uDAC 2

I just left mine playing a pink noise file for about five hours to help burn in my uDac-2 and Sennheiser 558's. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being no warmth at all and ten being hot-to-the-touch, I would say it's about a two. I know I spent a few hours listening to a couple albums yesterday. I moved from one computer to the other (taking the uDac and phones with me) and noticed no warmth then either. You should contact NuForce about this, because it seems out of character for your unit to be heating up like that.

Having said that, I turn off my uDac-2 when not in use (work, school, etc). Might be a good habit to get into?

Newbie here - I just got my uDAC-2 a few days ago, and heat is about what I would expect. Slightly warm to the touch after it's been playing for a few hours. This is listening to bass-heavy rock at a reasonable volume - probably as high a power drain as most users. And this is with it sitting on my bed nestled in blankets.

Yours sound like it's hotter than it should be. I concur with the last poster - call Nuforce.

Do you have on of those infrared thermometers? A specific temperature reading might be helpful.

Mine crapped out after several weeks.  While it was working I thought it sounded decent but not great.  Too laid back, not enough attack.  But then, what can one expect for $129?

On my home theatre rig (Mac Mini) I'm running through a Simaudio Moon 100D, which sounds amazing but isn't a head amp.

Hmm, I hadn't noticed it being hot before (had my uDAC-2 HP for a couple weeks now), but I left my D2000's playing overnight last night, turned the music off this morning, and just now touched it; it's pretty hot as well.  It's not so hot that I can't hold my hand on it, but it is more than warm.

Edit: I unplugged it this evening and let it cool off for a while.  It's been back on another couple hours and I wouldn't say it's even warm to the touch.  It is just barely warmer than the surface of my desk.

Update - I left mine playing overnight, and this morning it was really hot. As others said, not too hot to touch; but hotter than I would expect a device like this to get. I guess this is normal for uDAC-2 units after many hours of play.

I just got one of these recently, thanks to this here forum.

So far I really like it, but recently I've had issues. The first was it noisily crapping out a couple times, giving way to static after a loud pop. I'd disconnect it for a few minutes and reconnect it, and all was well. However, this is increasingly a problem. A couple times recently I have sat down at my desk to and put on my headphones to find a wall of static in place of the clean silence I expected.

All that said, I've been leaving it plugged in all the time. My assumption was that it would idle with my computer, and therefor not heat-up, puss-out. Instead it seems to always be cranking, and a couple times when I have found it in static mode, it has been incredibly hot, like first-en macbook-pro hot!

Should I return my unit, or do I just need to get used to unplugging it each day?

I got a udac2 a couple of weeks ago (I love it) and I leave it plugged in 24/7. I shut my pc down at night, and the unit gets a little red light on to signal low power. My udac2 gets warm when the pc is on also and the dac itself is not switched on, but it still receives power and warms up. It only gets warm, not "hot", but I don't see that unplugging and plugging it in every day is necessary as I have had no issues that you are describing.

I think you may want a replacement.

FWIW, I've had my uDAC-2 for about a week, using it with a laptop and 595's.  It's also connected to a Dayton DTA-100a class T amp which drives a couple of passive bookshelf speakers.  Like the laptop it stays on 24/7. Surprisingly, it feels like it's never gotten hotter than room temperature (about 68 deg. F).  Not even slightly warm to the touch.

Dead silent with the volume turned all the way up and nothing playing.  Sonically it works as advertised.  Couldn't be more pleased with it.

Hope that helps. 

funny you mention that, because this week, i totally forgot to turn it off for at least a few days, and yet, no excessive heat, or static this time. i wonder if the heat and static are part of some odd breaking in that needs to happen. i'm still going to turn it off when i'm not using it, but it's nice to know the unit is not trashed.

as for regular operation, i love this thing. i'm perfectly silent on my mac, and the sound really compliments most music i listen to. i also love having a non-stepped volume to use.

edit: if i want to get headphones to work with this, what should i go for. looking to spend about $150-$200.

Denon AH-D2000

Hi - newbie here as well. 

Have had mine for two weeks now and I haven't really had it running for that long periods, so I haven't noticed it being warm.

Still I like mine - it doesn't do magic to the sound but it is indeed a nifty little gadget and will compete well with whatever Soundblaster you might like to put into a computer.

Here are my reflections of it so far:

http://sketchywolf.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/nuforce-icon-udac2/

and

http://sketchywolf.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/nuforce-icon-udac2-follow-up/

I had the heat problem too, it gets hot if I am using too many other USB ports at the same time, it's a some sort of power issue I think.