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You were right about the uDAC. Now don't get a stiffy the size of texas.

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But you said 2 out of three phones you tried sounded good with it too. It might be a synergy thing, and I'll have to try the MS-1 and see how it sounds. I did once post that my Westone 2 sounded that way with the wrong tips, and that it was switching to either the single flange silicone or the UM56 tips that fixed the problem.

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quite, but regardless of synergy and MS1 situation, I feel that the FUN strongly outclasses the uDAC in pretty much all areas. (in my short time with it.)

Looking at the uDAC at 100 and fun at 400, I feel more of a reservation now. I won't have the same enthusiasm in recommending the uDAC. Yes it improves your sound over the onboard sound, but if there's any way at all to get the fun, you should do so.

But keep in mind that I'm talking about the hp out of the uDAC. I'll try testing it as a pure DAC and see if it fares better.

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That already happened - when I sold it.

If it's any consoloation, it sounded even worse on DT880s.

Something I noticed earlier with my dt440s... The udac connected to my modded audiolab integrated amp blew me away. My grin made me look like I was the joker and I was doing air guitar and air drums while having goosebumps all over. I then connected the dt440 back to the udacs headphone jack then I start to understand where you are coming from with your bad reviews... Problem is, The audiolab is a modded $1000 integrated amp My grado sr80is also gave me goosebumps on the audiolab. I don't exactly know how technically capable the audiolab is with its headphone jack but it is almost like what I remember when I listened to the b22.

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That's what I've been saying all along about the DAC-Extasy, which is superior to the uDAC soundwise in just about every way, and is now even showing up on ebay here and there for $99. That's a *much* better buy than the uDAC, even at close to twice that price. And I've only been getting massively slammed for saying it, so be careful. You might end up being called a "shill" for audio-gd and being viciously attacked for "ruining the thread" like I have been massively attacked around here just for daring to mention the DAC-Extasy and saying it sounds better than the uDAC.

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Sounds like the amp is compensating for some of the uDAC shortcomings. When I did my comparisons, I compared through headphone outs on the 2 DACs as much as possible precisely so as not to color the sound any more than necessary. I used amps mainly just when comparing to the V-DAC, which doesn't have hp out, only rca, optical, etc.

In all fairness, I actually like reading what you have to say. I really don't get the attacking around here sometimes.

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Thanks, donunus, that's nice of you to say so. But it was pretty vicious there for a while - the entire old PH100 thread being totally deleted over it, in fact. It seems to have settled down a bit lately... for the moment, at least.

My take...
Isn't discussing and scrutinizing equipment the whole point of this website in the first place? Sometimes we don't all always agree on everything just like you don't like the udac and I find it a good value at its price point, but so what. Its part of the fun. People just have to take things less personally so that unnecessary bickering is avoided.

BTT. I would really like to get to hear how the dac xctasy sounds by the way. It deserves to be heard after all the pages of medieval fighting hehehe

You should contact Hotaudio and see if you can get a deal. Went as low as $99 IIRC. He does have free worldwide shipping too I believe (which doesn't matter so much for me, as I'm located in the same country as he is).

As much as I'd love to try it myself I already got too many DACs lying around...

How would this sound with Sennheiser 650s and a Little Dot MK III?

Personally, I feel you could probably use the uDAC as a DAC line-out to any other amp for any other headphone, if the amp is a known good match for the headphone. It's the uDAC's headphone out that is a little warmer and a little more forward so that I said it might not be good for HD650. So, if the LD MkIII is already a good match for HD650 (I've not heard that combo) then you are likely safe using the uDAC RCA out to feed that rig.

like with any other component, synergy is the most important thing when comparing components. the udac with grados and even sensitive warm phones has a nice smooth sound signature, and using headphone amp is even better imo as it is slightly more direct signal , even though i usually use the line out. I think it totally depends on matching the rest of the equipment involved. The headphone amp in the udac is actually very good with my sr60's, and the udac>grado combo is what should be used when comparing to other source electronics. However I think it would benefit greatly without any headphone amp at all, and possibly an output stage and some rubicons, and possibly a different power supply. But I do really enjoy the udac for what it is, and like the actual dac chip's characteristics compared to the other manufacturer chips that are commonly used (the udac is basically the chip right to the amp) I am bored with reading and hearing all of these dacs that use the same 1 or 2 dac chips inside. overall a good value, if it matches your system.

In other news... I've been trying my uDAC as an USB to S/PDIF (to my Stello DA100 -> WA6) for the last little while and I'm really liking what I'm hearing... I'm not sure it's because of the uDAC SPDIF conversion itself or Stello DA100 coax input being much better than its USB, but I'm hearing noticeable improvements in detail, soundstage, treble and bass compared to Stello USB. I never thought I'd use this feature of the uDAC much when I first got it, but with my last two DACs (DA100 and HDP) having coax inputs I've been really able to appeciate its SPDIF out inclusion. What's too bad here is that I usually need my uDAC for my secondary rig and it's a hassle to bring it out to my primary rig all the time... oh well. Perhaps I'll just invest in a different converter like a m2tech hiface or something like that for my main rig.