[athlon7750]

I didn't have a chance to compare them directly. I was disappointed by the poor build quality of the iDAC 2. It had a loose part inside it and I returned it after a few days. 
I really don't think the iDSD is better, but you should see for yourself. Buy both and return the one you don't like, if it's possible.

 

[leepc]

thanks for the inputs. definitely I will keep the UA for the two headphones out with dedicated OPAM.
Just hope the nano iDSD will perform at least as good as UA.

 

[kvad]

  I pair it with Sennheiser HD598, Grado SR60i and Baldoor E100. DAC's I've previously owned are: Fiio E10K (the only one I've been able to compare the Roland to), Fiio X3 ii, and iFi iDAC2.

 
I'd be interested in a comparison to the E10K, as an E10 is what I'll be upgrading from. I was thinking of going for the Mojo, but having a hard time justifying the price - this seems like it could be a viable alternative. Was there some sort of gain setting in software on these things?

 

[gr8soundz]

Received the Roland today. Very nice unit (especially for $69). Has an all metal chassis with a bright, color changing led light strip to indicate volume and signal levels. Only comes with a short micro usb cable and paperwork. 
 
Hooked it up to a Windows 10 laptop and the driver self installed (downloading the driver from Roland just gives you a readme file telling you to let Windows Update install the driver automatically; not exactly my 1st choice). Did a Windows update to ensure it was the version 2 driver shown in device properties under device manager. Then did the firmware update to ver 2.02. All a bit confusing and it took me a moment to figure out where the software settings were (Windows Control Panel now has a small UA-M10 icon to manage all the settings).
 
Some very early impressions:
Note: This is my first device with an AKM dac chip.
 
First tried it briefly with my PortaPros just to make sure it worked. Sounded great alongside Foobar 2K set to ASIO output.
 
Then tested it with my Sony Z7s in balanced mode. Sound quality is very good with great separation, good placement, and a good soundstage. Vocals are very clear and the treble is never too bright. Bass seems a bit boosted though and, even though the Z7s are easy to drive, I still needed to press the volume up until it reached orange which is on the higher end for the Roland (green is lowest volume, red is max). Not the most powerful headphone amp (even when using both headphone jacks in balanced mode) but the Roland was able to drive my Beyerdynamic T1.2s decently (also balanced). However, volume was almost at the max level.
 
I also tried it with the 1-bit conversion setting on and off. On (which I believe means it upsamples everything to DSD) was preferred and not fatiguing at all. With it off, the sound was harsher and probably better suited to pairing with an external amp. Too bad line-out (which bypasses the internal volume control) doesn't work in balanced mode (would be double amping to a balanced amp but will still try pairing it later and see how it does). Can't beat a balanced dac/amp at this price though. Sound wise, its no iDSD Micro but the UA's build quality is on par with iFi's.
 
Also tried connecting the Roland to my LG V10 (running Android 6.0) with a dual micro usb otg cable. The phone acknowledged the usb dac but, unfortunately, neither UAPP nor HibyMusic played sound through the Roland.
 
I can also confirm it plays FLAC files just fine and at different bit rates (tested it with files at 44, 88, and 96kHz).
 

 

[trellus]

@gr8soundz, thanks for the early impressions!  It's about what I expected, and my concern about whether it has enough power to drive headphones that are harder to drive seems to be validated, though most of my headphones aren't that hard to drive (Fostex T20RP MK3 being hardest of the ones I own), and this will be the first balanced amp I have.

 

[gr8soundz]

Just tried it single-ended with my stock T50RP mk3s. Still sounds very good and has volume to spare. Tested a few tracks and even with a quieter track I only got to the orange-red range. Went a bit higher and it was too loud but still not fully maxed out.
 
The UA is turning out to be a great little dac/amp. Bass is definitely boosted though.
 

 

[kvad]

  Sound wise, its no iDSD Micro but the UA's build quality is on par with iFi's.

 
Thanks for the first impression. Any chance you could test it with more sensitive IEMs? Was hoping this could be something like a poor mans Mojo, but if it falls short of the iFi I presume the gap would be substantial?

 

[gr8soundz]

Don't use iems so can't test that for you. Also don't have a Mojo but the Roland UA has the one feature I'd have gotten a Mojo for: balanced out (though the UA has no battery and doesn't work with Android/iOS).
 
However (imo), even when used balanced, the UA is still a step behind the iDSD Micro. To my ears, the Micro has more detail, better midrange, and more sparkle (don't like using that word) in the treble. Its not a night versus day difference and both sound different, especially with the UA's bass. It even has a little more low end than the Micro with xbass on; more bass quantity with the UA (even single-ended) but better bass quality with the Micro. So I think bassheads may prefer the UA but the Micro is that much more capable (and equally more expensive).

 

[eeagle]

Has anyone discovered a driver for Window XP.?
 
I was disappointed to see Roland had no drivers for older OS's, just Windows 7-10.
 
I use an old Dell XP machine as my music server, and do most of my headphone listening directly from that machine.
 
I do have a Windows 10 laptop I will try, but disappointed for now that I can't use the Mobile UA the way I expected.

 

[harpo1]

  Has anyone discovered a driver for Window XP.?
 
I was disappointed to see Roland had no drivers for older OS's, just Windows 7-10.
 
I use an old Dell XP machine as my music server, and do most of my headphone listening directly from that machine.
 
I do have a Windows 10 laptop I will try, but disappointed for now that I can't use the Mobile UA the way I expected.

Call them, they're really helpful.

 

[trellus]

  Has anyone discovered a driver for Window XP.?
 
I was disappointed to see Roland had no drivers for older OS's, just Windows 7-10.
 
I use an old Dell XP machine as my music server, and do most of my headphone listening directly from that machine.
 
I do have a Windows 10 laptop I will try, but disappointed for now that I can't use the Mobile UA the way I expected.

 
I think this DAC came out in Fall 2014, no?  Support for Windows XP by Microsoft was discontinued on 8 April 2014 so it would not have made sense for Roland to release an XP driver for operating system that was introduced in 2001 and that was officially end-of-life'd by the vendor already.
 
I know that's not a savory answer, but

 

[trellus]

 
 
Quote:

  Just tried it single-ended with my stock T50RP mk3s. Still sounds very good and has volume to spare. Tested a few tracks and even with a quieter track I only got to the orange-red range. Went a bit higher and it was too loud but still not fully maxed out.
 
The UA is turning out to be a great little dac/amp. Bass is definitely boosted though.

 

Just got my mine in today... love the sturdy build and very "pro" look of the device; the light is very nice looking, and it drives the T20RP MK3 quite well... I haven't attempted to max it out yet because it began getting too loud for my ears. 

 

[gr8soundz]

 
Just got my mine in today... love the sturdy build and very "pro" look of the device; the light is very nice looking, and it drives the T20RP MK3 quite well... I haven't attempted to max it out yet because it began getting too loud for my ears. 

 
Yeah, the overall quality is great. I'd forgotten how 'professional' Roland's stuff feels.
 

 

[kvad]

@gr8soundz Thanks for the feedback - very helpful. Guess I'll just have to figure out if I should take this intermediary step, or jump straight to the end point with something like the Mojo.

 

[wutsup]

Hi,
 
New to the forum here, but I really appreciate the posts I've read and everyone seems very helpful. I received this amp this yesterday and have a pair of Sony MDR-7506 and the MDR-XB950BT headphones. I will try driving these once I set up and update the Mobile UA amp.
 
I would like to use this as an external sound card and the line out to drive my Logitech Z-10 speakers. Will this be a good solution? Any issues that could arise from this?
 
Thanks to everyone in advance for any assistance.