[37mil]

  There are already some very impressive ''high-resolution'' clocks for around 500 dollars,so this feature actually makes sense.
 
 

 
Could you let me know which clocks you're talking about? I can only find Antelope ones and they're not cheap.  Thanks

 

[mainaman]

There are many,not sure about the 10 MHz input.Tascam CG-1000,Mutec MC-7,Antelope Isochrone OCX,BLA Micro Clock 2 and many others from Thomann(if you are from Europe),Musical Paradise Rubidium,M2Tech Evo Clock(TCXO),some used Efratom rubidium oscillators,DIY rubidium kits for 200 dollars,etc.
 
All are cheaper than the UD-503.

 

[37mil]

I don't know if the Mutec you stated is the only suitable one. The Tascam and Antelope are both ball park 503 price and that'll be hard to swallow for most folks attracted to the 503. Requiring a 10M input doesn't help either.

 

[mainaman]

The M2Tech is just 400 euros,the Musical Paradise slightly more,but it is atomic!Not sure about the 10M as well.Yes,there are no hi-fi oriented rubidium word clocks for 200-300 dollars yet.
 
I wont mod my 501,waiting for more info and feedback about the 503.

 

[37mil]

The M2Tech doesn't do 10M and the Musical Paradise is as rare as hens teeth (where can I find some info on it).

I am a sucker for things like this though so the 503 is very tempting.

I wonder what master clock Teac had in mind when they designed the 503?

 

[kawaivpc1]

brand new UD 503 is here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/771501/teac-ud-503-dac-2015-new-release-dxd-dsd128#post_11688304

 

[37mil]

  brand new UD 503 is here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/771501/teac-ud-503-dac-2015-new-release-dxd-dsd128#post_11688304

lol  I thought you were going to post a link with the 503 for sale!

 

[kawaivpc1]

Antelope Audio sells Atomic 10mHz clock for 8,000 dollars. Is that normal?

 

[37mil]

Antelope Audio sells Atomic 10mHz clock for 8,000 dollars. Is that normal?

i think it's normal. but is it acceptable? not by the general public i suppose!
I can't afford an $8k clock, especially if my dac was only $1k!
 
It still baffles me why Teac would put this external clock feature on a low cost dac when it'll cost probably at least the same amount for the clock as well. Maybe they borrowed the circuit from Esoteric and thought it would be a good idea?
 
The only reasonably priced 10M clock i can find is an obscure China made Jay's Audio one on Taobao for $650, based on the rubidium standard clock. It does look very nice though.
 
As others have mentioned here, there's a lot going on in this dac and might have been better if they left out some features.  You can see in the pics of the internals, the main pcb size is reduced from the old 501 but the transformers are squashed together to make room for the FPGA and clocking circuits.  There's also the addition of the preamp board hovering above the main pcb. And i thought the 501 was tightly packed! It's also possibly one reason why there's no TO-220 regulators - there simply isn't enough space for these with heatsinks. It might mean it'll get better performing regs though.
 
The small transformer in the 501 for standby purposes also seems to be gone (but can't really see clearly in the low res pic), so maybe the 501 standby feature is gone too, although probably nobody thought that was useful.
 
btw, one thing that doesn't get mentioned for the 501 is that it also had two crystals for clocking 44.1 and 48.

 

[mainaman]

The UD-503 seems based on the latest Esoteric K-05x/07x players.

I hope i am wrong,but it also seems designed by the marketing department for bullet points kudos,while the size of the case is the same and has to accomodate twice as many boards inside.

I also hope that the shrunk analogue stage and power supply are not compromised.

 

[37mil]

i wouldn't go as far to say it's based on the K-05x/07x, which have much more complicated high power regulation, two dacs per channel, and a custom voltage controlled clock to say the least.
 
But i wouldn't be surprised if the usb implementation is similar, as i don't think many other dac manufacturers use custom dsp chips to take care of that input data. Most use XMOS or Amanero.

 

[DObleX]

  Most use XMOS or Amanero.

Interesting, is it possible, some how, to replace original Teac USB plate with XMOS or Amanero plate?

 

[37mil]

Interesting, is it possible, some how, to replace original Teac USB plate with XMOS or Amanero plate?

The teac uses a TI dsp custom implementation. Why would you want to change it? I wouldn't count on it being drop in replaceable with another USB chip but I'm no expert in this.

 

[DObleX]

The teac uses a TI dsp custom implementation. Why would you want to change it? I wouldn't count on it being drop in replaceable with another USB chip but I'm no expert in this.

They say, that XMOS or Amanero plates are the best and provide the best sound quality. I'm not expert too. But I'm afraid, that it's not possible, 'cause Teac's USB plate has original jacks and connection.

 

[37mil]

They say, that XMOS or Amanero plates are the best and provide the best sound quality. I'm not expert too. But I'm afraid, that it's not possible, 'cause Teac's USB plate has original jacks and connection.

Well, the teac uses a dsp that encrypts the code so nobody can steal it. I'd be willing to wager it's a similar implementation in the esoteric machines.

There can't be too many others with the resources to pull that off.

If you can output i2s and dsd from the xmos and slave it to the master clock from the 501, it might work. But there's no knowing what other stuff the custom dsp might control. It's likely it's needed in the system boot up.