DAC/Soundcard to replace Prodigy HD2.

I used (still do) the same soundcard, although in a different itteration (the cheaper version, but with upgraded components and RFI shield).

The HD2 is pretty much a landmark in soundcard audio quality and a tough one to beat.

My Nuforce uDAC has arrived only recently and I'm still waiting for a complete burn in.
So far they are more similar than different and it's difficult to choose a winner.

uDAC has a bit more timbre accuracy and gives more body to the instruments. Also it appears to be giving more spatial information (better depth).

I'll post more as the uDAC burns in.

At the price, the uDac is hard to beat unless you go DIY or find a lucky deal in the used market. it also has a very good integrated headphone amp (powered by USB). There is another $99 DAC called HRT Music Streamer. It only has RCA analog output though. You will need to connect it to a standalone headphone amp.

I forgot to mention that neither uDac nor Music Streamer support anything higher than 16 bits/48kHz audio playback. You old HD2 is capable of 24 bit/192kHz playback. do you need this feature?

If more voltage is want you want you need to pay more attention to the amp rather than the DAC.

I'm personally leaning towards the Musiland serie

If you has a satisfactory DAC, then choose Monitor 01USD
If you do not have a DAC, then Monitor 02US

I like them both. Make sure you buy one made after Sept. 2009; otherwise you have to go through the ridiculous license activation procedure which usually takes a couple of days to finish after you initiate update request. The updating procedure itself is not technically complicated, but waiting for Musiland to issue the license takes time (a couple of days, not hours). Without the update one cannot use the new driver 1.08.2 whose precision mode is much better than other version

well I don't care for >96kHz, so a cheapo "Lilo Joy" would be fine...but they only released the new "precision clock" firmware updates for the Monitor serie.

several things annoy me, though:
1)- in "high precision" mode, there's a 3 secs delay when switching sample rates(luckily it's automatic, like on the HD2)....I'm still undecided whether it's because of a major design fault, or because they are light years ahead of the competition...apparently doing digital clock conditioning allows them to get a jitter-free dead stable clock, that a plain PLL crystal could never reach: H I F I D U I N O

the VIA chipset on the HD2 and the M2Tech hiface both use two discrete crystals..

2)- there's a bunch of OP275 dual op-amps...dual op-amps always seemed to shrink down the center channel to death on the HD2, compared to two single op-amps on an adapter.

OTOH they'd most like be used as I/V on the PCM1794A output, and not as LPF like on the HD2

anyway, drivers look killer, my cd1k(same drivers as the cd3k) is dead easy to drive, the M02US has a standalone PSU(so I won't suffer from the jitter HDD/ODD put on the ATX PSU)

the more I think about it, the more the M02US seems to be a no-brainer.

there's also the nuforce uDAC, but its DAC costs $0.97 and is capable of 24/192....but those retards put a 16/48 USB chip on it...and the head-fi shill machine goes ahead and allows them to sell like hot cakes

also, it costs USD99 on their site, but 115 EUR(USD175) on their european site....so they're asking USD175 for a $0.98 DAC on a 16/48 USB chip w/ a crappy analog pot and a bunch of caps...their markup must be STELLAR!

hehe, I was just confirmed by the guy who made the measurements I posted above that switching SR takes forever due to major design limitations...so I'm clearly not willing to wait 3" for peanuts.

I hate how all the available solutions fail in one way or another..

well, the plot thickens...apparently OP275 is indeed good stuff: So many DACs, which to choose - Page 3 - diyAudio

so the Musiland Monitor serie seems like a hell of a deal, too bad they went cheapo on the clocking system..either you get instant sample rate switch and play CD music at 44.2kHz...or wait 3 secs and get it at a jittery 44.1

hopefully they'll fix it in the Monitor 03, then we'll have a pretty perfect little DAC+headamp

anyway, I'm not paying 100 EUR for a foobar'ed clocking system...and besides my cd1k is very easy to drive, I'll prolly pull the trigger on the Monitor 01 US, it's almost half cheaper than the 02...bang for bucks should be huge on the built-in HP amp.

all the ppl on this forum seem to be only using the S/PDIF output on these things, hopefully the HP out will be pretty sweeet

the uDAC looks like a major rip-off in comparison to the M01US.