[Azathoth]

Keeping tabs on this thread, I wonder how their upgrade program will go for the current uDAC owners. I really like the forward mids of the uDAC for my headphones (Beyer DT 150, Alessandro MS1i), so i'm iffy about the change in sound sig for the uDAC 2.

 

[jr41]

 
RE jasonl's post in HPA's uDac-1 thread, advising:
 
"...For the upgrade price, we will offer special upgrade price for people who bought in July. We have to draw the line somewhere so if you bought on June 30, you have to pay the normal upgrade price..."
(link to post)
 
Is anyon - i.e. jasonl - able to advise what this special upgrade price for those who bought in July will be? I'm one of those customers, and although I initially expressed I probably won't upgrade, HPA's initial comments on the uDac-2 have got me interested.
 
(I thought it more appropriate to ask the question here since this is the uDac-2 thread).
 
Points to Nuforce for considering recent uDac-1 purchasers in this way!
 
I'm looking forward to reading more of HPA's comments on the uDac-2.

 

[YtseJamer]

Thanks Larry

 

[mralexosborn]

All this sounds good....but will it run Crysis?
 
(My lolcats just rofled)
 
Seriously though, is it better than the Musiland Monitor 2?

 

[busyx2]

The S/PDIF output should remain constant at constant (full) volume regardless of the analog volume which likely is between the DA chip and the headphone circuit.  There is no mechanism to do digital attenuation.

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

The S/PDIF output should remain constant at constant (full) volume regardless of the analog volume which likely is between the DA chip and the headphone circuit.  There is no mechanism to do digital attenuation.

I agree that it should, but I would like to know more details on the s/pdif converter, like why they made that change regarding the volume knob; does it mean that the old converter didn't use the DAC chip?

 

[nmurthy]

I'm a bit confused... What's the point of an S/PDIF passthrough? The whole purpose of a DAC is to convert from digital signals (like S/PDIF) to analog signals (carried by RCA), right? Is it so you can hook the S/PDIF to a home theater receiver and use the receiver's DAC when the uDac is off (like maybe for DTS/Dolby surround) and otherwise use the uDac's DAC when the volume is on? If that's the case, why not just use the computer's digital out?
 
Maybe I'm just rambling on about an inconsequential feature, but I'd like to know if I'm missing anything?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I'm very curious to know if this uDAC-2 supports Windows volume control. The uDAC-1 did not,but the HDP does. You said that the uDAC-2 uses the same 24/96 USB receiver chip as the HDP so would it be safe to assume it does support volume control within Windows? This is important to me because when someone walks into my room and talks to me, I can press mute on my keyboard to stop the sound instantly without turning the physical volume knob especially if I am playing through my speakers, with the uDAC-1 I could not do this because the Windows volume control had no effect at all.

 
The Mac system volume is not affecting my music volume with the second prototype.  I have to use the uDAC volume knob to control it. 
 
The new volume knob will let me get at least 4-5 dB quieter with my most sensitive custom IEM before any channel imbalance sets in at the low end.  The old uDAC would start to become imbalanced at about 9:15 on the knob, now I can go as low as 8:30 on the volume knob before any imbalance starts.  This is quiet enough to fall asleep wearing my new Westone ES5 (which sound stunning with the uDAC-2 I might add).
 
Quote:

I want to know if you were comparing the two as DACs through another amplifier.

I was using the headphone amps when I said that about the detail and spaciousness.  But the HDP is also more detailed and spacious than my Pico DAC, and I have found that the uDAC RCA out sounds identical when feeding them into a bigger amp.  So, therefore the HDP RCA out should still be better than the uDAC-2 to some degree.  I have not been able to compare the line-outs yet.  It's still clear that the improved headphone amp is not as big of a bottleneck anymore.
 
Quote:

All the information so far only says the spdif output is active all the time and doesn't say if it can works as preamp (just like the RCA line out) or just bypass the build in dac and amp working as a usb-to-spdif converter (just like the original uDac when the volume is turned off).
 
This was all I was asking.

Digital out does not have volume attenuation.

 
Quote:

Keeping tabs on this thread, I wonder how their upgrade program will go for the current uDAC owners. I really like the forward mids of the uDAC for my headphones (Beyer DT 150, Alessandro MS1i), so i'm iffy about the change in sound sig for the uDAC 2.

 
Jason posted $65 in another thread.  I don't know of that is a special or normal upgrade price.
 
Quote:

 
RE jasonl's post in HPA's uDac-1 thread, advising:
 
"...For the upgrade price, we will offer special upgrade price for people who bought in July. We have to draw the line somewhere so if you bought on June 30, you have to pay the normal upgrade price..."
(link to post)
 
Is anyon - i.e. jasonl - able to advise what this special upgrade price for those who bought in July will be? I'm one of those customers, and although I initially expressed I probably won't upgrade, HPA's initial comments on the uDac-2 have got me interested.

Not sure myself yet.

 
Quote:

I'm a bit confused... What's the point of an S/PDIF passthrough? The whole purpose of a DAC is to convert from digital signals (like S/PDIF) to analog signals (carried by RCA), right? Is it so you can hook the S/PDIF to a home theater receiver and use the receiver's DAC when the uDac is off (like maybe for DTS/Dolby surround) and otherwise use the uDac's DAC when the volume is on? If that's the case, why not just use the computer's digital out?
 
Maybe I'm just rambling on about an inconsequential feature, but I'd like to know if I'm missing anything?

Yes, to feed digital into another DAC that doesn't include USB inputs, or whose USB inputs are limited to 16/48.  Not all computers have digital out.

 

[mralexosborn]

Has anybody heard it? How does it sound compared to the Musiland Monitor 02?

 

[grokit]

Quote:

I'm a bit confused... What's the point of an S/PDIF passthrough? The whole purpose of a DAC is to convert from digital signals (like S/PDIF) to analog signals (carried by RCA), right? Is it so you can hook the S/PDIF to a home theater receiver and use the receiver's DAC when the uDac is off (like maybe for DTS/Dolby surround) and otherwise use the uDac's DAC when the volume is on? If that's the case, why not just use the computer's digital out?
 
Maybe I'm just rambling on about an inconsequential feature, but I'd like to know if I'm missing anything?

 
At a very basic level, it's so you can run a USB digital audio signal into a DAC that does not have a USB input.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Has anybody heard it? How does it sound compared to the Musiland Monitor 02?

 
[size=medium]

 
​

[/size]

[size=medium]

So far I'm the only one outside of Nuforce that's heard it because I was a beta tester and helped evaluate and make suggestions for improvements in the headphone amp.

​

[/size]

 
Quote:

Keeping tabs on this thread, I wonder how their upgrade program will go for the current uDAC owners. I really like the forward mids of the uDAC for my headphones (Beyer DT 150, Alessandro MS1i), so i'm iffy about the change in sound sig for the uDAC 2.

I did mention in my initial impressions that the uDAC-2 is still a little more forward sounding than the HDP, but not too forward or as forward sounding as the original uDAC.  I can't imagine anyone complaining that it's recessed or too forward.

 

[nmurthy]

Quote:

 
At a very basic level, it's so you can run a USB digital audio signal into a DAC that does not have a USB input.

Ah, gotcha. So a good looking, but sort of overpriced digital passthrough for use with other DACs. I just think it's strange someone would buy a uDac simply to feed the digital signal to a more expensive DAC, but I suppose it makes upgrading convinient for those without digital outs built into their computers.

 

[roker]

I'm glad to see that they've gone back to drawing board already.  I still find the Icon Mobile a better buy plus I wanted something with more flexibility (using it as a portable amp).  Over time, I found the original uDac a bit too forward sounding for my tastes.
 
But nevertheless, this sounds promising.

 

[jasonl]

 
Quote:

 
RE jasonl's post in HPA's uDac-1 thread, advising:
 
"...For the upgrade price, we will offer special upgrade price for people who bought in July. We have to draw the line somewhere so if you bought on June 30, you have to pay the normal upgrade price..."
(link to post)
 
Is anyon - i.e. jasonl - able to advise what this special upgrade price for those who bought in July will be? I'm one of those customers, and although I initially expressed I probably won't upgrade, HPA's initial comments on the uDac-2 have got me interested.
 
(I thought it more appropriate to ask the question here since this is the uDac-2 thread).
 
Points to Nuforce for considering recent uDac-1 purchasers in this way!
 
I'm looking forward to reading more of HPA's comments on the uDac-2.

 
The upgrade price for people who bought in July is too low for me to mention in this forum

I hope people appreciate what we are doing. It is really difficult to offer upgrade for mass market products (who does that anyway?), especially on a worldwide basis.

 

 

[jr41]

 
Quote:

 
 
The upgrade price for people who bought in July is too low for me to mention in this forum

I hope people appreciate what we are doing. It is really difficult to offer upgrade for mass market products (who does that anyway?), especially on a worldwide basis.

 

That sounds very encouraging jasonl! Please can you advise how I go about finding out what the price will be?
 
Thanks for contributing your impressions/thoughts on the uDac-2 so far HeadphoneAddict, very useful information for potential purchasers/upgraders.