The HeadRoom Ultra Desktop Balanced DAC [THE UDAC] is BACK! - Page 2

Glad to see the UDAC back! I was wondering where it went when it was pulled from the website.

The UDAC is extremely flexible and has Spdif/Coax, Toslink, and USB inputs and 2 X 3 pin XLR and RCA outputs.  It can work with a balanced amp but it is a very nice stand alone DAC.  

 

As a customer, I just want to say a word about the original UDAC situation, I really appreciate the long standing Headroom's business practice, cooperate philosophy, and customer relations. They are the best on my book. I am very glad to see Travis (present CEO) is continuing that tradition.  I am very impressed with the way they were upfront about the USB problem with their original UDAC.  They didn't skirt around the issues.  They stepped up to the plate and own the problem instead of sticking it to the customers.  They are not afraid to take care of their customers. Their concern and priority in sales which came through very clearly to me is whether their customer is satisfied with their products and/or purchase.  In fact, they spontaneously stopped the production of the original UDAC without a lot of drama here on the forum to make them do it.  Their customer service is responsive and you can always talked to a friendly, patient and live person.  As a customer in this highly expensive hobby of ours, I felt with headroom I can always make my money stretch as long as it possibly can.  For instance, I can still remember when I first purchased the Cosmic amp some ten years ago, I was able to upgrade the amp several times with difference reference modules and thereby extended the value of my original purchase to last so much longer or until the product cycle ran out (for several years). This is true with many of their other products.  In this day and time, many companies will release a product and within a very short time and with slight modification release a newer version of the same product and as customers we are outdated almost instantly and are forced to buy again.  With this UDAC, Headroom again is willing to replace the board for their existing UDAC customers when their product is up and thereby able to keep us up to date with their products spells incredible amount of care for their customers.  With Headroom, it is not their bottom line or their pocket that came first, even though it is a must in a business, but it is their customers. That is why they have such a loyal followings.  And these kinds of behavior deserve to be mention more often on these forums as well as our support.  Good job, Headroom, just wanted to show my appreciation for what you do and the way you handle yourself with such class.

Jorge, you are very welcome.  But you and your customers know every word I said is true.  You earn it.

Have been using the DPS+BUDA+UDAC since right after its release and its just great with what ever I got of cans! After I got my 800 HD and balanced them I can hardly use anything else without massive loss of quality even with some what poor source material they just make it better. With 800 HD's balanced or not however some really poor source material and after a while heck most non-high bitrate, analog or lossless will sound rather filled with tiny horrid digital in-perfections that screams into the clarity of your ears - some digital radio or podcasts etc. I'm actually thinking of getting a pair of coloring cans or a tube amp for to cover this up as they are clearly not present on lesser systems like a good pair of midrange (Head-Fi relative) IEM's on my mobile.

Recommend if you want whats really there and fixing the USB stuff while better chip is just neat!

 

Good that I'm done with my degree this summer and getting monies - just realized that shipping insured to and from the US will be a little expensive - but at least its also a free upgrade to even better DAC

 

I should note that IMO and experience with this system: the DAC's is in the greatest series I have ever seen the technical proofs on - which is a fantastic new concept that really shows their digital hardware, ASIC manufacturing and signal processing expertise. And thats from an engineer student in IT who is doing his theses on/by "implementing next-gen. digital processors on-chip memory network interface on FPGA's for optimizing large next-gen. multi-core systems" with his [also can loving] professor *. Yeah its really complicated stuff but music keeps me in the zone

 

So take my professional word on it technically but subjectively I'm a owner and lover so where you actually like the performance or not is a relative matter

 

 

*My background in audio (besides hobby stuff) is from work at Sennheiser [Communications], Oticon and from one other best audio institutes in the world at the Danish Technical University** so I know the basics of whats whats up on down on DAC's besides my obviously very strong digital hardware and software background

** AAU's institute in the other end of Denmark and at least one German are generally seen as having better even thought I think DTU actually have most global audio industry HQ's, audio specialist companys, R'n'D sites etc. near by

Awesome!  Might have to convince my friend to upgrade his current HeadRoom unit.  Anyone out there done a comparison between the HeadRoom and Grace 902 unit?

Well heard both and I like this better but as a owner you'd clearly see that as a bit colored - Grace is like a more forgiving and warm on source material.

Great product...but just not for me....

Old thread, but xEcuToR, why not?  What's better for you?

Well sometimes the clinical factor especially with much of the poor quality material I seem to consume everyday I feel like I need a pre- or post-amp of smoothing tubes.... Watching old Blackadder episodes and crying while Virtual Choir 2.0 seems to make me almost crying in the other direction. How cruel is fate!?