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What is the next noticable/satisfactory upgrade from the uDAC?

post #1 of 15
7/24/10 at 9:22pm
Thread Starter 

What is the next noticable/satisfactory upgrade from the uDAC?

 

Must be compatible with a Macbook.

 

My amp is Little Dot I+ my headphones are the Grado RS-1. At some point I may add Sennheiser 600 or 650s.

 

 

Edit: I've been looking at the Dac-EXTASY (only $110 now... hmm), V-DAC, Little Dot Dac, and the DacMagic (DacMagic might be a bit pricey for me though... it seems like it would give me more future options though due to all its 'features')


Edited by cruizin caleb - 7/24/10 at 9:25pm
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Optical Audio Cable with Halo Connectors
NuForce Icon uDAC (USB DAC and headphone amp)
post #2 of 15
7/24/10 at 9:50pm

Whats your budget?

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post #3 of 15
7/24/10 at 9:56pm

What's lacking with the uDAC?

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post #4 of 15
7/24/10 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 

my budget will be roughly $200 + i will sell my uDac.

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post #5 of 15
7/24/10 at 10:01pm
Thread Starter 

I don't know. maybe optical? maybe i'm just curious. but maybe you're right - its a fine DAC. it works perfectly for me. the only thing i dislike is not being able to bypass the volume thing and the crackle when i move the volume past 75%ish. but i find that to be somewhat irrelevant i guess.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by pekingduck View Post

What's lacking with the uDAC?

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post #6 of 15
7/24/10 at 10:31pm

any dac with an optical input will work with your macbook. I'm a big fan of tube dac's but I don't think there is any within your budget.

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post #7 of 15
7/24/10 at 10:40pm

I own the Little Dot DAC_I and it's a fine DAC for its price.

 

I used to own the uDAC too and the DAC_I is bit more neutral and detailed. Not to mention a plethora of input and output options.

 

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post #8 of 15
7/25/10 at 12:40pm
Thread Starter 

how would the DACs you've mentioned compare with this Xindak DAC-5 (Which may be a bit out of my price range) and for that price would you suggest a different DAC?

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post #9 of 15
7/25/10 at 1:07pm

I noticed a big difference going from my uDAC to my Musiland Monitor 02 USD (~$120).

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post #10 of 15
7/25/10 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 


from what I understand, that does not work with Mac/Macbook.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KnightK View Post

I noticed a big difference going from my uDAC to my Musiland Monitor 02 USD (~$120).

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post #11 of 15
7/25/10 at 2:39pm

I currently have the uDAC, also. I am looking to upgrade to either the V-DAC ($300) or the Dacmagic ($430).

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post #12 of 15
7/29/10 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 

I was thinking of those 2 as well.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by kingtz View Post

I currently have the uDAC, also. I am looking to upgrade to either the V-DAC ($300) or the Dacmagic ($430).

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post #13 of 15
8/13/10 at 2:10pm

For your budget I'd recommend the Audinst HUD-MX1. I upgraded from the HotAudio Destroyer. The soundstage definitely improves a lot to say the least. There's also a fairly good comparison on headfonia comparing the two (http://www.headfonia.com/nuforce-udac-and-comparisons/2/). For your reference I am using it with Matrix m-stage and AKG k702s on my Macbook Pro.

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post #14 of 15
8/13/10 at 2:19pm

uDAC2 !

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post #15 of 15
8/13/10 at 2:28pm

I have the HotAudio DacDestroyer (which is their budget dac) which I felt was better than the udac. I imagine the Dac-Extasy would be a very good step up, and that's a very good price on it.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Optical Audio Cable with Halo Connectors
NuForce Icon uDAC (USB DAC and headphone amp)
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