. I have several aftermarket power cables including a kubala sosna emotion power cable which prior to my brahma was the most expensive . I purchased the nordost brahma on a closeout for half price but even then the cable was very expensive just not as obscenely expensive if it was purchased at the regular price of 1400 usd for a one meter length.
  I had heard that the nordost cables have a extremely long break in process which I can now say was definitely accurate. Power cables can tend to be very system and component sensitive the brahma being no exception. My first impression of the cable was that it was very quiet sounding. I felt it sounded somewhat analytical especially when it was new. With time it relaxed a bit and when I say time I mean a lot of time. This is not a cable for someone who wants instant gratification it takes a long time to flesh in. I had at times maybe regretted my purchase but with time once the cable fleshed in I came to appreciate its qualities. One of its most endearing qualities is its reproduction of dynamics. In this area it soundly trounced my kubala sosna emotion cable. When used on the most suitable components which are at least in my system on the dac and or universal player. You can easily discern the improvements in my set up the sound becomes very dynamic and involving making the listening session much more exciting. The other area where I find the cable to be exceptional is on my denon 3930ci universal player. The improvement in the clarity and the resolution of the video is quite noticeable. My dvds have never looked better. As good as the denon player is which is quite excellent already is really elevated by the brahma power cable. Sonically I wish it had more dimensionality with respect to depth it does not fare as well as my kubala sosna emotion in that category at least on cds. But the emotion was nowhere near as good on video material. On video sound it also exceptional the ability of my
 denon universal player to sort out dialog and the clarity of the sound on my dvds was greatly enhanced by this cable. I find it indispensable when watching movies on my flat screen. I have to say I do not regret purchasing this cable despite its obscene price tag I am satisfied with its performance in my system.

   I have had these since november and have come to be very impressed with their performance.Even if this speaker sold for three times the price I would be very happy with its performance.But I have made some tweaks to get them to sound the way they do.The first tweek was to upgrade the stock power cords I used the emotiva iec power cords that emotiva sells under the interconnect title.This was a nice improvement in the bass and just a general bump upward in their sound performance.The next tweek which I have to say is a absoulute must to get the most out of these very capable active speakers was to upgrade the fuse in of course both speakers.I am using the hifi tuning supreme fuse and I have to say the fuse upgrade  brought a absolutely huge improvement to the speakers sound.The change was anything but subtle.The stock speakers tendancy to sound a bit forward sounding was completely eliminated.The soundstage is now incredibly large and the speaker has become a much more resolving speaker in just about every respect.The fuse size is a 1 amp small slow blow fuse.I recommend the hifi tuning supreme fuse.I tried the quantum fuses and returned them they just did not sound as good as the hifi tuning fuses at least in my set up.They sounded much more upfront and I just preferred the supreme fuses they just sounded a lot more relaxed and had a much bigger soundstage.
  I also recommend a proper stand for this speaker the stands do really make a difference with most any speaker. I am using a short sound anchor 4 post stand which I had made for my floorstanding b&ws which I have moved on from with a set of emotiva airmotiv 6s in my living room set up.
  I am using a peachtree decco 2 in my desk top set up as a dac/preamp.I have upgraded the fuse in the peachtree too with a hifi tuning supreme fuse as well.These hifi tuning fuses really do work I recommend them and consider them essential if you want to get the most from any of your components.
 I have based my rating by the results that I have attained with the upgrades.Before them the unit was excellent but my opinion of the airmotiv 5 has risen greatly with the tweeks I have initiated.

 I have had my raptor for two and a half years with no reliabilty issues.The amplifier proper is very compact and lite weight so be aware it does not self anchor itself and is easy to move.The power supply is very substantial and is remotely locatable, it is tethered to the headphone amp by din type connector which securely twists in place on the amp module.
 The amplifier seems to be pretty powerful and is signatured fairly neutrally for a tube amplifier.The bass is pretty tight for a tube amp and the amp has good dynamics.The sound stage is pretty good with good depth portayal and good dimensionality.The noise floor of the amp is fairly quiet and low level resolution is pretty good.
 I have read that some people found the amp to sound more towards the solid state camp.I Could see how some people think that way because the amp sounds pretty neutral for a tubed amplifier.But I find the amp to be more three dimensional than the solid solid state amps I have heard.
 I have akg 701,grado rs1i and audeze lcd-2 phones in my collection and I find at least in my system that raptor seems to be synergetic with the rs1i phones.The match is pretty dimensional(which is apparently from what I have read not a strength of the grado) the raptor seems to produce fairly dimensional sound from the grados.If anyone is looking for good amp to drive the rs1i I think you should check out the raptor I think you would not be disappointed.
 I find the raptor to be less synergetic with the akg 701.The 701 is a fairly difficult phone to drive and I find that even the audezes are easier to drive.
 These days I do not use the 701 phones very much especially since I got my audeze lcd2 rev2 phones.
 I Imho believe that the akg needs a stout amplifier to wrest the best sound out of the 701.I did have some success with a shanling hybid tube amp(shanling ph300) which seemed to pair well with the 701 but I had some reliabilty and service issues with shanling and its distributors music hall so I returned the amp. I think having a solid state amp section with a tubed input stage seemed to balance out the akgs analytical sound signature.The pairing made listening sessions less fatigueing.
 Well I am getting away from my raptor review.
 Using the raptor with the audeze lcd2 rev2 makes for a pretty enjoyable session.The amp has enough drive capabilty but the levels are somewhat higher than for the rs1i.A good level was obtained around 10 to 11 oclock for most recordings.
 The sound with the raptor was somewhat less elicit with the audezes than those phones are with my burson ha160 but the pairing was fairly enjoyable,The burson mates particularly well with the audeze lcd rev2 Imho and at the price is a very cost effecttive match for the audezes.
  I must add that I am using a kubala sosna emotion power cord on the raptor and that I have upgrade the stock fuse in the amp with a hifi tuning gold fuse in my amp.To check for fuse size call ray samuels and he will let you know what the proper fuse value is for the amp.The fuse and power cord upgrade significanty improve the amplifiers performance.The noise floor drops and low level information is more apparent and things just tighten up and the sound becomes more dynamic.The kubala cord is probably way over the top(I just used it because I alredy had one) but may I suggest the emotiva power cord from emotiva on line.I purchased one very recently and have found the power cord to perform way beyond its
modest price.
  In addendum to my previous review I have to reassess my findings about the amp.But my reassessment is much for the better.I have found the emotiva power cable to be much better suited to the raptor than my kubala sosna emotion power cable(amazing considering the emotion costs the dearer end of a thousand dollars and the emotiva power cord costed me only eighty dollars!!!).I have also upgraded the fuse from the hifi tuning gold fuse to the hifi tuning supreme fuse which in conjunction with the change of power cord have greatly elevated my opinion of the raptor otl amp.
 The amp now has much more vivid sound without being overly analytical sounding.The amplifier has a very liquid sound signature that i find very much more palpable than it was before.The sound is very spacious with a large soundstage that is more dimensional.The dynamics are also much improved.The low level detail that I am hearing is so great that I can regularly discern extemely low level information during the most silent moments on audiophile recordings (rustling,shuffling feet, artists joking around etc.)
The sound from this amp especially with my grado rs1i phones is very realistic and very lifelike i have never heard the grados sound so lifelike before.I also tried it again with my akg 701s and it seems to work somewhat better with them now but i still prefer the amp with the grado rs1is.
 I have not tried the amp with my lcd2 rev2 because my headphone cable went bad and while I have received a replacement cable for them i am so utterly rapt with the raptors performance with my rs1is I have been in no hurry to start the cable break in process with the lcd2s.I guess in due time I will eventually start breaking in the audeze cabling and then try it with the raptor once the cable is broken in.
  This is another addendum to my previous reviews. It has as been awhile longer and I recently purchased a cable pro reverie power cable for another component but being curious I thought I would try it with my raptor to see how it sounded. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the raptor was pretty good at sound stage before but it is an entire different league now in that area. I listened to it till almost 4 oclock this morning and I was just amazed at the palpability that this power cord brings to the sound of the raptor. I listened to a vintage  copy of frank sinatras only the lonely cd on capitol and I could swear I was listening to him in the flesh it was that good.
  It has made such a difference that I consider the reverie power cable an essential must have tweak for raptor owners. You simply have not heard the raptor till you upgrade the cable to the cable pro reverie power cable.
  For any owners who take my suggestion to heart there is a thirty day free trial period from cable pro. So what have you got to lose but be patient like all cables they take a while to flesh in but with maybe twenty or thirty hours you should hear a noticeable difference in the raptors performance.
  I would appreciate any comments from anyone who takes my lead and tries the reverie power cord on their raptor. it has been the better part of three years now and I am still finding things out about this exceptional amp.
 
 
 
 
 
 
9

I heard about this player from a friend and I took a chance and ordered one from amazon at a very reasonable discount.
  I have had the player about a week and a half and have pretty much broken the the player in to a good extent and the player sounds just wonderful.I had a denon 3930ci and compared to this onkyo it just does not have anywhere near the resloution and sound quality of this newer player.I am amazed at how analog like that this player sounds.There seems to be very little if any of the digital glare I have heard in even some pretty expensive players.
 On the internet I have read that it is something of a giant killer and from what I am hearing from this player I have to agree.This player sounds wonderful it is very musical sounding with good resolution.The player sounds pretty dimensional with a finely focused image and decent depth portrayal.The midrange is very good.The highs are are also pretty good and as I mentioned before there seems to be little if any digital glare.This makes long term listening very enjoyable not at all irritating like some players get due to the digital glare they emit.
 Overall I think this player represents an exceptional value at even the regular price let alone the substantial discount that the player is offered at on amazon.
 I feel this player is ano brainer for the price and even compared to some fairly expensive players at multiples of its price it will hold its own.

I bought this amp. I had auditioned it with my akg 701 phones.I also tried the grado headphone amp but it did not perform as well driving the akg 701.The shanling was able to drive the akg 701 ptetty well and it sounded fairly musical with them.But about two or three months later it developed some noise in one of the channels.I took the amp back to where I purchased it and their techs told me tube in the channel I was hearing the noise in was bad.They tried to obtain a replacement tube from music hall which distributed the shanling products at that time and had no success after a couple of months.The dealer apologized for the delay and offered me the music hall amp in its stead.The music hall amp sounded pretty much the same and is basically the same amp in different packaging.I preferred the build quality of the shanling.Since he could not get another shanling I opted for grado rs1i phones in light of the parts availability problems I had with music hall and shanling.Pitty because i really did like the sound and build quality of the shanling.It seemed to be a pretty good match for the akg 701 phones.