[music_man]

i think the m51 is slightly better in most areas. not really worth the difference. teac is building very good affordable gear.

 

[FlemmingBach]

Today I opened my UD-503 to look under the hood
 
Teac uses  MUSES 8820 to buffer the signal from the AK4490 DAC.  Nice!
They also uses SMD metalised film capacitors arround this buffer.  This is a very good thing!!  SMD Metal fim caps are far superior to COG, NPO SMD caps regarding Audio !! Good job Teac !
 
 

 

[sygnus21]

OK, so it looks pretty on the inside.  How do you think it sounds?  What about the headphone section - how does that sound?

 

[music_man]

his actually does look good. i guess they revised the thing or something. those are nice cables in there. mine looks like poo. i have friggen ribbon cables. then a mess of very small gauge wires going who knows where. i could not mod it if i wanted to due to my health but i don't even see a logical path on my specimen.

syg, it sounds good okay? go get one and find out for yourself. i like reviews but i hardly ever buy something i cannot listen to. put it this way, it beats most dacs under 2 grand. just like the codex beats most dacs under 10 grand. there are bargains if you look around. i don't mean a better price. i mean it is a bargain at msrp quite frankly. of course how i hear it is not necessarily how you will. so please try to listen to it. many companies have 30 or 90 day return policy.

the strange thing is my long time salesman at md told me they are not carrying the 503 because it is not quality. even my rats nest sounds pretty decent. if that is how the new ones are then they did in fact bring back the build quality of the 501. it already has the sound quality down.

i will not explain how things sound because i am not very good at expressing that in words. odd i know because i was a recording engineer. i mean i can tell you boost 1800hz for instance but just no good at conveying a specific sound signature. i know it when i hear it but am at a loss of words usually.

just go get it with a return policy. i kind of guess you will end up keeping it. unless it is a financial concern in which case i could not help you anyways. not suggesting that but just threw it out there. although people need not worry if this is all they can afford. it is worth every penny and then some. to me at least. don't take my word for it or anyone's though. just have to listen for yourself seriously. with any audio gear.

 

[sygnus21]

syg, it sounds good okay? go get one and find out for yourself. i like reviews but i hardly ever buy something i cannot listen to. put it this way, it beats most dacs under 2 grand. just like the codex beats most dacs under 10 grand. there are bargains if you look around. i don't mean a better price. i mean it is a bargain at msrp quite frankly. of course how i hear it is not necessarily how you will. so please try to listen to it. many companies have 30 or 90 day return policy.
 

 

....Uh, you've obviously have truly forgotten about my posts, including this in which you followed in agreement, and my thoughts on the headphone section here. In fact, my very first post on Head-Fi was posted in this very forum to your post, in which I stated I got mine from Amazon. So yeah... I think I have one.  I'd just like to hear what others think 

 
Thank you.

 

[music_man]

geez guy if you like it that is all that matters. who cares what other people think. it is yourears and your money. not for a moment to say i do not like it. i do in fact. i am not sure why you fel the need to reaffirm yourself but hey if that's what it takes i don't mind. i personally never second guess myself by what others say as long as i like something. i understand you are not me too. it is all good. i am sure in this thread most people will sing it's praises anyways. so rest assured. one thing you did right for sure was buy it on amazon. i love amazon.

 

[oldson]

it is interesting to read about these differences in build quality.
are these all made in one factory or do teac have more than one?

 

[sygnus21]

@music_man
 
I'm not here to argue or get into fights with anyone, I simply want to ask questions and enjoy my stay here, so please stop questioning why I'm asking others what "they" feel about the sound quality of the UD-503. If "you" don't want to answer my questions, don't. But don't continuously question why I ask others what they think. It's annoying and antagonistic.
 
And for the record, I ask because I've never had a DAC of this stature and just want to gage what others feel, particularly about the head amp. You've already answered my question by stating you didn't listen to integrated head amps. That's fine. I'm asking what others think, why is that a problem for you? 
 
Please stop. I'm not the bad guy here.

 

[sygnus21]

  it is interesting to read about these differences in build quality.
are these all made in one factory or do teac have more than one?

I wouldn't know, but I'm assuming it's one factory. I know many companies use one factory to produce multiple units of different items so it wouldn't be unusual for the Teac 503 to be built in the same factory as the previous models.
 
Could Teac have more than one factory, possible. Is the 503 made at one particular factory, very possible.  Anyway I don't have a definitive answer to your question So I leave that to others to research and answer.

 

[oldson]

just seems odd to me that if made in one place QC should be better.
 
@music man, could you post any pics of the inside of your unit?
just curious to see the issues you raised earlier.

 

[music_man]

syg, i really apologize. i did not realize i did that again. i am sorry, okay. i seriously did not mean to upset you.

it is very possible as with many products made in china these are "jobbed" out. there could be more than one schematic for this thing they follow. see, in china there are many companies that specialize in different things. they take bids. they will assemble whatever a company asks of them within their realm. you might even find a factory that builds vacuum cleaners alongside stereo components! i hope this is not the case but very few western companies actually own a dedicated factory in china. sony i know for a fact does but they are much bigger than teac. it defeats the purpose of building china to go purchase a factory. plus there are many legal implications. this will negate any savings by building in china unless a company is very large. then, it is the opposite. in the long run they will see more profit. i just pray 10 year old kids are not building anything i buy ever. you have no idea though if you buy made in china. i certainly hope this is not the case with teac but i am just speculating. this is based on a lot of knowledge about how western countries do business in china. honestly i have no idea what teac does. it just appears this could be very possible. which in fact is not unusual at all. i certainly could not say what teac is doing though. on the other hand i really hope they do have their own factory. i can tell you we most likely will never find out about this. i can also tell you as i said my ud-503 looks nothing like flemming's. a mystery at best.

edit: i do not have pics, sorry. trust me i would not be upset if there was nothing to be upset about. i am physically incapable of opening it now and it is not even here right now. just look on google and see the differences. mine looks like a darn rats nest. ribbon cables cheap. none of those nice cables he posted.

 

[matt8268]

no, you cannot connect to an idevice.

Has someone verified this? I thought apple's new lightning CCK and ios7 and higher allowed connection to a lot of (all?) USB dacs that support pcm. In another thread, someone is even using home sharing to output dsd from the stock ios music app (dsd over pcm, packed into alac) to an Ifi micro.

 

[sygnus21]

Has someone verified this? I thought apple's new lightning CCK and ios7 and higher allowed connection to a lot of (all?) USB dacs that support pcm. In another thread, someone is even using home sharing to output dsd from the stock ios music app (dsd over pcm, packed into alac) to an Ifi micro.

You can do so yourself by calling Teac's tech support. You'd get a more definitive and quicker answer there, than waiting around here for someone to answer your query.
 
I myself can't answer your questions since I don't use Apple's products. Well, iTunes, and a classic iPod, but outside of that, no Apple.  Anyway you might get a quicker answer calling Teac.
 
Good luck.

 

[music_man]

i can't either. all i have here is an ipod classic. maybe like ipad air can. i am not sure. syg is right just call teac but i really don't think it can. it is not the apple but the teac. still, i don't know for sure with the latest gen of apple products. they are pretty amazing so perhaps they can. have no clue really.

 

[nordkapp]

Hey guys-new here. I am an inch away from pulling the proverbial trigger on this 503. I once owned the 501. Can anyone give any input here as to 503 vs. 501 SQ? I would be using it solely for it's DAC section. Thanks.