$299 Roland Mobile UA - USB DAC/amp with S1LKi 1-bit DSP
Jan 12, 2017 at 2:40 AM Post #121 of 129
  Anyone able to get this working with the new Tidal Master tracks?  Every time I try and play one Tidal errors out saying change the system sound settings to 16/44.  It's already set to that and I've tried everything I can think of and can't get it to play.  Tidal unfolds the MQA track to 24/96 PCM which the Roland should have no problem with so I'm at a loss here.
 
I have the same problem with the CEntrance DacPort HD.  My Emotiva DC-1, Schiit Fulla 2 and Chord mojo all work fine.

Anyone?  Doesn't anyone own this any more?
 
Apr 22, 2017 at 8:40 PM Post #123 of 129

 
Hello everyone,
 
I wanted to contribute a bit to this rather rare thread because it does deserve more info that it currently has.
 
It's a shame Roland has not marketed the Mobile UA more.
 
A bit of background. I have been recently (as of the past year and a half or so) in high quality audio for post production and overall musical enjoyment purposes. Post production comes first and the need for flat, transparent gear is very important. Recently I have been looking at Audio Interfaces as a colleague's friend, an audio engineer, and another engineer I have recently met, have advised me to look into them. As per their profession requires, audio for production should be colourless, clear and as true as possible so as to be able to hear nuances, edit sound and mix appropiately.
 
Because my needs are rather simple (no inputs, just 2 outputs) I was advised to look into the Babyface Pro, Pro Tools Duet, Steinberg 22 mkII and the like (Apogee Duo is more Mac only and I use windows) and I started the search a couple of weeks ago. I currently own a Meridian Director and a Meridian Explorer 2 as DACs and a Beyerdyanmic A20 as amp. This is a far cry from the incredibly more expensive stuff you read about around here but I thought I should start somewhere and (by the way of the wording around here) the description of the sound of the Meridians gave the impression that they would be the most neutral for that price bracket and a good place to start. So, for all intents and purposes, my comparison today lies between the two USB DACs you see in the image above: the Mobile UA and the Explorer2.
 
The reason I got the Mobile UA is because I first read about the Super UA, the audio interface. Seeing that the Super UA is a relatively obscure audio interface, it is not so rare to also find that the Mobile UA is also a relatively obscure DAC/amp. It looks as if Roland has not marketed these two so well. BH Photo lists the Mobile UA as discontinued albeit it is still available at Thomann in Europe for 149Eur.
 
The reason I was attracted at the Super UA is not only because of the 2 output (actually 6 if you use the breakout box and headphones out) but also because it appeared to be competing straight against the Apogee Duet, Pro Tools Duet and Babyface Pro and Apollo Duo (both of the latter ones being highly regarded by many reviewers and other people that use these two. While apparently not having as much market penetration in the audio interface as RME, Steinberg or Apogee, Roland is well known and respected for the recording and production side of things. I actually use a Roland field recorder for my work (R-26 is anyone cares) as it has one of the best pre-amps available for field recorders compared to Tascam, Zoom and Olympus.
 
While the price of the Super UA is quite a bit high compared to Steinberg or Roland's own other interfaces, it is currently priced in the middle, a bit cheaper than the RME and Apollo Twin. In any case, it doesn't stop it from being quite a bit of money so, in order to at least give the DAC a bit of a test, I decided to get the Mobile UA as another head-fier here (@raoultrifan) noted that the Mobile UA and the Super UA use the same DAC. ( http://www.head-fi.org/t/809906/roland-super-ua )
 
So, to the meat of it:
 
I spent the day comparing the two using ER4SR (my main work driver) and DT 1770 Pro. The Mobile UA, to me, is the more transparent of the 2. I can hear details easier with it in my own recordings (work 24bit 48khz recordings) when played through Auditon. The explorer2 is also bassier...or the bass is more pronounced and it seems to taint the sound more. The bass of the Mobile UA has more depth as do the high frequencies. It feels as if the Mobile UA has more depth of sound in both directions, a cleaner sound. Listening to music through Foobar also has this effect, but it really depends on what you are listening to to make that difference. A lot of mi collection is hard rock/metal music and sadly most of those albums are not well mastered so you cant hear any difference there. But the ones that are well mastered (like Nine Inch Nails' The Slip or, on the other spectrum, Buena Vista Social Club and Massive Attack) allow you to hear the difference well.
 
The differences are not as pronounced on the DT1770 as they are on the Etymotics.
 
I will keep on listening more tomorrow to confirm but it does look like I may be selling my Explorer2. Since I am looking for a work tool more than a collection of fun toys, the Mobile UA is the more useful one of the two as far as I can for now.
 
Dec 19, 2017 at 3:07 PM Post #124 of 129
hello everyone,
I just got me one :) There is only one issue that maybe some of you can help me with.
I have read all the post and as far as I know I did not see this issue,
I only can get 192 kHz resolution, when I select 352.8 kHz windows does not recognizes the UA-m10 anymore.
Does anybody knows what this is? I have tested it at, 2 windows 7 PC and 1 windows 10 PC with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports.
 
Dec 19, 2017 at 4:11 PM Post #126 of 129
Hi Raoultrifan, thanks for the reply :)
I have updated it to the latest driver, I have no Mac (nobody I know has one) so I can not test it. I have no DSD media so have not tested that (not really planning on using it)
It is just that windows kicks it out when it is in 352.8 kHz mode, can't really figure out why this is...
Is it faulty, or just a driver issue?
 
Dec 25, 2017 at 8:31 PM Post #127 of 129
Hi Raoultrifan, thanks for the reply :)
I have updated it to the latest driver, I have no Mac (nobody I know has one) so I can not test it. I have no DSD media so have not tested that (not really planning on using it)
It is just that windows kicks it out when it is in 352.8 kHz mode, can't really figure out why this is...
Is it faulty, or just a driver issue?

It may be a driver issue...but, is your source file 352.8khz or do you wish to force the Mobile UA into thinking that is the output?
If your source is 352.8khz and whatever software you are using is correctly selecting the Mobile UA as the output device (you may need to download ASIO drivers for that) you may email Roland for help.
 
Dec 26, 2017 at 8:07 AM Post #128 of 129
It worked! I got him talking!
It is the ASIO that confused me (my bad :wink: I know ASIO in a DAW setting, but media players it works a little bit different.
I had the impression that you just had to select the output, because I could not find it in the different players (VLC is my standard media player)
I installed Jriver media centre (I could not get it to work in foobar2000, I don't now what I do wrong but the sample rate resets at 41 khz everytime...),
and then every thing made sence. I sellected ASIO and DSP in DoP format, and now I can select the higer sample rates!
but in DoP, you can choose only between 176 Khz or 2xDSP at 352 Khz, it does not select 192Khz.
I preffer DSP over PCM, I got the feeling that it has a more silky feeling to it, even with media Files with a more lower resolution.
I find 352 Khz a litte better but out I put it it at 176 KHz, so I can use it as a general sound cart, when playback in windows without asio.
I just wonder If a file that has 192 is played that way or is downsampled to 176 Khz? Jriver said it is playing the file at that rate but when I open the driver it still says 176
Annyway I love this card. It was good but in DSP mode it is a class better. The Mobile UA is a real steel for the price. I love it!
 
Dec 27, 2017 at 9:27 PM Post #129 of 129
It worked! I got him talking!
It is the ASIO that confused me (my bad :wink: I know ASIO in a DAW setting, but media players it works a little bit different.
I had the impression that you just had to select the output, because I could not find it in the different players (VLC is my standard media player)
I installed Jriver media centre (I could not get it to work in foobar2000, I don't now what I do wrong but the sample rate resets at 41 khz everytime...),
and then every thing made sence. I sellected ASIO and DSP in DoP format, and now I can select the higer sample rates!
but in DoP, you can choose only between 176 Khz or 2xDSP at 352 Khz, it does not select 192Khz.
I preffer DSP over PCM, I got the feeling that it has a more silky feeling to it, even with media Files with a more lower resolution.
I find 352 Khz a litte better but out I put it it at 176 KHz, so I can use it as a general sound cart, when playback in windows without asio.
I just wonder If a file that has 192 is played that way or is downsampled to 176 Khz? Jriver said it is playing the file at that rate but when I open the driver it still says 176
Annyway I love this card. It was good but in DSP mode it is a class better. The Mobile UA is a real steel for the price. I love it!


Excellent. Enjoy!
 

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