Nuforce Dac-100 News - Page 11

DAC-100 in the house for me as well - loving the silver model with the black accent on front. It's got a whole different vibe to it compared to my black DDA-100. 

DAC-100 currently burning in along with a few other things. Will start listening as I have time. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFiGuy528 

Is it my unit or the hissing noise is on the high side?  I am using a 32 Ohms headphone so maybe that's the problem.  I'll try a higher impedance headphone when I get back to my S.F. house.

 

I found noise levels to be high with low impedance headphones. The literature recommends 120ohm and up. The only low impedance headphones that did well with it was my Fostex. Actually, the Fostex sound *great* from it. I would say the T50rp and Senn HD600 were my favourite pairings with it. The LCD2 was good, but definitely appreciated the extra headroom from the HAP-100. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

 

I found noise levels to be high with low impedance headphones. The literature recommends 120ohm and up. The only low impedance headphones that did well with it was my Fostex. Actually, the Fostex sound *great* from it. I would say the T50rp and Senn HD600 were my favourite pairings with it. The LCD2 was good, but definitely appreciated the extra headroom from the HAP-100. 

The spec for the 100 lists A-weighted SNR at 96db which is rather mediocre for a modern DAC making it bang-on 16 bits, that said noise at 96db should still be inaudible and the manual says Recommended Headphone Impedance: 32-300 Ohm so no clue that low z phones should be an issue, my $90 DAC/amp is utterly silent even a full volume into both 250ohm and 32ohm.

I can understand allowing some deficiencies in cheap gear a free pass but audible noise on a grands worth of DAC/amp at listening levels seems a bit generous ! The fact that my mass-produced jelly bean chip eBay DAC/Amp is audibly silent when my rather more expensive and boutique parted M^3 is not pisses me off a tad, fortunately even on the disappointing noise-wise M^3 noise is only an issue at very very high volumes so perhaps it does not matter ...

Their literature is a little bit inconsistent in terms of what impedance headphones are acceptably. I've seen the 32-300, some say over 100, some say over 120. Some say low impedance high efficiency. Etc.

The lineout is quieter than the headphone out. But still, the noise is present. I'm curious how the UDH performs, as it's supposed to be the same but without the optical/coax inputs, but the specs are better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

 

I wish I knew how strong the headphone output is on that thing. 

 

 

 

 

Cool. Looking forward to it.

on the Harman Kardon 430? IDK but it sure does drive the DT990 600ohm like no other I have experienced. I made a desktop sound system out of it last night and hooked my B&O BeoVox S45's up to it and it sounds super. the UDH-100 to the HK 430. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

Their literature is a little bit inconsistent in terms of what impedance headphones are acceptably. I've seen the 32-300, some say over 100, some say over 120. Some say low impedance high efficiency. Etc.

 

The lineout is quieter than the headphone out. But still, the noise is present. I'm curious how the UDH performs, as it's supposed to be the same but without the optical/coax inputs, but the specs are better.

my Sennheiser HD 598 headphones sound beautiful out of the UDH-100's headphone socket. The HD 598 is 50 Ohms. so do the AKG K702's 62 Ohms sound wonderful 

If the HD598 is quiet on the UDH-100, then it definitely has an improved noise floor over the DAC-100. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

If the HD598 is quiet on the UDH-100, then it definitely has an improved noise floor over the DAC-100. 

yes the HD 598 is dead silent on the UDH-100. I switch periodically between my DT990's K702's and the HD 598 with it, drives them all really well. 

i'm a happy udh-100 user, it pairs with my Q701 very much to my liking. The RCA PRE out is excellent VFM, I compared it with a DAC and Pre 6 times the cost of the udh-100 and the udh-100 lacked only a slight amount of resolution. For the money, I am very happy with it. It will soon feed a pair of genelec 0840's.

Might have asked this before, but has anyone compared the DAC-100 to the Lavry DA-10/11? I'm curious to find out which is the more neutral sounding.

I think Jude did early on. You'll have to dig through the thread. 

edit: here's one... http://www.head-fi.org/t/615533/nuforce-dac-100-news/90#post_8937209

There might have been one somewhere else, but I don't remember for certain.

He expanded on that a little in the Head-Fi Summer Buying Guide. You can click HERE and go to reviews to see the relevant section. 

I really do enjoy the sound I get from the pairing of the HD 800 and DAC-100. I'm pretty content with it for now. I've heard a Stax SR-009 with a LL amp and that sound was quite excellent, but I'll be waiting a while before I decide to get the SR-009. The HD-800 and DAC-100 is pretty close.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackskelly 

I really do enjoy the sound I get from the pairing of the HD 800 and DAC-100. I'm pretty content with it for now. I've heard a Stax SR-009 with a LL amp and that sound was quite excellent, but I'll be waiting a while before I decide to get the SR-009. The HD-800 and DAC-100 is pretty close.

I just which it had a tad more bass :/ I'm going to try the foam mod thing on innerfidelity and maybe get a copper cable.