Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Nuforce uDAC USB DAC AMP with line out and S/PDIF out
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Nuforce uDAC USB DAC AMP with line out and S/PDIF out - Page 123

post #1831 of 1841
11/25/10 at 3:19pm


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by bcwang View Post
HDP or maybe the Dacport


Agreed.

 


Couldn't find them in UK at reasonable prices, have to import them but then the cost would increase, considering all the vat/import and shipping... Also since I have an Hifiman EF2, just a DAC would suffice.

 

What about the Dacmagic or V-dac maybe? I can find them in UK below 400 $. But wondering whether they are worth to upgrade...

Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

NuForce Icon uDAC (USB DAC and headphone amp)
post #1832 of 1841
2/26/11 at 10:36am

Hi all... to raise this topic a bit with little problem of mine. Thing is....i have this device for quite a while now. And, although I suspected in the begining, now i am sure....I dont like it. Now the problem is the way i came to this conclusion. Simple...I just copared it with my Kenwood 5030D AV rec....to be exact, with in-build DAC in that Kenwood (used spdif on PC and feed it to digital coax in). I am not sure why, but Kenwood sounds much better to me. Music is streamed from a PC/foobar using WASAPI in both cases. Now that was something I WAS NOT expecting when i bought uDAC which is the reason why I neglected this fact until now. So is it really possible? I mean, it probably is....but this is kenwood reciever more than 10 yrs old, and WAS NOT top of the calss device in its time...more like a budget... uses cirrus cs493253 chip which is also used for DAC i guess. Could it maybe be interconect that is problem? Its wireworld Luna5... not the best, but not the worst there is. Or is it simply that Kenwood has better DAC,at least to my ears? Now I am really tempted to sell it and simply enjoy my old Kenwood.

Reply
post #1833 of 1841
2/27/11 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ITau View Post

Hi all... to raise this topic a bit with little problem of mine. Thing is....i have this device for quite a while now. And, although I suspected in the begining, now i am sure....I dont like it. Now the problem is the way i came to this conclusion. Simple...I just copared it with my Kenwood 5030D AV rec....to be exact, with in-build DAC in that Kenwood (used spdif on PC and feed it to digital coax in). I am not sure why, but Kenwood sounds much better to me. Music is streamed from a PC/foobar using WASAPI in both cases. Now that was something I WAS NOT expecting when i bought uDAC which is the reason why I neglected this fact until now. So is it really possible? I mean, it probably is....but this is kenwood reciever more than 10 yrs old, and WAS NOT top of the calss device in its time...more like a budget... uses cirrus cs493253 chip which is also used for DAC i guess. Could it maybe be interconect that is problem? Its wireworld Luna5... not the best, but not the worst there is. Or is it simply that Kenwood has better DAC,at least to my ears? Now I am really tempted to sell it and simply enjoy my old Kenwood.


The uDAC's RCA line-out is better than the headphone amp, so even if the uDAC was better as a DAC only, it's possible your Kenwood has a better headphone amp that allows it to sound better.  But the uDAC as a DAC-only is really a great bargain and worth keeping to feed a dedicated upgraded amp; but you could look at the upgrade option to the uDAC-2 circuit board which offers both a nicely upgraded DAC and headphone amp.  I am pretty impressed with the upgrade myself.

Reply
post #1834 of 1841
3/6/11 at 9:11am

Actually I was refering to RCA out of uDAC, not headphone out. Not that the Kenwood is much better, or even to someone its not at all. But the difference is so minor that i was not expecting such. On the other hand.... if the uDAC is fed to a better stereo amplifier I might get better sonic results. Since you mentioned uDAC 2 upgrade....how much does it cost, with shipping to europe (if you know), only the circuit board? And is it really worth upgrading? I mainly use RCA out and I dont have many HD tracks...

Reply
post #1835 of 1841
3/6/11 at 10:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ITau View Post

Actually I was refering to RCA out of uDAC, not headphone out. Not that the Kenwood is much better, or even to someone its not at all. But the difference is so minor that i was not expecting such. On the other hand.... if the uDAC is fed to a better stereo amplifier I might get better sonic results. Since you mentioned uDAC 2 upgrade....how much does it cost, with shipping to europe (if you know), only the circuit board? And is it really worth upgrading? I mainly use RCA out and I dont have many HD tracks...


I don't know the cost to europe, but the upgrade here is like $65 for the new PCB and you can keep the original PCB to put in a home made case if you want to still use it.  

 

The RCA out of the uDAC-2 is less forward and more spacious sounding, with better treble presence and sparkle, and the RCA output is difficult to differentiate from the line-out of a more costly Pico DAC-only, even with only 14/44.1 CD rips.

 

Reply
post #1836 of 1841
4/29/11 at 11:45pm

Hey Headphoneaddict, I read through your review and you briefly compared the DAC of the uDAC to the Super Pro DAC707. You said you recomended the uDAC's USB over the Super Pro's USB but if I were to use the Optical of the Super Pro, would that really make that much of a difference in sound quality?

 

Reply
post #1837 of 1841
5/2/11 at 12:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TLY View Post

Hey Headphoneaddict, I read through your review and you briefly compared the DAC of the uDAC to the Super Pro DAC707. You said you recomended the uDAC's USB over the Super Pro's USB but if I were to use the Optical of the Super Pro, would that really make that much of a difference in sound quality?

 


The Super Pro via optical is pretty good, and similar to the Headroom Micro DAC or iBasso D10 optical quality.  There was a very slight grain to the Super Pro sound with a cheap PSU that was completely gone with my Sigma 11 PSU or 12v battery, and at that point the sound was almost indistinguishable from the Micro DAC.  Via USB the Super Pro was not grainy with stock PSU, but rather was slightly blunted and veiled sounding.  The uDAC-2 RCA output however is better than the uDAC, and sounds as good as my Pico DAC-only via USB or Micro DAC via optical.  

 

If you must use USB then the uDAC-2 or Pico DAC-only would be a good choice, as well as the DACport if you don't mind feeding the headphone out into an amp as a preamp.  The iBasso D4 USB DAC is also better than the Super Pro USB DAC, and on about the same level as the optical from Super Pro, Micro DAC or D10. 

 

Reply
post #1838 of 1841
5/5/11 at 3:20pm

Thanks.

 

Just wondering, when you connect your uDAC via RCA to RCA with another amp, do you turn the volume knob of the uDAC all the way to the max and then control the volume of the amp, or do you find a middle ground?

Reply
post #1839 of 1841
5/5/11 at 11:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TLY View Post

Thanks.

 

Just wondering, when you connect your uDAC via RCA to RCA with another amp, do you turn the volume knob of the uDAC all the way to the max and then control the volume of the amp, or do you find a middle ground?


I tend to set the amp to about 3-4 o'clock and control the volume with the uDAC or uDAC-2.  If you have a noisy amp you may want to set the uDAC to 3-4 o'clock and control the volume with the amp.  I usually don't turn the uDAC to max in case that is too strong for the amps inputs, but you could give it a try.  

 

Don't forget uDAC-2 replaced the uDAC - http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/505523/first-impressions-new-nuforce-udac-2-with-24-96-usb-dac-amp-with-line-out-and-s-pdif-out

Reply
post #1840 of 1841
5/9/11 at 6:40pm

Hi,

 

I am using uDAC for its headphone out at my desktop. I am generally happy with it but I can't help comparing it to my Fuze. My headphones are pretty efficient (FA-003s, CAL!, AD700) so Fuze have no problem driving them. I used to only have AD700s and I thought uDAC helps them quite a bit. But since I have got the Fischer FA-003s, I am feeling Fuze is better (only with FA-003s). Yeah, uDAC makes bass more impactful, mids slightly more fuller, maybe increase the soundstage a bit, but it also congests the mids and destroys some detail. I keep finding myself using Fuzes while working on my desktop. Is this possible? God knows I am almost tune deaf! What do you think?

 

cheers

Reply
post #1841 of 1841
5/19/11 at 7:16pm

Post deleted


Edited by marcus1 - 5/20/11 at 7:00pm
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Dedicated Source Components

Gear mentioned in this thread:

NuForce Icon uDAC (USB DAC and headphone amp)
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Nuforce uDAC USB DAC AMP with line out and S/PDIF out