music_man said:

  this is what i mean. i am not so popular with all audiophiles. i say everything in audio is subjective and personal preference. there is no right or wrong.i have preached this for years.
i do agree the 503 is better than the 501 stock. i dislike the topology of the 503's internals. especially since it does not easily lend it self to modifications. the 501 was an open book in that regard.
i feel my particular 501 is now a top tier dac in it's own right. you may not like it though. that is fine too. everyone hears differently.
i also agree neither is fantastic out of the box. they are both good inexpensive dacs with the 503 being somewhat better. 
seeing as i cannot mod the 503 and either stock is average i would look elsewhere.
of course many thought the 501 stock was fantastic as others do with the 503. again, that is fine.
when i got the 501 i knew the first thing i had to do was tear it down and start modding it. after just 20 minutes of listening. luckily it lended itself well to improvements. the 503 i do not see anything to redo.
therefore the 503 is not for me. it's head amp is much better than the 501. i do not use a dac for a head amp.  dedicated amps will easily out do it imo. of course for a good package on a budget i do recommend it.
mine is in a closet right now in it's shipping box. however i may try it to power my grados. just add a source and it fits nicely on the table ext to my bed.
 
there are certainly better dacs and worse ones. i feel my 501 is in a different league but that is just my opinion. many may still not like it.

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fair enough comments.
for similar money would you have any alternative recommendations?

unfortunately not right now. this is sadly not a high price point for dacs. the ifi is very good though just not as fancy. you just missed pics i could have taken. sorry did not read here. i don't think i ever posted any of it. i can't work anymore but a buddy just managed to stuff a femto clock in it for me. i can't honestly hear any difference but at least i know it is not gambling with data now. the ud-501 was a blank canvas whereas the ud-503 apparently is not. that is rather unfortunate but they may have done that to it on purpose. these guys modding the ud-503 really are not doing much. the ud-501 was by leaps and bounds. if anyone wants a great project pick up a used ud-501.
 
proffesional version? tascam makes one? hmm. have to go look.
 
thats about it unless hope for tascam mine is sitting in a closet. i do not want to sell it though. probably give it as a gift.

this is ot but just shows whats what. i just listened to the gryphon kalliope at a friends house again this morning. my reference piece is currently the diamond dac v. however the modded ud-501 comes close when the price is also factored in. that is my point though. you can do a lot for a little with the right starting point. no, it is not as good as those dacs but if you consider price makes you wonder why you would need one like that. i prefer the versatility of the diamond dac v. the gryphon may have a sound edge over all. the ud-501 here has gotten to the point stuffed full of mods it is seeming like a big bucks dac. i take it you just can't rip apart the ud-503 like that. i would like 11.2mhz on it. that is not absolutely required though. many high end dacs still do fine with 5.6mhz. that is getting above the limits of human hearing already. there is no sense at the point something is better than ones ears but it will need good output circuitry and that is what is expensive.

not to hijack this thread maybe i found a much better option for some people. if you prefer nos which i kinow was discussed in this thread. put the stock 501 or 503 in "nos" mode and compare it to the nuforce dac 9. i think most will agree it is much better at that. no wonder, that is all it does. compared to dsd i am not quite sure myself. i like options. still, the dac 9 is a real bargain for a nos dac. i have always said a lot more creates the sound of a dac than simply the conversion ic. no doubt stock the dac 9 uses better components. i guess it depends if you want dsd. today i would not be without dsd. i am not exactly being fair though i can get my hands on and have had almost anything. if i were going to pick one i think the dac 9 is your better bet even sans dsd. as for the ud-501 i would then take that and of course get right to work modding it. or not. crutchfield still sells the ud-501 brand new for only $849.go put 3 grand of parts and some 50 hours into it and you have something very serious. i would still perhaps take it stock over the dac 9. not the 503 though. the 503 does sound better in dsd stock to the 501 but it just seems to me they cut every corner they could to increase profit. the 501 was really built well for the money and a great springboard at which to go wild.i feel mine is worth 10 grand now. it sounds like it. i can honestly compare it to the likes of the gryphon without laughing. in fact, dead serious about that. do like the diamond v better but price comparison is completely unfair. even the gryphon is not short of amazing i can put them in the same boat. so if you do not feel you are up for dsd i think the dac 9 is a much better option. the reason i say this now is because i just did an extensive listening session today between the 501, 503, dac 9. my modded 501 is much better of course. count those paper in oil caps, super conductors now femto clock etc. it went way up the charts. in nos i feel the dac 9 is far superior. again though i am torn because i would not be without dsd right now. however crutchfield still having the 501 is what i would do unless you only plan on listening to nos. even if you do not mod it. i do like the idea of 11.2mhz but at the end of the day the 501 was much better built. luckily you can still get one. so now your choice. do you need dsd or not. it is said few people can here 1x dsd let alone 4x or more. plus it seems to flatten the frequency less natural. i prefer it. if you are in vinyl you should prefer nos. so i picked one although i am unsure of the prices. this came about because it just so happened i got the dac 9 today. i really need to have a garage sale lol. no, seriously no inquiries about sale of my gear please. i will let everyone know if and when. other than that i was wondering what other people thought about being sans dsd in 2016? do you require 11.2mhz or is 5.6mhz enough? gryphon only does 5.6 afaik so good comparison to decked out 501. i will say the directstream is very nice again but my ud 501 i like much better. stock the directstream is in a different class. now i just need to change the converter ic in this thing is the last step to excellence. interestingly that chip has better specs at the cost of 11.2mhz.  i just feel people should either go get the 501 at crutchfield or if nos is all that matters to you snatch up the dac 9. still not sure about the prices though. for all i know i am comparing apples and oranges. dac 9 does not look expensive though. so would you guys go strictly nos in 2016? i wouldn't. although in the end it is the sound that matters regardless of how t is achieved. i prefer dsd, many do not. silly to buy a dsd dac if you do not intend to use it though. get one with better components as nos dacs tend to be. oh well done rambling sorry.
 
edit: just noticed esoteric d1 also is only 5.6mhz but lower end models are 11.2mhz. as i said there is much more to a dac than the conversion ic. i feel the ud-501 was better built stock if not sounding as good as the 503 but marginal. may advice remains. if you want teac buy the ud-501 from crutchfield while you still can. much cheaper too. you have a better built device and can always upgrade it to your hearts content. stock it is not too shabby either.
 
wait! one more thing. what about the ayre codex? same price? supposed to be a giant killer. strange the ayre qb9 has leser specs. not a fan of them usually but who knows. in that segment i pick bryston but now i am sure that is more money than the 503. i mean bda3 or whatever the latest one is. benchmark? lot's of choices. i just think the 503 went down in build quality but slightly better in sq. all bets are off if you mod the 501. i still say get the 501 while you can. it seems as of now the 503 is not even to be had in the states yet agan. more problems? don't know. maybe just distribution.

music_man said:

 it seems as of now the 503 is not even to be had in the states yet agan. more problems? don't know. maybe just distribution.

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Hi, I just joined here to reply to the statement that the Teac UD-503 is not to be had in the State. This is false as I recently purchased one from Amazon.com. In fact I posted user review on it here: Great DAC with built in headphone amp. Mine was purchased on 5 Feb, 2016
 
Anyway at time of purchase it was going for $884 dollars. It is now back up to $999. My unit is in the 7000 range of the serial number and thus far there are no issues.  Can't speak on comparisons to the 501 as this is the first hi-end DAC I owned.
 
At any rate the Teac UD-503 is very much out in the states and an be had at Amazon - Teac UD-503-B Dual-Monaural USB DAC with Headphone Amplifier Black

thats strange all i see is shipping from japan. i swear that listing was not there when i wrote that or i a just need better glasses. my bad. sorry. it does sound better than the stock 501 so can't really go wrong with either. price i see on 501 kind of does make the 503 more sense. 501 if you are going to mod it only really.
 
glad you joined! welcome.

I don't know when Amazon first got them but they were there a few days before I purchased mine. They still have them, but currently there is only one left. 
And no, I won't be doing any mods.
Thanks for the Welcome.
 

Is there a way to change the voltage from 120v to 230v within the chassis?

syg, i swear they were sold out when i looked a few days ago. either got more or i misread. so how do you like it? i think either the 501 or 503 are by far the best dacs in that price range. compare them stock to a 2 grand dac is not fair. under a grand either one is all i will recommend. if you mod the bolts out of the 501 it becomes a very serious dac. worth it to some people. of course if you figure i spent about 30 hours on it others spent about 20 hours on it plus 3 grand of parts. well now that is kind of silly. if you figure everyones time is worth $100 or even $65 an hour plus the 3 grand of parts you could just go buy a dac that good off the shelf with a warranty. in fact most $6k+ dacs are at least as good. it was just an exercise for me. i can no longer work due to serious disability so i will not be doing that again anyways.
 
thatn, you just have to switch the wires from the center tap to the outside tap on the torroids. it is very simple for a tech. if you do not know how to do that type of thing absolutely do not! there can be property loss and possible death including fire. do not do it if you do not know how! it takes knowledge to work with power supplies and they will not hesitate to kill you or burn your dwelling. if you ned a tech just go to any all brand service center. it will void your warranty. which i am sketchy about anyways. i would want to have a full warranty on the 503 seeing as the first 5,000 failed and some things inside of it look unkosher. don't get me wrong it is fine i would just not go void my warranty. for that very reason a authorized teac service will refuse to do that. can't you just buy from japan anyways? it's on amazon. just request a japan model instead of north america. on that note 110v power sucks. i mod almost everything to 220v. just sounds better. 110v in north america is just too unreliable for audio. we do have 220v if you use both phases. it is in fact 220v here the idiots at the nec decided to split phase so people can have more branches in their homes. again, i warn you do not do this if you do not know how. this is very serious.  

Thanks, but I'm not modding. I'm a Windows PC builder as I custom build my own hi end gaming rigs so I know what modding is about, but sometimes you just have to let things run the way they were designed and trust the company knows what they're doing.  I'm thinkin Teac knows better than me or else I wouldn't have bought it. 
 
As for the item being on Amazon when, I can only say it was there when I bought it.
 
Peace

Teac definitely knows their stuff. I picked up 2 of the other DAC of theirs, looking to pick up another one on the cheap for the center channel.

well yes. they make esoteric. it seems it did trickle down to these. made affordable via china. even unmodded either is great.

I'm still searching for a good dac+hp amp combo and haven't pulled the trigger yet. I am still undecided between the Marantz HD-DAC1 and the Teac UD 503, what would you recommend?.
 
The Marantz has less functionality but I will use it mostly with headphones. Another possibility is to buy a used 501, there are units on eBay for even less than 400€, but the headphone amp is clearly inferior to the new 503.
 
Among many other options available the Matrix HPA-3U is cheaper and althought it is clearly inferior as a DAC and has worse connectivity it probably has a better headphone amplifier that the others. The Deckard even seems to be based on it.
 
I can't audition any of the options before purchase, none are available locally so it makes things more difficult.

Dude you're in the Teac forum, what do you think we're going to recommend.  With that, I have no experience with Marantz so I certainly can't speak of it.

Anyone here using JRiver Media Center with their DAC? If so, what audio device do you use - ASIO or WASAPI?
 
I ask because sometimes when turning on the my UD-503, I sometimes get errors as though the TEAC ASIO driver suddenly went missing on my Windows 10 machine. Would post images but it seems my newbie status won't allow me to just yet.  
 
Anyway I get errors like "Playback could not be started on the output ASIO' using format 44.1 kHz 2ch" and  "The ASIO device TEAC ASIO USB DRIVER does not support the sample rate of 44100 Hz".
 
It also appears that when I decide to listen to iTunes, I need to make sure I turn on the 503 first or else  it won't recognize iTunes is playing music and I get no sound output. When this happens I have to restart the DAC to remedy this annoying issue.  
 
Anyone know what's going on? An I missing something?
 
Thanks.