[nwavguy]

Quote:

nwavguy,
 
when jasonl asked you several times "who are you worked for?", I wanted to reply "for you, jasonl". Really, you increased their brand recognition well with this dispute. I've bought uDAC-2 due this thread just for curiosity, it is soon to arrive.

 
In that case hopefully NuForce will thank me! I hope you like your uDAC-2. Lots of people seem to like theirs.

 

[jasonl]

Hey, no hard feelings. If you are in town, my dinner offer still stands and come over to checkout our high-end products.

 

[SnTholiday]

kostalex,
 
Sorry about that, I meant HD 570, not 700.
 
Quote:

SnTholiday,
 
are you sure your cans are HD700? I do not know them, and I googled and got a conradictionary results - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=sennheiser+hd700&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=.
 
 

 

 

[Shike]

I'm surprised NuForce doesn't just contract nwavguy to handle measurements of some of their new products.  Imagine the publicity should one of their biggest critics start endorsing them not through being paid off, but by solid engineering.  The only concern I have with the uDac is the potential clipping due to pushing the voltage rails, and the channel imbalance myself.

 

[kostalex]

Well, I listened to uDAC-2 with some hi-fi earbuds last night - no audible distortions and pretty decent sound for the money. This night I will compare it against HM-602.

 

[kostalex]

Compared, HM-602 made uDAC-2 bite the dust. What a pitty, I had some hopes for uDAC-2 because HM-602 requires USB hub and refuses to play directly from laptop.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Is this thread based off using the UDAC2 as a DAC/AMP, or is it also relevant when using the UDAC2 solely as a DAC? I'm interested.

 

[Stereoeditor]

It is fair to point out that the second sample of the NuForce measured very much better than the first. See http://www.stereophile.com/content/measurements-sample-2 .
 
Chronic health problems have prevented Wes Phillips from comparing the two samples of the CDP-8. However, a comparison by Stephen Mejias will appear in the June 2011 issue of Stereophile.
 
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
 
Quote:

 
8 - I have not tried to distort the Stereophile article as NuForce has said. The FACTS are: Their product measured exceptionally poorly compared to typical products in a few areas. Their response indicated they had never even thought to make the measurements. Rather than claim, as they have here, the poor performance was justified, they attempted to fix the problems and submited another product for review. My main point was that A) This has happened before with NuForce, and B) They don't seem to believe in making typical measurements even for their $1500 products. I don't think that's distorting anything.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

It is fair to point out that the second sample of the NuForce measured very much better than the first. See http://www.stereophile.com/content/measurements-sample-2 .
 
Chronic health problems have prevented Wes Phillips from comparing the two samples of the CDP-8. However, a comparison by Stephen Mejias will appear in the June 2011 issue of Stereophile.
 
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
 

Thanks for the update. I've been very pleased with my CDP-8, which beats out my Marantz CD-5001 even when feeding the 5001's coax into an Apogee mini-DAC with a sigma 11 PSU. I sent it in for the jitter reduction mod just for peace of mind, and it's on it's way back to me now.

 

[bcwang]

Quote:

Quote:

It is fair to point out that the second sample of the NuForce measured very much better than the first. See http://www.stereophile.com/content/measurements-sample-2 .
 
Chronic health problems have prevented Wes Phillips from comparing the two samples of the CDP-8. However, a comparison by Stephen Mejias will appear in the June 2011 issue of Stereophile.
 
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
 

Thanks for the update. I've been very pleased with my CDP-8, which beats out my Marantz CD-5001 even when feeding the 5001's coax into an Apogee mini-DAC with a sigma 11 PSU. I sent it in for the jitter reduction mod just for peace of mind, and it's on it's way back to me now.

You should try out your Sigma 11 PSU on the CDP-8, it'll likely make a noticeable improvement.  I heard a linear power supply on the CDP-8 over the standard one and it made a positive difference. 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

You should try out your Sigma 11 PSU on the CDP-8, it'll likely make a noticeable improvement.  I heard a linear power supply on the CDP-8 over the standard one and it made a positive difference. 

Well, I asked Nuforce about that and they insisted that they do a lot of power regulation inside and that the sigma 11 wouldn't make a difference, but then again Apogee said the same thing and it did help. I have a 12v, 15v, and 24v sigma 11, so I'll check to see which one would be the right voltage. I really don't want to take the 12v S11 off the Apogee, especially since the CDP-8 is already beating the Apogee and I don't need the gap to get bigger.

I turns out that my CDP-8 already had the jitter reduction mod in my CDP-8, even though I got it about a month before the Stereophile review was published. Nuforce really did a great job with this CD player and had the issue fixed for production pretty early on.

As for the uDAC-2, I still think the RCA outputs are fairly indistinguishable from the Pico DAC RCA outputs when feeding an external amp, and it's noticeably better than the original uDAC (or my sold Behringer UCA-202). If i listen long and hard enough i might be able to describe a difference, but in rapid A-B switching it doesn't seem like I've changed the source at all most times. Other USB DACs that seem to perform close to the Pico DAC are the iBasso D4/10 and Headroom Micro DAC. With the music I listen to, any distortion in the uDAC-2 at 0dbfs is not an issue for me. I thinks it's musical and enjoyable. It's beaten by my DACport, HDP, and Apogee 24 bit DACs, but they're also a lot more expensive.

 

[bcwang]

Quote:

Quote:

You should try out your Sigma 11 PSU on the CDP-8, it'll likely make a noticeable improvement.  I heard a linear power supply on the CDP-8 over the standard one and it made a positive difference. 

Well, I asked Nuforce about that and they insisted that they do a lot of power regulation inside and that the sigma 11 wouldn't make a difference, but then again Apogee said the same thing and it did help. I have a 12v, 15v, and 24v sigma 11, so I'll check to see which one would be the right voltage. I really don't want to take the 12v S11 off the Apogee, especially since the CDP-8 is already beating the Apogee and I don't need the gap to get bigger.

 

 
It's the same as would be used on the HDP, the power supply works for both.  Many manufacturers claim to do a lot of power regulation yet people can still hear differences a power cord makes.  I remember you bought a Sigma 11 for the HDP....it should be 15v, that's the one to use with the CDP-8.
 

 
 

 

[Ranma13]

Just wanted to chime in here. I was originally interested in the Nuforce uDAC-2 based on the positive responses of other members here who have used it. However, coming across nwavguy's measurements gave me pause. I was still interested in this DAC, however, up until the point where I saw jasonl's responses. Though I may not understand nwavguy's measurements and analysis, what I do understand is a company representative going out of his way to attack a member of the community. I will definitely steer clear of Nuforce, no matter how good their products are.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Just wanted to chime in here. I was originally interested in the Nuforce uDAC-2 based on the positive responses of other members here who have used it. However, coming across nwavguy's measurements gave me pause. I was still interested in this DAC, however, up until the point where I saw jasonl's responses. Though I may not understand nwavguy's measurements and analysis, what I do understand is a company representative going out of his way to attack a member of the community. I will definitely steer clear of Nuforce, no matter how good their products are.

NwAvGuy has been booted from a couple of other audio forums recently due to his attitude and vendettas, and I completely understand why Nuforce would get aggravated with him as well.  I still think it's a great bang for the buck.  I haven't heard another DAC/amp near this price range that sounds as good as the uDAC-2, as a headphone amp or DAC-only (I admit I have not heard them all, but I did a 13 USB DAC/amp review a while back).  I don't have the large channel imbalance NwAvGuy found in his, and with the high quality recordings that I listen to the sound is clean and crisp and free of audible distortion.
 

 

[bulmanxxi]

Well, that's a pity, as he is one of the few guys around that is actually technically proficient (notwithstanding the "drama") and helped cut through some of the plentiful marketing bologna that is going on around.