[James2882]

Hi All
Greeting to all. I have just joined. Appreciate guidance.

I have just bought the teac ud501 and is using a sennheiser hdr180 with teac proprietory software (with mac) and i listen to pop, paino, music via cd, flac, wav n now dsd. I bought it because of the good reviews. However i believe i am not getting the full functions as it cant play dsd. In fact i am still figuring how to use the dac. Needed tutorial. I was told to use jriver software instead. It would be wonderful if someone can email me offline.

 

[buson160man]

 I checked the teac outlet store site and the price for the ud-501 dac has been lowered to 749 usd with free shipping .  Damn I bought mine in may and it cost me   849 usd. At the new price this is absolute killer dac for this price. Check the teac outlet store online ,

 

[drewTT]

Has anyone compared this unit to the Audiolab M-DAC?
 
I have M-DAC but would like to gain USB 2.0 and DSD.  Looking for the most analog sound. Any comments?
 
I should also add that I will be using a Woo Audio WA2 amp. 

 

[koiloco]

  Has anyone compared this unit to the Audiolab M-DAC?
 
I have M-DAC but would like to gain USB 2.0 and DSD.  Looking for the most analog sound. Any comments?
 
I should also add that I will be using a Woo Audio WA2 amp. 

I am running the TEAC in full balanced to my WA22 and really loving it.  DSD is just an icing on the cake for me.
This DAC will play anything, any bit rate you throw at it.  Very clean, neutral, balanced sounding from top to bottom.  The sound is not what I would call 'analog warm' but has a very sensuality appeal overall.  Definitely, not cold or analytical at all while providing ample details.  I find this DAC relaxing/easy to listen to => enjoy my music more.

 

[schneller]

  I am running the TEAC in full balanced to my WA22 and really loving it.  DSD is just an icing on the cake for me.
This DAC will play anything, any bit rate you throw at it.  Very clean, neutral, balanced sounding from top to bottom.  The sound is not what I would call 'analog warm' but has a very sensuality appeal overall.  Definitely, not cold or analytical at all while providing ample details.  I find this DAC relaxing/easy to listen to => enjoy my music more.

Well you must have cotton on your ears because Purrin thought it was a POS out of the 17 he reviewed.
 
(I actually am joking. Purrin's negative review of the UD-501 is the only negative one I have read.)

 

[koiloco]

 
Well you must have cotton on your ears because Purrin thought it was a POS out of the 17 he reviewed.
 
(I actually am joking. Purrin's negative review of the UD-501 is the only negative one I have read.)

Well, I am listening to it right now feeding into my WA22 balanced.  To my ears, sublime!  Even if you are not joking, it's good to hear what Purrin thinks about this DAC.  Either way, I don't give a shiit what Purrin thinks.  It's a subjective hobby, right?  

 Also, he didn't like the Mytek much also.  IMO, that's a killer DAC.

 

[Fidelity182]

Tested a borrowed set on my Hifi system, Nad M3, M50 cd ripper, streamer/player, M51 DAC w an external 3 TB HD, and now with a Mac Mini and this, the UD501.
 
One word, "world's apart !"

 

[schneller]

  Tested a borrowed set on my Hifi system, Nad M3, M50 cd ripper, streamer/player, M51 DAC w an external 3 TB HD, and now with a Mac Mini and this, the UD501.
 
One word, "world's apart !"

Not sure what you mean.
 
You have an M51 but borrowed a TEAC? And the latter provides "worlds apart" improvement or what?

 

[Gintaras]

I did not hear Teac UD501 but i had and auditioned Mytek DSD both versions of DAC. My conclusion was against Mytek as I found it sounding too artificial digital, great for detail lovers but lacking organic musical blend, dynamics lacking too... so my guess is Teac at half the price might be better than Mytek unless Teac sounds twice worse which I doubt. For me I picked Metrum and never looked back after having listened to Weiss and similar priced DACs, which says a lot about Metrum sound. I prefer native resolution to upsampling, perhaps I am corny?

 

[koiloco]

I did not hear Teac UD501 but i had and auditioned Mytek DSD both versions of DAC. My conclusion was against Mytek as I found it sounding too artificial digital, great for detail lovers but lacking organic musical blend, dynamics lacking too... so my guess is Teac at half the price might be better than Mytek unless Teac sounds twice worse which I doubt. For me I picked Metrum and never looked back after having listened to Weiss and similar priced DACs, which says a lot about Metrum sound. I prefer native resolution to upsampling, perhaps I am corny?

In my experience, Mytek + HD800 = not enjoyable to my ears.  Mytek + HE500 = wonderful balance.  I've had the TEAC for a while now and indeed, it's not as revealing/analytical/resolving as the Mytek.  The TEAC has a more relaxed sound signature.  I am looking at other DACs recommended by HF members to compare to my TEAC.  There's always room for improvement up to the $ amount I am willing to spend. 

 

[pigunios]

 
Well you must have cotton on your ears because Purrin thought it was a POS out of the 17 he reviewed.
 
(I actually am joking. Purrin's negative review of the UD-501 is the only negative one I have read.)

So this guy Purrin tried the Teac dac with coax via Sony transport? LOL
 You should hear it wired with Lessloss DFPC power cord, fed with JIB usb, Synergistic Accelerator interlink to a Hegel H100 amp and B&W 804S speakers. Playing everything DSD 5.6mhz through JRiver 19 it sounds great! Clean, coherent, dynamic and musical with excellent soundstage. 
Like other usb dacs I tried it's rather sensitive to usb cables used. And it needs at least a few days constant run in to start sounding close to it's potential. I favored the Teac UD-501 over the PS Audio Nuwave dac on my system. After testing each for a full week. I found Hegel HD11 also wonderful and musical and maybe a bit more full bodied but at the end I preferred the high resolution potential of the Teac. Hirez and DSD recordings sound wonderful! At the end it's also a matter of personal preference.
I consider to get also some decent headphones for late evening listening. For now I have Grado 60i which is not too shabby for a cheaper solution.It's also easy to drive. 
The flexibility and headphone option of the Teac was also a deciding point for me. Besides excellent SQ.

 

[schneller]

  So this guy Purrin tried the Teac dac with coax via Sony transport? LOL
 You should hear it wired with Lessloss DFPC power cord, fed with JIB usb, Synergistic Accelerator interlink to a Hegel H100 amp and B&W 804S speakers. Playing everything DSD 5.6mhz through JRiver 19 it sounds great! Clean, coherent, dynamic and musical with excellent soundstage. 
Like other usb dacs I tried it's rather sensitive to usb cables used. And it needs at least a few days constant run in to start sounding close to it's potential. I favored the Teac UD-501 over the PS Audio Nuwave dac on my system. After testing each for a full week. I found Hegel HD11 also wonderful and musical and maybe a bit more full bodied but at the end I preferred the high resolution potential of the Teac. Hirez and DSD recordings sound wonderful! At the end it's also a matter of personal preference.
I consider to get also some decent headphones for late evening listening. For now I have Grado 60i which is not too shabby for a cheaper solution.It's also easy to drive. 
The flexibility and headphone option of the Teac was also a deciding point for me. Besides excellent SQ.

 
Good to read your post.  Could you link to the items in bold above? Thanks.

 

[pigunios]

   
Good to read your post.  Could you link to the items in bold above? Thanks.

Hi schneller. The usb cable I got from the dealer I bought the dac from. It's called JIB Germany. There's not much info about them. But they make great cables for good prices. They have 2 types usb cables. I got the cheaper type for half the cost! But even this one is of highend quality. It's  fully UP-OCC copper with rhodium/white gold plugs. Teflon/cotton insulation. It looks awesome too. It's neutral, fast and dynamic. Very clean with very low noise floor. Good match for the dac.Of course there are other good usb cables out there that I haven't tried. But this one I preferred over Audioquest carbon and Furutech GT2 for it's clarity, pace and dynamics. I'm using a W7 pc as transport with Eichmann express power cord on it.
You may have more luck getting it cheaper from the same dealer. It's in Holland. I don't see the usb on their website but here is a link of a speaker cable from JIB. Maybe you can contact them and ask if they still have it.
http://www.hifistudio79.nl/en/jib-germany-hf-004-luidsprekerbekabeling-setprijs.html?___from_store=nl
 
Lessloss is a known audiophile brand for power products. The DPFC Original cord is awesome for digital sources especially! Right now I'm listening with my Grado headphones and it sounds magical. They also have more expensive cord versions now. Ask Liudas if they have discounted used ones. UPS worldwide shipment is included. And I think they even have trial period. 
http://www.lessloss.com/dfpc-series-p-213.html
 
Synergistic Research Tesla series cables is now the previous series and you may still find them on sales on ebay, audiogon or from the Cable company (usedcable.com). But I should warn you, the Accelerator interlink costs more than the dac it self! LOL I was lucky to find it for 60% off. For more info on these wacky but great cables you can find on the Synergistic Research website. Here they have a nice review: http://www.synergisticresearch.com/reviews/accelerator-speaker-wire/
 
These cables work well for me on my system. I'm not sure they'll work for you too. It takes time and trial to find out. If you want to get even tweakier, isolation platforms under components help too. Mine are from SSC. 

 

[DObleX]

 
Hi! What about the internal amp? Is it powerful enough to drive 250 ohm headphones?

 

[pigunios]

I have not much experience with headphones on this dac. But it drives my 32ohm Grados with ease. Doesn't need much volume to sound very dynamic and the sound is lovely. I believe some people here have tried more headphones on it.