[vandaven]

I received my uDAC2 yesterday. After reading so much about that product, too big the urge to check out that fancy (and kinda infamous) micro-product, and I was kinda ready to send it back to the vendor. When I connected the small box to my Macbook I was ready to hear a whining sound or at least some sinewave weep, but surprise, surprise, nothing...pretty dead silent if you don't go past 4 o'clock. The sound, even in comparison with the new MBPs built-in audio, is quite astonishing. Clear and kinda warm with strong bass, can't complain, I love that product and thus keep it. Works also fine on the Mac Pro in the studio, btw.
 
Kudos to Nuforce for (obviously) solving all those issues people have been complaining about!!! In regards to those who complain about the stereo-image-shift related to the volume pot: at those positions close to full cut, any analog pot in that price range will display similar problems (at least I haven't experienced the contrary). I tried out the amp with my leisure (AKG Q460, Ultrasone HFI15G) and professional (Sennheiser HD25s, Sony MDR7506s, M-Audio IE-30) headphones, and it made them all shine.
 
It needs to be stated that despite all the measurement blah you can find on the web in regards to this DAC / headphone amp, it is a fantastic and good sounding product. By the way, the most sought-after professional studio devices had some (non-linear) flaws that made them legends. 
 
Important sidenote for all new users: please use the audio setup of your OS (i.e. AudioMidiSetup - OSX) to set the unit to 96 kHz / 24 bit before starting to listen, at least on my Mac, it was set to 48 kHz 16bit by default - it will improve the general quality of sound playback, even with 44.1 kHz / 16 bit material.
 
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I received my uDAC2 yesterday. After reading so much about that product, too big the urge to check out that fancy (and kinda infamous) micro-product, and I was kinda ready to send it back to the vendor. When I connected the small box to my Macbook I was ready to hear a whining sound or at least some sinewave weep, but surprise, surprise, nothing...pretty dead silent if you don't go past 4 o'clock. The sound, even in comparison with the new MBPs built-in audio, is quite astonishing. Clear and kinda warm with strong bass, can't complain, I love that product and thus keep it. Works also fine on the Mac Pro in the studio, btw.
 
Kudos to Nuforce for (obviously) solving all those issues people have been complaining about!!! In regards to those who complain about the stereo-image-shift related to the volume pot: at those positions close to full cut, any analog pot in that price range will display similar problems (at least I haven't experienced the contrary). I tried out the amp with my leisure (AKG Q460, Ultrasone HFI15G) and professional (Sennheiser HD25s, Sony MDR7506s, M-Audio IE-30) headphones, and it made them all shine.
 
It needs to be stated that despite all the measurement blah you can find on the web in regards to this DAC / headphone amp, it is a fantastic and good sounding product. By the way, the most sought-after professional studio devices had some (non-linear) flaws that made them legends. 
 
Important sidenote for all new users: please use the audio setup of your OS (i.e. AudioMidiSetup - OSX) to set the unit to 96 kHz / 24 bit before starting to listen, at least on my Mac, it was set to 48 kHz 16bit by default - it will improve the general quality of sound playback, even with 44.1 kHz / 16 bit material.
 
 

Glad it's working out for you.  I still think it's a great bang for the buck, and recommend it a lot to people looking in this price range.
 

 

[kenyee]

Jason: do you guys ever plan to make a uDAC-2 Mobile?  (aka, higher performance Icon Mobile?)
Or anyone know of basically the uDAC-2 w/ a headphone preamp for portable use w/ a portable music player while not near a computer?
 

 

[jasonl]

Quote:

Jason: do you guys ever plan to make a uDAC-2 Mobile?  (aka, higher performance Icon Mobile?)
Or anyone know of basically the uDAC-2 w/ a headphone preamp for portable use w/ a portable music player while not near a computer?
 

We have been looking at these issues for a long time. To get really high quality sound, a power supply is required. Sure, it is possible to use a large lithium battery similar to laptop power, but the final cost makes the pricing unrealistic for most people.
uDAC-2 is pretty good and it is very likely that with future uDAC-3, we can go to 24/192kHz and further improve the analog section, perhaps a $199 version to co-exist with $129 version.
 
uDAC series is for laptop use.
 
Now I am going to leak out a new product called Icon iDO (instead of iDUH as mentioned in one of the forum).
interface for Digital Ouput for iOS (and iPod) devices. What differentiate iDO with a few other such devices on the market is the combination of high performance, lots of features at a very affordable price.
I can only disclose the features for now:

1. Bit-perfect and low jitter USB Host Mode operation
2. Digitally controlled analog volume control
3. Large 6.3mm headphone output jack (3.5mm adapter provided)
4. 24-bit DAC (whenever Apple provides 24bit/96kHz support, we are ready)
5. No sample rate conversion
6. use 12V DC input power (power supply is included).  For travel, it is easier to bring the AC-DC power supply instead of carrying a heaving battery.

Outputs:  S/PDIF, RCA, headphone
Price - very affordable
 
Please do not flood our email box with questions about iDO, you will hear more about it before end of May for possible volume shipment in early July.
 

 

[kenyee]

Thanks, Jason.  I was afraid the reason was the power requirement
 
p.s., not all of us use iphone/ipods...some of us are Android users   Should do well given how many users there are though...
 

 

[tinseljim]

 
Quote:

We have been looking at these issues for a long time. To get really high quality sound, a power supply is required. Sure, it is possible to use a large lithium battery similar to laptop power, but the final cost makes the pricing unrealistic for most people.
uDAC-2 is pretty good and it is very likely that with future uDAC-3, we can go to 24/192kHz and further improve the analog section, perhaps a $199 version to co-exist with $129 version.
 
uDAC series is for laptop use.
 
Now I am going to leak out a new product called Icon iDO (instead of iDUH as mentioned in one of the forum).
interface for Digital Ouput for iOS (and iPod) devices. What differentiate iDO with a few other such devices on the market is the combination of high performance, lots of features at a very affordable price.
I can only disclose the features for now:

1. Bit-perfect and low jitter USB Host Mode operation
2. Digitally controlled analog volume control
3. Large 6.3mm headphone output jack (3.5mm adapter provided)
4. 24-bit DAC (whenever Apple provides 24bit/96kHz support, we are ready)
5. No sample rate conversion
6. use 12V DC input power (power supply is included).  For travel, it is easier to bring the AC-DC power supply instead of carrying a heaving battery.

Outputs:  S/PDIF, RCA, headphone
Price - very affordable
 
Please do not flood our email box with questions about iDO, you will hear more about it before end of May for possible volume shipment in early July.
 

^ um, let's see...this is only *exactly* what i've been waiting for! wow. looking forward to end of May for more details. 

 

 

[jasonl]

Quote:

Thanks, Jason.  I was afraid the reason was the power requirement
 
p.s., not all of us use iphone/ipods...some of us are Android users   Should do well given how many users there are though...
 

For those Android users, we have another solution. This will involve direct streaming via WiFi (a router is not required )
 
 

 

[168871]

HeadphoneAddict - would you recomend using this as a "upgrade" to the usb DAC that is in the hifiman ef2?
 
I'm currently using an EF2A and beyerdynamic dt770's (250ohm) setup with some match sylvania tubes. I like the sound quality as it is but I want a little bit of improvement. mostly going to 24/96 This seems to fit that price range. I know in your EF2 review you liked the pico dac with the EF2 but that is a little bit too high at this point in time.
 
If you have a post about them being paired together please point me in the right direction.
 
Thanks.

 

[kenyee]

Quote:

For those Android users, we have another solution. This will involve direct streaming via WiFi (a router is not required )

Looking forward to it.  There was also an announcement about USB Host support for Android at this year's Google I/O conference, so maybe another question is what happens if you do plug the uDAC2 into a Linux machine or Android phone w/ this USB Host support...
The phone does supply power in USB Host mode, but I'm not if it'd be enough to power the uDAC2...
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

HeadphoneAddict - (1) would you recomend using this as a "upgrade" to the usb DAC that is in the hifiman ef2?
 
I'm currently using an EF2A and beyerdynamic dt770's (250ohm) setup with some match sylvania tubes. I like the sound quality as it is but I want a little bit of improvement. mostly going to 24/96 This seems to fit that price range. I know in your EF2 review you liked the pico dac with the EF2 but that is a little bit too high at this point in time.
 
If you have a post about them being paired together please point me in the right direction.
 
Thanks.

(1) Yes, and I think I posted that here and also in the EF2 amp review thread as well.  It definitely takes the EF2 and similar amps up a notch when using the RCA out to feed the other amp.  When I used the uDAC-2 to feed the EF2 and then switched to the Pico DAC-only I could not tell the difference between the two DACs feeding that amp, and both were better (more spacious with increased micro-detail) than the stock EF2 DAC.  I don't have a link to those comments though, but I was fairly generous in repeating them a few times here.
 

 

[jasonl]

Quote:

Looking forward to it.  There was also an announcement about USB Host support for Android at this year's Google I/O conference, so maybe another question is what happens if you do plug the uDAC2 into a Linux machine or Android phone w/ this USB Host support...
The phone does supply power in USB Host mode, but I'm not if it'd be enough to power the uDAC2...
 

 
It is going to be a little messy for a while, so I think our alternative approach makes sense.
 
By the way, take a peak at Icon iDO prototype at High End 2011 in Munich, Germany: https://picasaweb.google.com/nuforce.com/MunichHighEnd2011#5608582002252279122
It took quite some work to make sure it will work with many versions of iPAD/iPhone/iPod.  Many other such products currently on the market might not offer full compatibility support.
iDO firmware can also be updated to support any future versions of iOS devices.  There are still cosmetic work to do, but we are very happy with the sound quality.
Production shipment is estimated around mid July.
 
 

 

[rappard]

Quote:

Email sent.  Using Mac OSX 10.6.6 with Audio MIDI Setup from the Applications > Utilities folder.
 
 
 
The input tab should be grayed out like with the HDP, but on the uDAC-2 it's configurable and must be set to 16 bit for 24/96 output to work.

[rappard: snipped images and some text]
 
The above seems to suggest that if I go laptop > 24/96 FLAC in foobar2000 > uDAC-2, the uDAC won't actually output 24/96. If that's true, to what does it resample?

 

[tinseljim]

Quote:

 
It is going to be a little messy for a while, so I think our alternative approach makes sense.
 
By the way, take a peak at Icon iDO prototype at High End 2011 in Munich, Germany: https://picasaweb.google.com/nuforce.com/MunichHighEnd2011#5608582002252279122
It took quite some work to make sure it will work with many versions of iPAD/iPhone/iPod.  Many other such products currently on the market might not offer full compatibility support.
iDO firmware can also be updated to support any future versions of iOS devices.  There are still cosmetic work to do, but we are very happy with the sound quality.
Production shipment is estimated around mid July.
 
 

Wow - the iDo looks the cat's meow. Is it portable? like the ipod/iphone? need details!!!! : )
 
 

 

[jasonl]

The included power supply adapter is very small.. Sure, you can use a portable battery power supply but that's a little too heavy for travel use. We will provide more information around mid June. Due to the Munich high end show, we have to preview iDO. As you can see from the photo, it is not quite complete.  It is designed to drive all IEMs and just about all the headphones,

 

[blackzarg]

Quote:

 

^ um, let's see...this is only *exactly* what i've been waiting for! wow. looking forward to end of May for more details. 

 

 
 


Quote:

We have been looking at these issues for a long time. To get really high quality sound, a power supply is required. Sure, it is possible to use a large lithium battery similar to laptop power, but the final cost makes the pricing unrealistic for most people.
uDAC-2 is pretty good and it is very likely that with future uDAC-3, we can go to 24/192kHz and further improve the analog section, perhaps a $199 version to co-exist with $129 version.
 
uDAC series is for laptop use.
 
Now I am going to leak out a new product called Icon iDO (instead of iDUH as mentioned in one of the forum).
interface for Digital Ouput for iOS (and iPod) devices. What differentiate iDO with a few other such devices on the market is the combination of high performance, lots of features at a very affordable price.
I can only disclose the features for now:

1. Bit-perfect and low jitter USB Host Mode operation
2. Digitally controlled analog volume control
3. Large 6.3mm headphone output jack (3.5mm adapter provided)
4. 24-bit DAC (whenever Apple provides 24bit/96kHz support, we are ready)
5. No sample rate conversion
6. use 12V DC input power (power supply is included).  For travel, it is easier to bring the AC-DC power supply instead of carrying a heaving battery.

Outputs:  S/PDIF, RCA, headphone
Price - very affordable
 
Please do not flood our email box with questions about iDO, you will hear more about it before end of May for possible volume shipment in early July.