headroom ultra desktop dac?

I've had this DAC (aka UDAC) along with its "companion" amp - HR Balanced UltraDesktop Amp (BUDA) for close to 4 months now. I have immensely enjoyed this combo and attribute a major portion of its overall sound quality to the DAC itself. There is no question that this is the best DAC Headroom has yet offered. I also own a very recent Benchmark DAC1 which, though probably the equivalent of the UDAC in terms of overall resolution, does not have the liquidity and finesse that I'm hearing with the UDAC. Some people have described the UDAC as somewhat "laid back" but I suspect they're comparing it to a more forward-sounding DAC such as the DAC1.

Admittedly, it is very likely that what I'm hearing is partly due to its "synergy" with the BUDA, considering they're made by the same company and more or less designed to work optimally as a unit. DACs don't live by themselves and you always need to consider what other components they'll be used with. So, if you're considering pairing the UDAC with another amp, all bets are off -- it could sound fantastic or only so-so.

You really should try searching again in these forums - try a general search across all forums, put in "UDAC" as well. You will come up with more info about it - still not much but there are some opinions out there, mostly quite favorable. You will probably need to probe within the search content a bit. You can also search for Sabre DAC, Buffalo DAC, etc. which should give you some info as to how other implementations of the DAC may sound. As yet the HR website has no reviews listed for the UDAC nor has a formal review been posted here.

There seem to be certain DACs that tend to be "favored" and commented on frequently on Head-Fi -- sometimes it almost seems as if there's a "DAC of the Month" club, such that you'll read a flurry of good comments, then the DAC falls out of favor and you see fewer comments made (I noticed it with the Benchmark). Headroom's products in general on Head-Fi tend to generate less flurry of posting activity - they're certainly not trashed and are considered top-notch in terms of sound quality, but they tend to "keep to themselves", so to speak. This could be one reason why relatively few comments have yet appeared on the UDAC.

Have you done an extensive comparison between the the BUDA's internal DAC and the UDAC? Curious to know what kind and how much of a difference in sound there is (as subjective as it may be).

The BUDA doesn't have an internal DAC. You must be thinking of the older Desktop Balanced Amp, which has a Home DAC inside.

Doh! My mistake.

The current HR Ultra Desktop amp (UDA - not BUDA) has the top-line "Max" DAC module internally. If you bought this amp a few years ago, it is the same as the Desktop with the Max amp and Max DAC modules (not the Home DAC module). The Balanced (not Ultra) Desktop does have the Home DAC and Amp modules internally.

I have both the older "Maxed-out" Desktop and the UDAC/BUDA combination and was able to compare both. The Max DAC is very good - supposedly a little better than the Home DAC - but it is not nearly as good as (in my opinion) the new Ultra DAC based on the Sabre chip. The UDAC is clearly many notches up from the Max DAC in terms of fine-detail and spatial resolution. It is also a very smooth and somewhat understated, "not in your face" type of DAC. The regular Max DAC is also good in this regard too but if I had to state the major improvement heard in the UDAC, I would say "finesse and resolving power".

twsimth, what interconnects are you using between the BUDA and UDAC?