[harpo1]

I emailed Roland about the balanced outputs power out and the following is their reply.
 
"The Mobile UA's headphone outputs are not balanced but are stereo (in other words: tip = left, ring = right, and sleeve = ground). If using mono ends, the signal may be louder because the left and right audio signals are being combined together. Only stereo cables/connectors are recommended for the headphone jacks of the Mobile UA."
 
So it appears these are wired like a 3 pin balanced DAC output and Amp input.  So I don't believe there is any benefit in connecting headphones to the balanced outputs of the UA.

 

[trellus]

I emailed Roland about the balanced outputs power out and the following is their reply.

[COLOR=2B2E2F]"The Mobile UA's headphone outputs are not balanced but are stereo (in other words: tip = left, ring = right, and sleeve = ground). If using mono ends, the signal may be louder because the left and right audio signals are being combined together. Only stereo cables/connectors are recommended for the headphone jacks of the Mobile UA."[/COLOR]

So it appears these are wired like a 3 pin balanced DAC output and Amp input.  So I don't believe there is any benefit in connecting headphones to the balanced outputs of the UA.

Ah ok, I have zero experience with this. What then, might be the advantage of Roland providing that option at all?

 

[gr8soundz]

  I just saw that on their website.  So now shouldn't foobar wrap it in a dop wrapper and send bit perfect to the UA?  When I play a dsd file the UA's app doesn't display the correct sample rate.  Sorry for all the dumb questions I'm just not caught up on all this dsd stuff.

 
I have not seen 'bit-perfect' in any of the UA specs online. So I doubt the UA does bit-perfect (PCM or DSD) anymore than it does true balanced.
 

  I emailed Roland about the balanced outputs power out and the following is their reply.
 
"The Mobile UA's headphone outputs are not balanced but are stereo (in other words: tip = left, ring = right, and sleeve = ground). If using mono ends, the signal may be louder because the left and right audio signals are being combined together. Only stereo cables/connectors are recommended for the headphone jacks of the Mobile UA."
 
So it appears these are wired like a 3 pin balanced DAC output and Amp input.  So I don't believe there is any benefit in connecting headphones to the balanced outputs of the UA.

 
It's definitely not full balanced all the way through. But it does have dual output opamps and having separate signals for L/R makes it easier to connect to a balanced amp with XLR inputs (instead of trying to connect a single 3.5mm output to dual XLRs).
 

 

[harpo1]

   
I have not seen 'bit-perfect' in any of the UA specs online. So I doubt the UA does bit-perfect (PCM or DSD) anymore than it does true balanced.
 
 
It's definitely not full balanced all the way through. But it does have dual output opamps and having separate signals for L/R makes it easier to connect to a balanced amp with XLR inputs (instead of trying to connect a single 3.5mm output to dual XLRs).
 

It does bit-perfect with PCM because it changes to the correct sample rate when I play various flac files.  
 
Yeah it seems the balanced outputs are there for balanced amps.  I might feed it to my Liquid Carbon and see how it compares to my Emotiva DC-1 feeding it.

 

[harpo1]

Ah ok, I have zero experience with this. What then, might be the advantage of Roland providing that option at all?

Connecting to a balanced amp.

 

[gr8soundz]

  It does bit-perfect with PCM because it changes to the correct sample rate when I play various flac files.  
 
Yeah it seems the balanced outputs are there for balanced amps.  I might feed it to my Liquid Carbon and see how it compares to my Emotiva DC-1 feeding it.

 
Showing the sample rate of the file being played (just like Foobar) does not necessarily mean the output is bit-perfect. Only Roland can say for sure if the UA's internals AND firmware can do bit-perfect (also, by definition, means the 1-bit conversion setting must be off since that upsamples everything). I hope it is capable (would make it an even more incredible bargain) but I've learned there is much more to digital audio than what is displayed onscreen.
 
One of the first things I tried when my UA arrived was balanced out to my amp. I used two 3.5mm to XLR cables that I'd originally purchased for my Ponoplayer. Can't say I heard a huge difference compared to single output but I didn't leave it connected for very long. The double amping (from the UA then the external amp itself) likely didn't help but the UA is half the size of my cell phone. Wish it had a balanced line-out feature to bypass it's internal amp and volume controls (like the B output in unbalanced mode) but we can't have it all at this small size and low price.
 
From what I know, a balanced DAC seems to be a diminishing return. Balancing can make a difference (especially for smaller, cheaper equipment) but it means very little compared to how well the DAC is designed overall. Such as the iDSD Micro and Chord's Hugo and Mojo which only have single outputs yet the balanced Roland can't touch them.
 

 

[athlon7750]

  Thank you.  I already had a earlier version installed.  Installing this gave me the dsd drivers but I thought this device could play native dsd?  Under SACD in foobar if I select DSD instead of PCM it errors out.  Care to share your settings?

Install the ASIO proxy driver for DSD: https://sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/files/foo_dsd_asio/
 
Use "DSD: ASIO: UA-M10" as output device and DSD output mode in SACD settings. You should see the sample rate change to 176.4 kHz for DSD64 and 352.8 kHz for DSD128 in the Mobile UA control panel. Also, the USB indicator on the DAC should be blinking slowly when playing back DSD.

 

[harpo1]

  Install the ASIO proxy driver for DSD: https://sourceforge.net/projects/sacddecoder/files/foo_dsd_asio/
 
Use "DSD: ASIO: UA-M10" as output device and DSD output mode in SACD settings. You should see the sample rate change to 176.4 kHz for DSD64 and 352.8 kHz for DSD128 in the Mobile UA control panel. Also, the USB indicator on the DAC should be blinking slowly when playing back DSD.

Thank you so much.  I don't use DSD files but I wanted to test and make sure I can.  I had it working earlier but didn't know 176.4 represented DSD64.  Didn't notice the flashing usb indicator either. I'm guessing it doesn't playback DSD256 because when I tried I got an error.

 

[harpo1]

I followed up my question about balanced headphone out with Roland and here is there response.
 
 
Our apologies for misunderstanding the question. When using output mode 2 channel (A:Right, B:Left, balanced), yes, both output A and output B will be balanced. For the Mobile UA, there should not be a volume difference between single ended and balanced. A balanced system means less susceptibility to noise and interference but does not always mean a difference in volume.

It sounds like you'll need to contact the amp manufacturers directly regarding why their product has a volume difference between single ended and balanced.

Kind regards,
Roland Product Support

Anyway this means balanced mode won't help with driving harder to drive headphones like many other amps do.

 

[leepc]

   
Showing the sample rate of the file being played (just like Foobar) does not necessarily mean the output is bit-perfect. Only Roland can say for sure if the UA's internals AND firmware can do bit-perfect (also, by definition, means the 1-bit conversion setting must be off since that upsamples everything). I hope it is capable (would make it an even more incredible bargain) but I've learned there is much more to digital audio than what is displayed onscreen.
 
One of the first things I tried when my UA arrived was balanced out to my amp. I used two 3.5mm to XLR cables that I'd originally purchased for my Ponoplayer. Can't say I heard a huge difference compared to single output but I didn't leave it connected for very long. The double amping (from the UA then the external amp itself) likely didn't help but the UA is half the size of my cell phone. Wish it had a balanced line-out feature to bypass it's internal amp and volume controls (like the B output in unbalanced mode) but we can't have it all at this small size and low price.
 
From what I know, a balanced DAC seems to be a diminishing return. Balancing can make a difference (especially for smaller, cheaper equipment) but it means very little compared to how well the DAC is designed overall. Such as the iDSD Micro and Chord's Hugo and Mojo which only have single outputs yet the balanced Roland can't touch them.
 

http://www.rolandus.com/company/press_releases/1831
 
" the Mobile UA is the world’s smallest USB audio interface that supports both DSD and ASIO. It offers native playback of DSD audio sampled at 2.8 MHz, and Roland’s proprietary S1LKi audio engine also reproduces traditional PCM audio at rates of 44.1 kHz and above with extreme precision. Using the same type of 1-bit D/A converter used in DSD, the resulting conversion produces ultra-smooth, unclouded sound when compared to standard D/A conversion in PCM-based devices. "

 

[gr8soundz]

  http://www.rolandus.com/company/press_releases/1831
 
" the Mobile UA is the world’s smallest USB audio interface that supports both DSD and ASIO. It offers native playback of DSD audio sampled at 2.8 MHz, and Roland’s proprietary S1LKi audio engine also reproduces traditional PCM audio at rates of 44.1 kHz and above with extreme precision. Using the same type of 1-bit D/A converter used in DSD, the resulting conversion produces ultra-smooth, unclouded sound when compared to standard D/A conversion in PCM-based devices. "

 
Still seems to be a contradiction......
 

 

[eeagle]

  http://www.rolandus.com/company/press_releases/1831
 
" the Mobile UA is the world’s smallest USB audio interface that supports both DSD and ASIO. It offers native playback of DSD audio sampled at 2.8 MHz, and Roland’s proprietary S1LKi audio engine also reproduces traditional PCM audio at rates of 44.1 kHz and above with extreme precision. Using the same type of 1-bit D/A converter used in DSD, the resulting conversion produces ultra-smooth, unclouded sound when compared to standard D/A conversion in PCM-based devices. "

"world's smallest" seems to be a bit of a stretch in today's world, take for instance the CEntrance DACport HD.
 
I have been unable to get the Mobile UA ASIO to auto switch bit rates when using foobar, it seems to get stuck on one bit rate and reject all others.  I've had to use the DS (direct sound) interface most of the time.
 
Otherwise it was a great bargain for the price I paid.

 

[trellus]

   
Still seems to be a contradiction......
 

I believe the "resulting conversion" is of the "traditional PCM audio", not of "DSD audio sampled at 2.8 MHz", which is their only claim of "native playback."

 

[harpo1]

I upgraded one of my computers to windows 10 now the UA won't play bit perfect anymore.  I've installed the windows 10 driver and checked on my other windows 10 machine and everything looks the same.  It will only play in DS mode.  I just can't think of anything else to try.  By the way this is with foobar2k.  Anyone have any ideas?

 

[eeagle]

  I upgraded one of my computers to windows 10 now the UA won't play bit perfect anymore.  I've installed the windows 10 driver and checked on my other windows 10 machine and everything looks the same.  It will only play in DS mode.  I just can't think of anything else to try.  By the way this is with foobar2k.  Anyone have any ideas?

Try installing the WASAPI driver for Foobar2k