[37mil]

I used Bellesons in an amp because of the high current option. I decided on the cheaper DEXAs for the DAC. Both seem to be good.
 
The output caps are 100u/25V everywhere.  You can get away with not using any on the reg outputs.  You won't be able to fit film caps on the audio out as there's not enough space.  You'll have to choose a nice 'lytic.
 
I put Nichicon KWs on the power supply and i think you can squeeze in 6800u sized ones if you wanted.
 
The voltage in the unit is nowhere near 35V but it's wise to stick to stock specs.

 

[mainaman]

Thanks.The KWs are really nowhere near 35V.The audio caps,i wonder if Black Gate FK 100/25s would fit,they are 10x20,and are they suitable for coupling caps or only for decoupling(bypass)?
 
If budget permits,is it even feasible to think about upgrading the trans and the clocks,to Piltrons and Femtos for example?
 
The soldering and desoldering is the easy part,i can find somebody capable to do it.I just have to order the parts and the lack of space seems more restrictive than the lack of funding

 

[37mil]

You can add a clock but they're so expensive, the cost of upgrades is too disproportionate to the cost of the unit. Also, you need two clocks unless you choose to only upgrade one.

A cheaper upgrade you can experiment with is using isolating feet. I'm using iso-cups with balls (herbies audio) and find a big difference when moving them to different positions under the unit.

I'm not sure about the blackgates. I'm using bipolar mundorfs on the audio outs but they're not for everyone. They sound fine enough to me though and there's plenty of detail and resolution coming through. Sparkos op amps are very transparent and have a great sense of air - very clean and distortion free. Although having good voltage regs has had a helping hand in that. I've got dexas on the headphone amp which are also very good.

 

[mainaman]

I have put Ayre Myrtle Blocks under it and it is on Quadraspire shelf.I dont know if it is worth it to shell for fancy footers and the Stillpoints are too much compared to the cost of the unit.

I am using it with BMC PureUSB 1 cable and it sounds better than with Belkin,but i upgraded the interconnect and the power cable at the same time,so hard to say what changed what.

 

[Bigbwb]

Some interesting tidbits on the UD-503 (501 replacement).
 
http://teac.jp/product/ud-503/
 
Just use Google translator.

 

[Bigbwb]

This was posted over on Computeraudiophile as well....
 
http://culturehd.com/teac-ud503-en-approche_9677
 
According to this French website, the thinking is it will be priced under Euro 1,000
 
 
So maybe $1000-$1200USD!  Not bad.

 

[Bigbwb]

One more item on the 503....
 
http://www.akm.com/akm/en/aboutus/news/20150610AK4490TEAC_001/

 

[37mil]

That 503! Oh, my God. It looks more than a replacement, it's a complete overhaul of the 501 and a level higher in every aspect. Look at those feet! The bottom chassis and feet were a big let down of the 501.

The 503 is on another level completely. I'm very interested but completely broke, can't afford it.

 

[37mil]

There's no mention of muses op amps on the teac site but other reports say they are used. It's hard to see in the low res pic but I can't make out any op amps near the output stage. There does seem to be 4 discrete large transistors in that position. Could this be the discrete stage as mentioned on the teac page regarding the headphone stage? It'd be strange to have a discrete stage for the headamp but have ics driving the line stage since I guess the line stage would be the first stage of the headamp, as it is in the 501.

I'd love the dsd upsampling feature. A whole dedicated FPGA to do the work! And the external clock input is nice, though at this price point I would have thought most master clocks are more expensive than the 503 itself.

Also, for modders it doesn't look like there'll be a great deal to do on this except changing the caps.

 

[mainaman]

It looks very promising and a comprehensive upgrade over the 501.The DACs,the clocks and the transformers are upgraded and i hope the output stage.
 
However it also looks a little overburdened and over-embellished.Some users don't need the preamp,the headphone amp(serious headfiers wouldn't use the integrated one anyway) and the feet.The upsampling is probably redundant for most computer users,who already do it in JRiver,Foobar,etc.
 
There are already some very impressive ''high-resolution'' clocks for around 500 dollars,so this feature actually makes sense.
 
It is 160 000 yen,the 501 was 120 000 yen.

 

[Bigbwb]

  It looks very promising and a comprehensive upgrade over the 501.The DACs,the clocks and the transformers are upgraded and i hope the output stage.
 
However it also looks a little overburdened and over-embellished.Some users don't need the preamp,the headphone amp(serious headfiers wouldn't use the integrated one anyway) and the feet.The upsampling is probably redundant for most computer users,who already do it in JRiver,Foobar,etc.
 
There are already some very impressive ''high-resolution'' clocks for around 500 dollars,so this feature actually makes sense.
 
It is 160 000 yen,the 501 was 120 000 yen.

I agree, I have no need for the internal amp or preamp feature.  I do like the upsampling as it relieves the CPU burden from the server.  Any idea how that works?

 

[Bigbwb]

That 503! Oh, my God. It looks more than a replacement, it's a complete overhaul of the 501 and a level higher in every aspect. Look at those feet! The bottom chassis and feet were a big let down of the 501.

The 503 is on another level completely. I'm very interested but completely broke, can't afford it.

Lets hope this price doesn't sky rocket!

 

[37mil]

I agree, I have no need for the internal amp or preamp feature.  I do like the upsampling as it relieves the CPU burden from the server.  Any idea how that works?

Apparently has an FPGA dedicated to upsampling.
As for the preamp thing, that's just a function of the added volume control over the line out. By the looks of it controlled in the DACs digital domain.

 

[Bigbwb]

Apparently has an FPGA dedicated to upsampling.
As for the preamp thing, that's just a function of the added volume control over the line out. By the looks of it controlled in the DACs digital domain.

Thanks. I like the idea of the dac doing the upsampling! Looking forward to,reading more about it.

 

[37mil]

Thanks. I like the idea of the dac doing the upsampling! Looking forward to,reading more about it.

I'm using an old netbook to playback through a 501. It's so slow I can't floating point upsample to 192kHz but I can get away with 352.8kHz (integer). Can't do DSD in real time of course so I'd be glad for a 503. Of course, I could just buy another laptop but I have no other use for it.