[roker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricksome /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just ordered a black one from Amazon. I hope that I am not buying into FOTM. I shy away from high priced audio as their is snake oil all over that territory.

I think it's great for what it is. I don't believe it's a "giant killer" (honestly, I'm not a fan of that term anyway). It's a fun little product and it excels, maybe even outperforms for it's price.

What headphones are you planning on using it with? Are you using a separate amp or the in-built?

 

[DayoftheGreek]

This thing looks great. I'm looking into picking one up to compliment my EF2 and it seems a few people in this thread are using the same combination as I am. So far I have learned that I should not feed 100% volume into my EF2, but other than that, how does the combo sound? Is it a worthwhile improvement?

 

[Raez]

Damn you guys. Just bought a black one. I have prime so it was $4 for overnight shipping. I'll see ya Wednesday uDAC!

At least my last 2 purchases have totaled no more than $150.

That said...the one before that was just under $1k...

!

 

[K_19]

Just got the uDAC... this was perhaps my fastest shipment ever, it took less than 24 hours for it to get here. Granted, it's only from Ottawa to Toronto, but I'm still impressed. Kudos to themacgroup... if any Canadians here wants to get the uDAC, they're definitely the people to look to.

Out of the box... yup, as everyone said, it's much smaller than what I anticipated. Yet the build quality is top notch... it's built very solidly. No problems with the volume pot being overly stiff or anything. Love that little intro in the manual about "beginner's guide to good audio" by the way.

I haven't had the chance for it to replace the Pico DAC on my main rig yet, but I've hooked it up to my secondary desktop rig (which is what I'll be using it for mainly, on its own), and I can already tell this is one fantastic piece of audio equipment. Three things that jumped out at me is 1) soundstage (huge), 2) detail (very detailed; mids are definitely on the upfront side), and 3) warmness. I first tried my lower end gear on it first, such as KSC75 (excellent, and warmness complimented its cold nature well), AD700 (again, the extra warmness was good, and it brought its recessed mids more forward), and ES7 (only one that didn't sound that great; it got overly warm and boomy)... then for fun, I tried it out with my higher end gear, and was surprised at how much power these little beasts can pack. They power the K701 to exceptional levels, with the warmness and added midbass complimenting it exceptionally well (now, they don't hold a candle to my main rig of course, but if I hadn't heard my main rig I'd be more than happy with this combo). HD650 was easily powered to ear-splitting volumes as well, but I felt that the warmness and bottom end made it too boomy for my liking. RS1 with flats sounded very good through it as well, just missing the organicness that my WA6 usually provides (and perhaps bit too much midbass boost) but great otherwise. For now, the only real "flaw" I can see with this is that it's not totally neutral (mid/bass oriented; some may find upper mids too peaky, and top end treble seems a bit rolled off), but if you match it well I see real potential in it. The soundstage and midrange detail this DAC/amp provides is simply amazing. Funny, I'm floored by this so far, and I haven't even used it as a DAC yet! I'll try to hook it up to my main rig as soon as I can, but I have no doubts that it'll stand toe-to-toe with my Pico DAC.

Yes, at $99 USD, this is a steal. Wow.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just got the uDAC... this was perhaps my fastest shipment ever, it took less than 24 hours for it to get here. Granted, it's only from Ottawa to Toronto, but I'm still impressed. Kudos to themacgroup... if any Canadians here wants to get the uDAC, they're definitely the people to look to. Out of the box... yup, as everyone said, it's much smaller than what I anticipated. Yet the build quality is top notch... it's built very solidly. No problems with the volume pot being overly stiff or anything. Love that little intro in the manual about "beginner's guide to good audio" by the way. I haven't had the chance for it to replace the Pico DAC on my main rig yet, but I've hooked it up to my secondary desktop rig (which is what I'll be using it for mainly, on its own), and I can already tell this is one fantastic piece of audio equipment. Three things that jumped out at me is 1) soundstage (huge), 2) detail (very detailed; mids are definitely on the upfront side), and 3) warmness. I first tried my lower end gear on it first, such as KSC75 (excellent, and warmness complimented its cold nature well), AD700 (again, the extra warmness was good, and it brought its recessed mids more forward), and ES7 (only one that didn't sound that great; it got overly warm and boomy)... then for fun, I tried it out with my higher end gear, and was surprised at how much power these little beasts can pack. They power the K701 to exceptional levels, with the warmness and added midbass complimenting it exceptionally well (now, they don't hold a candle to my main rig of course, but if I hadn't heard my main rig I'd be more than happy with this combo). HD650 was easily powered to ear-splitting volumes as well, but I felt that the warmness and bottom end made it too boomy for my liking. RS1 with flats sounded very good through it as well, just missing the organicness that my WA6 usually provides (and perhaps bit too much midbass boost) but great otherwise. For now, the only real "flaw" I can see with this is that it's not totally neutral (mid/bass oriented; some may find upper mids too peaky, and top end treble seems a bit rolled off), but if you match it well I see real potential in it. The soundstage and midrange detail this DAC/amp provides is simply amazing. Funny, I'm floored by this so far, and I haven't even used it as a DAC yet! I'll try to hook it up to my main rig as soon as I can, but I have no doubts that it'll stand toe-to-toe with my Pico DAC. Yes, at $99 USD, this is a steal. Wow.

Great impressions. I agree that the uDAC is a little more warm/mid centric vs the Pico DAC-only which has a little better treble extension and is not quite as warm/forward. They both have a great soundstage and detail. The differences are subtle, but they can be heard when switching between the two DACs to feed a good enough amp/phones. I'd say this makes the Pico a little more neutral, while the uDAC is slightly but pleasantly colored. I still find myself using the uDAC every day with my Macbook, alternating between the uDAC, my opamp rolled D4, and my Pico DAC feeding the Amphora. It just depends on my mood, music and phones. I'm just guessing but if I was feeding the DAC into my ZDT amp for HD800 I'd probably grab the uDAC, but for my WES amp with Stax O2 I'd be more likely to grab the Pico as the source.

 

[ricksome]

roker: computer > uDAC > etymotic 4p's
I will post my thoughts when I receive the uDAC

 

[Raez]

Can't wait to get this thing. I'll be running Mac -> uDAC -> EF-5 -> HE-5. Sounds like the uDAC will make the HE-5 a little more involving, which is a good thing.

 

[userlander]

With that upper mid hump and slightly rolled off highs, this sounds like it would be a perfect match for DT880s. How's the low end? Supposedly it competes with dacs 3x the price - is it on a par with other mid range dacs like Dacmagic, V-Dac, etc.? Or is it more on the entry level side of mid-level, like between entry and mid?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by userlander /img/forum/go_quote.gif With that upper mid hump and slightly rolled off highs, this sounds like it would be a perfect match for DT880s. How's the low end? Supposedly it competes with dacs 3x the price - is it on a par with other mid range dacs like Dacmagic, V-Dac, etc.? Or is it more on the entry level side of mid-level, like between entry and mid?

See my previous post from a few hours ago. I think it performs well above it's pay grade, and it's not on the low-end of mid-grade. It is not "that" colored and doesn't sound entry level to me. I'd say as a USB DAC it keeps good company with the D4, Pico, Micro DAC and others in the 2-4x higher price range. As for your other question, the low end is good and with phones that go down to 16Hz, so does the uDAC (RCA and 1/8").

 

[userlander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif See my previous post from a few hours ago. I think it performs well above it's pay grade, and it's not on the low-end of mid-grade. It is not "that" colored and doesn't sound entry level to me. I'd say as a USB DAC it keeps good company with the D4, Pico, Micro DAC and others in the 2-4x higher price range. As for your other question, the low end is good and with phones that go down to 16Hz, so does the uDAC (RCA and 1/8").

must resist... must resist...

hotaudio just sent me his top of the line "Dac-Extasy" with wolfson dac for review and I'd love to compare these two. I might have to dig into my amazon reward points.

 

[K_19]

Quote:

Originally Posted by userlander /img/forum/go_quote.gif must resist... must resist... hotaudio just sent me his top of the line "Dac-Extasy" with wolfson dac for review and I'd love to compare these two. I might have to dig into my amazon reward points.

New stuff from Hotaudio? Nice. See, competition is a good thing!

I've used the DAC Straight in my rig in the past and thought it was a very good DAC for the money (well, before uDAC came along and set a whole new standard... and no offense to Hotaudio but the uDAC tears DS apart in SQ while being cheaper). Comparisons would definitely be welcome should you do it. It'll be interesting to see if Hotaudio can match the standard that the uDAC set here in terms of price/performance ratio in DACs.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by userlander /img/forum/go_quote.gif must resist... must resist...

Just so people will not think that I am purposely fanning the flames of FOTM, I want to remind people that depending on the headphones or amp that you plug into the uDAC, it may sound better or worse than other gear it's been compared to. The synergy is still important.

When I compared the stock D4 to the uDAC using UE11Pro IEM, the uDAC was better with those phones. With Westone 2 the D4 was better. With Westone 3 which one was better depended on what tips I used. With $60 worth of opamp upgrades in the D4 it can hold it's own with the uDAC with UE11Pro IEM now, but at almost 3x the cost after shipping.

 

[ChunkO]

Sorry, total noob post here..

but the uDAC is a Amp/DAC combo correct? Would it make more sense to buy the uDAC (to be used with my Macbook Pro and my Ultrasone HFI-780s as a desktop amp) or buy a used Icon (the Icon is a Amp/DAC combo too, right?)..?

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by userlander /img/forum/go_quote.gif must resist... must resist... hotaudio just sent me his top of the line "Dac-Extasy" with wolfson dac for review and I'd love to compare these two. I might have to dig into my amazon reward points.

I too would love to see these compared. I've used the dac destroyer ($50) for a while now and think it's excellent bang for the buck.

 

[Raez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just so people will not think that I am purposely fanning the flames of FOTM, I want to remind people that depending on the headphones or amp that you plug into the uDAC, it may sound better or worse than other gear it's been compared to. The synergy is still important. When I compared the stock D4 to the uDAC using UE11Pro IEM, the uDAC was better with those phones. With Westone 2 the D4 was better. With Westone 3 which one was better depended on what tips I used. With $60 worth of opamp upgrades in the D4 it can hold it's own with the uDAC with UE11Pro IEM now, but at almost 3x the cost after shipping.

How about with the HE-5?

[size=xx-small]Don't tell me uDACs not the best of those compared!!! [/size]