[Zoide]

Quote:

I'd love to hear if other people that have received their uDAC-2 experience the same beep. Those samples do not sound like anything I want to hear while listening to music, sorry.

No noise here (HP laptop + uDAC-2 + DBA02 earphones.

 

[honmashinsei]

Thanks for the replies guys, keep em coming. So far I've counted 4 persons that experience the high frequency tone, and 2 that don't.

 

[IsoOctane]

Quote:

No noise here (HP laptop + uDAC-2 + DBA02 earphones.

How sensitive are those earphones? I tried some old Sennheiser ear-buds and the noise was even worse.
 
I have also tried plugging the unit into every USB-port I've come across: a Dell laptop running on battery or off the wall, several desktop machines at different locations, even the ports of an IPTV-box and a set-top box

And in all cases the noise is there. I also tried an USB cable with everything but the power-wires cut and an active USB-hub powered by a linear regulated power supply. There is one thing missing though, the allmighty USB port of a Mac laptop. The ironic thing is that I just sold my MacBook Pro and bought the uDac with the money.
 
It's not just a simple matter of returning the unit as you probably can guess by now, I want to know if this is caused by my system and if it is something I will encounter no matter which USB DAC I'll try. In addition, the uDac-2 is pretty much the only decent budget DAC I can easily obtain around here.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

How sensitive are those earphones? I tried some old Sennheiser ear-buds and the noise was even worse.

Sensitive enough that I pick up a hum on my home setup (desktop PC -> USB -> Meier-Audio Corda Opera).  Their sensitivity is 108dB: http://www.fischeraudio.com/card.php?id=118

 

[Fantoon]

I have the same setup except for your laptop and I'm getting noise....gonna try with my friends Mac, if the issue remains...well, I have no other option but to return it.
Quote:

Sensitive enough that I pick up a hum on my home setup (desktop PC -> USB -> Meier-Audio Corda Opera).  Their sensitivity is 108dB: http://www.fischeraudio.com/card.php?id=118

Quote:

No noise here (HP laptop + uDAC-2 + DBA02 earphones.

 

[pocketrocket]

 
Quote:

We temporary sold out of uDAC2.  The next production is early October.  We are making them as fast we can, but the demand is just too high for us to catch up.

 
Agh, you just made me order one, my local hi-fi store has some in stock in another town. I hope it sounds good on my AKG K 272 HD which I've been running through my laptop integrated

 
 

 

[replytoken]

Well, my new uDAC-2 arrived in the mail today! 

  It certainly is small, and from a design point of view, it is quite nice.  I had limited time tonight to try it out, so these are my first impressions.  I briefly tried it out with my netbook and with my laptop, and I used my HD-600s and my Ety ER-4Ps without the S converter cable.  I did not connect it to my main rig, and I made no attempt to optimize anything.  The computers were running on battery, and I also hooked up an external DVD/CD burner to play a few tracks from a CD.  First, the good news.  The uDAC-2 had plenty of power to drive my Senns nicely with some room to spare.  I had too little time to make any kind of comparison, but I did like what I heard.  And, I could not hear any of the hum/noise/beep discussed above through the Senns.  As it was a long day, I almost fell asleep listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing, and that is always a good sign.  Now, for the not so good news - the noise is clearly present in my Etys.  It was not volume dependent, and is clearly there when no music was playing.
 
Its way too early for me to make any kind of decision about this, as most gear I have encountered over the years, high end as well as budget, seems to have some "issue" that you need to make peace with if you are going to keep it, use it, and not drive yourself crazy.  The big test for me will be when I hook things up to my main rig later this weekend, as that was one of the primary reasons that I chose the uDAC-2 - it has RCA outs.  Having it present in the Etys is not a big issue for me as when the uDAC-2 is not hooked up to my main rig, it will probably be powering my Senns or a pair of desktop monitors/speakers.  The Etys have mostly been relegated to portable use and for airplane travel.  I like them, but they are very clinical, as I was reminded again tonight.  I look to my Senns when I want a pleasant musical experience, and the uDAC-2 seemed to play very well with them on first impression.  I could not detect the sound in my Etys when music was playing, but I would not want to hear it for any extended period of time when the music stopped.  The uDAC-2 with my Etys reminds me a lot of my telephone headset at work.  I can hear it when it is powered up, but not in use.  Its noise floor is not offensive by any means, but, I do turn the unit off if I am not going to be using it for any length of time, as I can easily tell the difference of when it is powered up or not.
 
Schedule permitting, I hope to do more listening this weekend, and will report back accordingly.
 
--Ken

 

[cravenz]

Quote:

Well, my new uDAC-2 arrived in the mail today! 

  It certainly is small, and from a design point of view, it is quite nice.  I had limited time tonight to try it out, so these are my first impressions.  I briefly tried it out with my netbook and with my laptop, and I used my HD-600s and my Ety ER-4Ps without the S converter cable.  I did not connect it to my main rig, and I made no attempt to optimize anything.  The computers were running on battery, and I also hooked up an external DVD/CD burner to play a few tracks from a CD.  First, the good news.  The uDAC-2 had plenty of power to drive my Senns nicely with some room to spare.  I had too little time to make any kind of comparison, but I did like what I heard.  And, I could not hear any of the hum/noise/beep discussed above through the Senns.  As it was a long day, I almost fell asleep listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing, and that is always a good sign.  Now, for the not so good news - the noise is clearly present in my Etys.  It was not volume dependent, and is clearly there when no music was playing.
 
Its way too early for me to make any kind of decision about this, as most gear I have encountered over the years, high end as well as budget, seems to have some "issue" that you need to make peace with if you are going to keep it, use it, and not drive yourself crazy.  The big test for me will be when I hook things up to my main rig later this weekend, as that was one of the primary reasons that I chose the uDAC-2 - it has RCA outs.  Having it present in the Etys is not a big issue for me as when the uDAC-2 is not hooked up to my main rig, it will probably be powering my Senns or a pair of desktop monitors/speakers.  The Etys have mostly been relegated to portable use and for airplane travel.  I like them, but they are very clinical, as I was reminded again tonight.  I look to my Senns when I want a pleasant musical experience, and the uDAC-2 seemed to play very well with them on first impression.  I could not detect the sound in my Etys when music was playing, but I would not want to hear it for any extended period of time when the music stopped.  The uDAC-2 with my Etys reminds me a lot of my telephone headset at work.  I can hear it when it is powered up, but not in use.  Its noise floor is not offensive by any means, but, I do turn the unit off if I am not going to be using it for any length of time, as I can easily tell the difference of when it is powered up or not.
 
Schedule permitting, I hope to do more listening this weekend, and will report back accordingly.
 
--Ken

I'm officially getting quite worried about this noise floor issue when supposedly, the uDac2 would have been better suited for IEM usage (extrapolating a little), but this is essentially what jasonl says in the HDP thread and now there are reports of IEM hiss issues on the uDac2 as well. Again, it was my understanding that the HDP though more powerful, has better jitter correction and it's usb cable was also going to reduce possible noise interference. I have no issues on my D10 until about 2pm on the volume pot, albeit an entirely different product.

 

[Awgy]

I just received my uDAC-2 today and have not heard the high frequency tone on my SRH840's.  I'll try it out on a few different computers with different USB cables to see if I can replicate the issue others are having.  I listened to the wave files IsoOctane provided, so I have a good idea what I'm looking for.
 
It sounds great so far.  The only minor issue I've had is the plastic cap that goes on the volume nob to make it look pretty fell off.  The nob itself is securely on the volume pot and I can see the glue on there to hold the cap on, but it apparently didn't take hold.
 
Everything else is in line with the $130 price tag.  Even after seeing it pictured next to a quarter on the NuForce website, I was still surprised at how small it is.
 

 

[cravenz]

Quote:

I just received my uDAC-2 today and have not heard the high frequency tone on my SRH840's.  I'll try it out on a few different computers with different USB cables to see if I can replicate the issue others are having.  I listened to the wave files IsoOctane provided, so I have a good idea what I'm looking for.
 
It sounds great so far.  The only minor issue I've had is the plastic cap that goes on the volume nob to make it look pretty fell off.  The nob itself is securely on the volume pot and I can see the glue on there to hold the cap on, but it apparently didn't take hold.
 
Everything else is in line with the $130 price tag.  Even after seeing it pictured next to a quarter on the NuForce website, I was still surprised at how small it is.
 

thanks for the effort mate. I think the issue runs with IEMs, not so much full sized cans, open to correction.

 

[honmashinsei]

I just received word that the uDAC-2 is available in the Netherlands. Hi-Stands (www.hi-stands.eu) has them for sale for €139,-. I also enquired about the option of returning the uDAC-2 in case it suffers from "the beep", and that was possible with a full refund (excluding shipping costs). I think I'm going to place an order with my next paycheck (October 8th) !

 
Has anyone with Grados (preferably Alessandro MS-1i) or Denon D2K's tested the uDAC-2 yet? As I see from above posts, the HD-600 (600 ohms) and the SRH840's (102 ohms) do not experience the high frequency tone. It might be that lower impedancy cans do.

 

[Chikolad]

Quote:

Has anyone with Grados (preferably Alessandro MS-1i) or Denon D2K's tested the uDAC-2 yet?

Yes, I have tried it with both my SR80's and GS1000's. Straight out of its headphone out, they both sound really great. Especially the gs1k. The sr80's sound really good too, but I prefer them straight out of my portable player. Just a different sound signature that I prefer.
I also connected the uDAC's RCA out to my X-CAN amp and it sounds heavenly with my gs1k.
The main thing to remember is that the uDAC-2 has a rather warm sound (more warm than not, anyway) so it will go well with a setup that's not already too warm.

 

[honmashinsei]

Quote:

Yes, I have tried it with both my SR80's and GS1000's. Straight out of its headphone out, they both sound really great. Especially the gs1k. The sr80's sound really good too, but I prefer them straight out of my portable player. Just a different sound signature that I prefer.
I also connected the uDAC's RCA out to my X-CAN amp and it sounds heavenly with my gs1k.
The main thing to remember is that the uDAC-2 has a rather warm sound (more warm than not, anyway) so it will go well with a setup that's not already too warm.

Thanks for your reply! I have Alessandro MS-1i's and probably getting a Denon D2000 later on. For an amp, I'm in doubt between the Schiit Asgard (solid state) and the Little Dot I+ (hybrid). I really like the looks of the Asgard, and the fact that it's made with love, with quality materials, in the U.S.. The Little Dot is very nice to start with tube and opamp swapping. You say the uDAC-2 has a "warm" sound. That would imply that it would match better with a solid state amp. The D2K's are supposed to pair better with solid state too, right? What amp of the beforementioned two would you think has the best synergy with the uDAC-2?

 

[FlurkingShnit]

That's funny. I run a similar setup with my Dell e6400 laptop and when I run the udac-2 with my ety 4ps with S cable I hear no noise at all. As long as I plug in my headphones with the unit turned off and then turn it on it's completely silent. Out of curiosity, I tried switching out headphones (plugged in with S adapter and without) and with the 4Ps plugged in directly I (sometimes) get a FAINT faint noise with the pot turned all the way up. That's it. Nothing when the music plays and nothing at normal volumes. Not sure if it makes a difference (pretty sure it doesn't) but my adapter was one of the ones made my Xin Feng a long time ago out of a Radio Shack extension cord. I never use the DAC 2 and my etys without the adapter anyway.
 
 
Quote:

Well, my new uDAC-2 arrived in the mail today! 

  It certainly is small, and from a design point of view, it is quite nice.  I had limited time tonight to try it out, so these are my first impressions.  I briefly tried it out with my netbook and with my laptop, and I used my HD-600s and my Ety ER-4Ps without the S converter cable.  I did not connect it to my main rig, and I made no attempt to optimize anything.  The computers were running on battery, and I also hooked up an external DVD/CD burner to play a few tracks from a CD.  First, the good news.  The uDAC-2 had plenty of power to drive my Senns nicely with some room to spare.  I had too little time to make any kind of comparison, but I did like what I heard.  And, I could not hear any of the hum/noise/beep discussed above through the Senns.  As it was a long day, I almost fell asleep listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing, and that is always a good sign.  Now, for the not so good news - the noise is clearly present in my Etys.  It was not volume dependent, and is clearly there when no music was playing.
 
Its way too early for me to make any kind of decision about this, as most gear I have encountered over the years, high end as well as budget, seems to have some "issue" that you need to make peace with if you are going to keep it, use it, and not drive yourself crazy.  The big test for me will be when I hook things up to my main rig later this weekend, as that was one of the primary reasons that I chose the uDAC-2 - it has RCA outs.  Having it present in the Etys is not a big issue for me as when the uDAC-2 is not hooked up to my main rig, it will probably be powering my Senns or a pair of desktop monitors/speakers.  The Etys have mostly been relegated to portable use and for airplane travel.  I like them, but they are very clinical, as I was reminded again tonight.  I look to my Senns when I want a pleasant musical experience, and the uDAC-2 seemed to play very well with them on first impression.  I could not detect the sound in my Etys when music was playing, but I would not want to hear it for any extended period of time when the music stopped.  The uDAC-2 with my Etys reminds me a lot of my telephone headset at work.  I can hear it when it is powered up, but not in use.  Its noise floor is not offensive by any means, but, I do turn the unit off if I am not going to be using it for any length of time, as I can easily tell the difference of when it is powered up or not.
 
Schedule permitting, I hope to do more listening this weekend, and will report back accordingly.
 
--Ken

 

[Fantoon]

It's on the lowest volume level that the noise become more obvious for me, no his, just a high pitch noise.
 
Quote:

That's funny. I run a similar setup with my Dell e6400 laptop and when I run the udac-2 with my ety 4ps with S cable I hear no noise at all. As long as I plug in my headphones with the unit turned off and then turn it on it's completely silent. Out of curiosity, I tried switching out headphones (plugged in with S adapter and without) and with the 4Ps plugged in directly I (sometimes) get a FAINT faint noise with the pot turned all the way up. That's it. Nothing when the music plays and nothing at normal volumes. Not sure if it makes a difference (pretty sure it doesn't) but my adapter was one of the ones made my Xin Feng a long time ago out of a Radio Shack extension cord. I never use the DAC 2 and my etys without the adapter anyway.