TEAC UD-H01 USB DAC

[complin]

I'm afraid the moral of this is don't buy a USB DAC (or any other USB device) that needs proprietary drivers!
Many manufacturers have moved away from developing and maintaining their own device drivers. 
Quote:

 
 
I have tried another USB cable, another USB port, have reinstalled-even removed my sound card drivers, have reinstalled the DAC drivers, to no avail.
 
I still have the disconnection issue with all player applications in any mode (Foobar and JRiver with ASIO, WASAPI), but also with browsers (probably DirectSound?). The solution is to power down and then power up again (so the USB device is found again by Windows) the DAC. Sometimes the disconnections are very frequent (every minute) some others are more rare (every 20-30 minutes or so) 
 
What has made me not call the Support so far is that I never had disconnection issues with PC games. I am still puzzled by this, but then again, I rarely ever play any games at all.. I hava decided to return the device for inspection asap.

 

[zoomi]

Any response on the inspection yet?
I've similar issues with the TEAC disconnecting from Windows when using USB.
I am running Windows 8 - so perhaps I'm expecting too much...
 
Z.
 

 

[Stormfriend]

I picked this up as an impulse buy at £150 even though I have three dacs and two headphone amps already, most of which are comparable or better in theory.  It's tidied up the cabling considerably which lets me plug the device directly into the AC regenerator rather than going through a power strip first.  The power cables and headphone cable all cost more than it did, and the USB cable runs it close, so I have no real expectations.  But then I've never been entirely satisfied with my other kit and can't afford a Conrad-Johnson just yet, so this is an experiment.
 
Getting it to work with Foobar on Win 7 64 was a ball-ache (far worse than my Hiface EVO), but I'm there now; I just have all the random disconnections to look forward to.   I'm using the Japanese drivers referred to in the manual, but downloaded the EU ones mentioned earlier in this thread just in case.  I'll give it ten days to run in before commenting on the sound, but cold out of the box it's far from boring, which bodes well...

 

[Jamiee]

Picked up one of these the other day just for the heck of it.
 
So far I'm not finding it quite as easy to work with as my Audiolab M-DAC (USB drivers need some updating... Not able to get 192kHz on Windows 8), and the clicking noise when the unit switches between the input frequencies is kind of annoying.  BUT... I will say it's sound is quite lovely, and I'm thinking that with a few more days burn-in time, it will sound very good indeed.
 
The UD-H01 is perhaps not as wide or deep (or quite as detailed) as the M-DAC sounds, but it's more solid and focused.  There's a little more enjoyment to it's sound I'm finding.
 
BTW, I've found the problem with the USB driver dropping the device occasionally seems to be dependent on the USB port I use on my PC.  So for those with this problem, try a different port and see if that helps?
 
TEAC really needs to get a new Tenor driver in the works...

 

[Exer]

I recently went from the UD-H01 to the M-DAC, and I mostly agree with your assessment. The Teac is really cheap for what you get out of it, is pretty capable with all genres, and is occasionally magical. Magical isn't a great descriptor, but it's akin to listening to rock / folk with a set of Grado's.

That said, I don't think the M-DAC sacrifices much to the Teac to get it's more detailed, deeper, and more three-dimensional sound. I have some tracks that would sound better on a pair of JVC Marshmallows than on my T1's, but that's not an indictment of the T1's

 

[Jamiee]

Interestinly enough, last night I decided to swap the M-DAC back into my system. This time for the sake of a quick power plug-in, I plugged it into my Monster PowerCenter HDP1800 (yes I know... I use it as an easy power on/off switcher for my powered desktop speakers). Previously I had the M-DAC plugged into a UPS.
 
What shocked me is how improved it sounds!  I wasn't expecting that at all...
 
The midrange that seemd a little too recessed, slightly hazy, and a touch thin before, has come to life and is really a lot more enjoyable to listen to. As a whole the sound is better balanced and more of what I expected to hear in a high performance DAC.
 
This makes me wonder how it would do on a good power regenerator? .. Oh, and the future MPAX PSU upgrade should bring some nice improvements to the base unit.
 
Now to be fair, I will have to do the same comparison with the UD-H01...  But I have a feeling that ultimately the M-DAC will have it out-classed in the grand scheme of things.
Features and functionality wise, the M-DAC is an easy win.  These items alone make it worth the extra cost to me.  Sound, well we'll have to see... (errr, hear)

 

[dnm]

  M-DAC   £599
  TEAC     £150
 
 Are you sure that M-DAC sound is £449 better? 
 For me they are just different characters...  
 
 I don't have Windows 8 at hand and I doubt any old driver is 100% compatible. 
I had a  headache of switching from XP to 7 and it looks like a similar hassle. 

 

[Stormfriend]

I'm 300 hours in and the UD-H01 is like a flawed gem.  The treble smoothness, body and weight go really well with my HD800s, yet the midrange still feels tight and closed in, which is frustrating.  If it would just open up a little it would be brilliant, but as it is the listening experience is disappointing.  Compared to my other dacs it also lacks expressiveness and micro-detail, which make it seem a little homogenous and, well, boring.  It handles the broad sweeps of the music very well indeed and has good rhythm, but that's not enough.  Has anyone had any luck with it opening up after a longer run-in period?  I'm going to set it up in the back room with a spare PC and leave it going for a couple of weeks in case it makes a difference.
 
The drivers are a joke; I can't get Wasapi to work properly no matter what I do in Win 7/Foobar, and having to manually change the sample rate using windows control panel is ridiculous.  Windows doesn't even have the right sample rates for some of my music.  My other dacs are either slightly too bright for the HD800s, or else they're 20 years old and the treble isn't as clear or smooth as the modern stuff.  That's why it's worth my persevering.

 

[BLACKENEDPLAGUE]

Quote:

 
The drivers are a joke; I can't get Wasapi to work properly no matter what I do in Win 7/Foobar, and having to manually change the sample rate using windows control panel is ridiculous.  Windows doesn't even have the right sample rates for some of my music.

 
I ran into that as soon as I plugged it in using optical. I couldn't stand it and returned the little s***

 

[Jamiee]

Here in Canada the UD-H01 is $499 and the M-DAC is $899... So the price gap is slightly closer.
 
I plugged my UD-H01 back in today, making sure to plug it into the the same HDP1800 as my M-DAC.
Like the M-DAC the sonic performance did improve across the board compared to having it plugged into a UPS, yet however good the HD-H01
sounds, the M-DAC really is just that much better.  There's something inherently more refined to M-DAC's sound.  It's more unconstrained in the midrange and top end detail is more present and a little sweeter.
The UD-H01 is good, but it sounds a little pedestrian in comparison.
 
In terms of functionality with a PC, I've tried optical and USB and in both cases the M-DAC wins hands down!
It just simply works... No odd behavior, lacking/out-dated drivers or annoying clicks like with the UD-H01.
 
I really wanted to believe in the UD-H01 but for my money I will be sticking with the M-DAC even if it is nearly twice the price.
That said, I may end up using the TEAC in another area of my home, in a less critical system.  We'll see.

 

[jollyjoggler]

I´ve just acquired a teac ud-h01. when i turn the headphone level knob to end stop leftmost, I can still hear the audio signal. is this normal behaviour for the teac?

 

[Baxide]

Is your headphone impedance 32 Ohms by any chance?
 

 

[jollyjoggler]

Quote:

Is your headphone impedance 32 Ohms by any chance?
 

it is 70 Ohms. why do you ask?

 

[Baxide]

My Teac still passes audio on the lowest volume setting with my 32 Ohms HD7000 attached, but seems dead quiet with my 300 Ohms HD650.
Mind you, I don't listen to headphones with the volume control turned right down to zero. So it doesn't bother me personally.
 

 

[eltocliousus]

I was really thinking of grabbing the UD-H01 from Richer sounds (£150/$250) but after reading the thread I'm a little reluctant, my original choice was the Objective2 + ODAC, I plan to get an O2 for the amp side of things shortly, and would have it paired with the UD-H01, using Grado PS500s.
 
Little worried though, I have time to sit on it but the driver issues with Foobar (my main computer source) might just turn me away, along with those saying the mids lack.