[grokit]

"Firstly check your country's electric specification and if it is not 220V & 60Hz, DO NOT BUY CARAT-RUBY."

 

[Ruze]

Has anyone compared the $300 DACs with the Beresford Caiman in the same price range?  It seems to be getting some good press lately.
 
I just recently got a DAC Extasy and I have to say it performs much, much better than I was expecting. I'm comparing it to an HK receiver from yester year decoding SPDIF from an onboard sound card.  Still, I didn't expect so much difference.  Now I'd like to upgrade to the $300 range.

 

[grokit]

I've liked the uDac out of my Powerbook with the headphone jack, and the line out into my a/v receiver, as well as to a Mororola bluetooth transmitter. But I just switched it into my Mac Pro tried the line out to my EF5, and the synergy leaves much to be desired. I had good  results with the EF5 and my DAC Straight, but the Straight needs a higher output level for the EF5 the way I am using it now. I wish I had gotten a ^ DAC Extasy instead, it sounds like that has the correct output level for my needs.
 
A little OT, but the reason I tried this is because the output level on the Straight was adequate (barely) for my HE-5 out of the EF5, but they are out for service at the moment, and surprisingly the K701 I am using for awhile with this desktop rig needs even more juice. I turned the gain switch on the EF5 to low and that helped a bit, as did fiddling with the volume levels, but the uDac definitely has SQ problems with this combo. I tried the headphone out with my ESW-9s and they sound fine, the same as out of my Powerbook.
 
So my slightly educated guess is that the problem is a combination of having two analog volume controls in the signal chain, as well as the uDac having some problems of the "scaling up" variety.

 

[harroyo]

is the udac better than the ibasso d2+ boa?

 

[Cid]

It's overrated like most things on head-fi.

 

[129207]

I bought the uDAC because of all the over-the-top positive, raging fangirl reviews here at Head-Fi. I thought it was going to be the best deal of the century. Turns out it sounds just like my Sony X1050's line out with slightly less warmth. I liked the more natural, analog sounding x1050 more so sold the uDAC again. I am currently looking for a DAC that will be a real upgrade and so far have come across the Purepiper DAC, the V-DAC, the StyleAudio Carat-Emerald and the Valab Nos DAC. 
 
So yeah, the uDAC is pretty over-hyped. In reality I think it sounds as good as $100 can buy. That dude over at Headphonia liked the $90 Fiio E7 better though.  

 

[grokit]

That E7 looks interesting, haven't heard it but would like to. The uDac is an incredible bang for the buck device because of its versatility and good sound; it's extremely hard to beat for $100. I would never sell it because I can use it in so many different ways.

 

I will be trying it out as a S/PDIF converter soon when I get my USB isolator and a Bel Canto Dac 2 soon. Just temporary until I get a Bravo, but I am glad to have the uDac, it's a real "Swiss army knife".

 

Whether using it with my laptop/iPad, as a S/PDIF converter, or with its pre-outs for my bluetooth transmitter, it always seems to work out well.