[Andrew Rieger]

New awesome stuff comes out all the time. I had the UD-301 and a Cavalli Liquid Carbon and it did not sound as good as my Questyle QP1R . So I wanted something that would sound as good after hearing it . It took a Schiit Yggdrasil with the Cavalli to get there . If Questyle had a DAC out option from the dap I might have been satisfied but they didn't and I'm so glad I got a Yggy .They do have one now and it is awesome. It doesn't come close to the Yggy but better to me than the UD-301. Yes it is more than twice the price the QP1R as a dap left the UD-301 well in its wake as a DAC and amp to me. I haven't heard the other Schiit next to it but would think most of the Multibit would be close. This is just my opion as I have not heard them all. YMMV

I would hope the Questyle DAP would sound better, its a $1K portable after all. I could buy 3 UD301's for the cost of Quest's flagship DAP. Still, pretty impressive that Questyle crammed so much power into such a small player. If I was wealthier, I might just get a QP1R and just say to hell with a Desktop set up since I don't have any super power hungry cans but still, I just can't bring myself to spend a grand on what is essentially and iPod Classic on serious steroids, no matter how marvelous it might sound. 

 

[buke9]

I would hope the Questyle DAP would sound better, its a $1K portable after all. I could buy 3 UD301's for the cost of Quest's flagship DAP. Still, pretty impressive that Questyle crammed so much power into such a small player. If I was wealthier, I might just get a QP1R and just say to hell with a Desktop set up since I don't have any super power hungry cans but still, I just can't bring myself to spend a grand on what is essentially and iPod Classic on serious steroids, no matter how marvelous it might sound. 

More like $899 but I get your point. Still is awesome for the price and now that it can act as a USB DAC also is just that much better. A little more than a iPod on steroids .

 

[Andrew Rieger]

More like $899 but I get your point. Still is awesome for the price and now that it can act as a USB DAC also is just that much better. A little more than a iPod on steroids .

I agree ... its extremely impressive for such a small package. I would love to own one myself.
 
Even though you traded up to much more expensive DAC and Amp, would you say that you were pretty happy with the sound quality from the UD301? If a Sony Walkman cassette player is a 1 and a Yggy with a Cavalli Amp is a 95 to 100, where would the Teac fall? I guess I'm asking mostly about the sound quality of the DAC. I think it sounds good personally but I really haven't had a chance to compare to other DACs besides low end stuff like the D/S Modi and Odac. 
 
I know the built in amp is a bit underpowered on paper but I'm curious to hear you thoughts on it as well. For me, the built in amp was a pleasant surprise, so much so that I didn't mind selling my Schiit Uber stack. I feel like its a bit more powerful than people give it credit for. Either way, I'm probably going to feed the Teac into a Schiit Jot pretty soon. 

 

[buke9]

Yes I was happy with the Teac. Yes the amp is underpowered and to me a bit too dark sounding. For the money I think it is still a good value to be sure. I don't want to give it a number rating as I have not heard every DAC out there. From what I have heard it is above average. I will hear the Jotunhiem at the end of next month at a meet hopefully .

 

[Andrew Rieger]

Yes I was happy with the Teac. Yes the amp is underpowered and to me a bit too dark sounding. For the money I think it is still a good value to be sure. I don't want to give it a number rating as I have not heard every DAC out there. From what I have heard it is above average. I will hear the Jotunhiem at the end of next month at a meet hopefully .

Thanks for the feedback. Its funny how people hear things differently. The built in Teac amp sounded much brighter to me than the Magni 2 Uber I was comparing it to but I guess compared to other amps, its probably darkish. 

 

[Andrew Rieger]

I put my Teac in the classifieds if anyone is interested - the multibit bug got the better of me. 
 
Link: http://www.head-fi.org/t/823129/teac-ud-301-dac-amp

 

[Xyrium]

Given it has a good quality preamp (nope, not class A, but don't need it either), excellent component selection, and what seems to be a smart design layout, I don't think there's anything that touches it in this price range.  I have mine going straight into a pair of powered speakers, and the sound is excellent. It handles my Beyer 880/600s fairly well -- no noticeable weakness in the frequency range. Mentally, I want to think that it must be missing something, because it's rated output into 600Ohms is low, but it really does sound good.

 

[bellahsu]

While UD-301 wins in the department of build quality and versatility, Schiit multibit DAC wins in the area of acoustic. I own a UD-301 as well as Bifrost multibit. Being a classical listener, to my ears the instruments timber of Schitt MB DAC are rendered at a higher level of "realism" than that of UD-301. This is especially true for wind instruments, piano and vocal. I still own UD-301. It is used for stream music over the internet via Goggle's chromecast audio when only using headphone.

 

[Xyrium]

The Bifrost is indeed a fantastic DAC, but it's only a DAC, and it's twice the cost of the Teac. Meanwhile, the Teac is a preamp and headphone amp as well, with balanced preamp outputs. From a DAC perspective, I doubt you are hearing anything other than impedance matching differences between whatever you're using as a preamp and the DACs, but of course, that's been debated a gazillion times over.  
 
I'd say the UD-301 is more on par with the Jotunheim from a feature perspective. Now that's a comparison I'd like to hear, even though the Jotunheim is still plenty more expensive than the Teac since it also has balanced and much higher power headphone outputs. Personally, I think the Jotunheim might be the best bargain on the market today. To get even similar DAC features from Teac, you'd have to get the UD-503, and it's several hundred dollars more than the Jotunheim, and has a weaker head amp
 
Regardless, that Bifrost is highly regarded in the forums, while the Teac is a relative unknown it appears. I'm just glad there's some competition out there that doesn't cost all of us who love music, an arm and a leg.

 

[bellahsu]

I agree Jotunheim with the optional DAC module (dual AKM 4490 and a passive-filter output stage) is more a direct comparison to Teac UD-301. I wish there is a multibit DAC option for Jotunheim. However, according to Jason the DAC module simply does not have enough space to accommodate the necessary multibit hardware. I must say I also own a Modi 2 Uber DAC (which uses AKM 4490). To my ears, Modi 2 Uber is bested by Bifrost MB in the area of instruments separation and the degree of realism of instruments timbre. I am aware of the fact that there are some that do not hear any differences between delta-sigma vs multibit DAC. Some prefer the sound signature of delta-sigma. It boils down to a matter of personal taste, I guess. To stay on topic, it cost me $199 to own my UD-301 (there was a $100 rebate from Teac when I made the purchase). From the value perspective, it is among the best that I purchased. 

 

[konoyaro]

And then there's DSD for those who care and the fact that Schitt seems to despise the format.

 

[Xyrium]

  And then there's DSD for those who care and the fact that Schitt seems to despise the format.

 
Yeah, they don't seem to give a Schiit about DSD for some reason. The 4490 covers DSD though, not sure why Schiit doesn't implement it.
 
http://www.akm.com/akm/en/aboutus/news/20140501AK4490_001/?link_id=link109
 

  I agree Jotunheim with the optional DAC module (dual AKM 4490 and a passive-filter output stage) is more a direct comparison to Teac UD-301. I wish there is a multibit DAC option for Jotunheim. However, according to Jason the DAC module simply does not have enough space to accommodate the necessary multibit hardware. I must say I also own a Modi 2 Uber DAC (which uses AKM 4490). To my ears, Modi 2 Uber is bested by Bifrost MB in the area of instruments separation and the degree of realism of instruments timbre. I am aware of the fact that there are some that do not hear any differences between delta-sigma vs multibit DAC. Some prefer the sound signature of delta-sigma. It boils down to a matter of personal taste, I guess. To stay on topic, it cost me $199 to own my UD-301 (there was a $100 rebate from Teac when I made the purchase). From the value perspective, it is among the best that I purchased. 

 
Wow, I would have purchased a spare 301 at that price! LOL. That Modi 2 Uber is actually on my radar right now. It's the perfect companion to my O2 head amp. Then I'd have one rig for nearfield audio, and another for cans. 

 

[bellahsu]

Modi 2 Uber is very musical and non fatigue sounding.  I've owned a number of DACs; Modi 2 Uber is among a few that I can still enjoy after many hours of non-stop listening. 

 

[mandrake50]

It is interesting to hear this.   I thought the Modi 2 uber that I got was clinical and sterile and too bright for my tastes. I got it to help make my HE 560 a bit tamer in the 5K peak region that it has, versus whatever I was using at the time (so much time , so many pieces of gear). I sold it. While I did not like the amp in the 301 that much, running it balanced into the liquid carbon or H10 got me so much closer to "nice" with the HE 560. I guess the Modi 2 U might pair well with some systems sand some ears, it did nothing for me. I sold it pretty quickly. The guy I sold it to, agreed with me...and sold it pretty quickly.
 
I am sure it is all about the headphones one uses and personal taste...  just am saying, buyer beware. If you are coming from a 301 and like it the modi may not be what you want.

 

[LajostheHun]

Recently got a new computer with Windows 10, had a laptop with W7 for 5 years and I owned this DAC/Amp for over 6 months now. I'm very happy with till just now as it doesn't look like it "gets along" with W10 very well. It basically stops playing after about a minute or so and I have to restart it, or restart the computer or both. Tried it with 2 different media players and and all the available streaming methods.[Direct, WASAPI, Asio.] It worked great with W7 with the TEAC supplied driver, and it is also flawless with my LG v20 Android phone. I did try to uninstall the driver and reinstall with no difference.Went through all the settings I could think of.
Any ideas?