canuckaudioguy
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2014
- Posts
- 33
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- 11
Hello everyone,
I picked up this DAC today because there was a killer boxing day special on it. It was on sale for $160 CDN! I could not resist and after reading the many thoughts here in this thread and reviews elsewhere I figured it would be worth getting, especially at the price.
First of all I have had no issues with the drivers. It sounds like there were some kinks when it was first released, but for me zero issues thus far. I did have an issue getting the PC to recognize the DAC at first, but that was my fault in that I plugged the DAC into the PC first before installing the drivers. If you happen to do this, all you need to do is unplug the DAC from the PC and plug it into another USB port after installing the drivers. Once I did that, Windows recognized the DAC and it worked.
I have put about 2 hours on it so far as of writing. My set-up consists of my PC, The Teac UD-H01, a Sansui AU-555a, Audeze LCD-2s for headphones and Celestion Ditton 66s for loudspeakers. Before purchasing this DAC I have been using the DAC on the motherboard of my PC, using a 3.5mm headphone cable to RCA. It sounded pretty damn good, good enough I was a little hesitant in wanting to buy a DAC. Not that I haven't had a nice DAC before, but it has been a while and the nice sound of the PC on its own threw me off. Anyway, the Teac is a major improvement over the PC. A lot clearer sounding with much more detail. It surprised me how much more open sounding the DAC is over the PC. The treble was a big improvement as well, and it really made the LCD-2s wake up.
So far I have tried the LCD-2s through the headphone output on the DAC itself and through the Sansui. The output of the DAC is a bit on the lower side, but I can turn the volume up enough to get it a reasonable listening volume. I find the Teac headphone output is a little brash sounding, with a touch of sibilance. But, it is enjoyable and smooth and is fairly detailed. The LCD-2s are forgiving but are demanding of their source and amplification and for a DAC at its price to have a more than decent headphone output is a bonus in my opinion.
Overall my first impressions are really positive. The only thing I am not liking so far is the slightly relaxed nature of the DAC, but I wonder if that is my mood or something in the combination. I do find as I am listening to it, the DAC is getting more and more lively. Perhaps it needs some more break-in time, so I am going to leave it at that and I'll report back once I have had more time on it. For $160, I am very impressed. Excellent sound.
I picked up this DAC today because there was a killer boxing day special on it. It was on sale for $160 CDN! I could not resist and after reading the many thoughts here in this thread and reviews elsewhere I figured it would be worth getting, especially at the price.
First of all I have had no issues with the drivers. It sounds like there were some kinks when it was first released, but for me zero issues thus far. I did have an issue getting the PC to recognize the DAC at first, but that was my fault in that I plugged the DAC into the PC first before installing the drivers. If you happen to do this, all you need to do is unplug the DAC from the PC and plug it into another USB port after installing the drivers. Once I did that, Windows recognized the DAC and it worked.
I have put about 2 hours on it so far as of writing. My set-up consists of my PC, The Teac UD-H01, a Sansui AU-555a, Audeze LCD-2s for headphones and Celestion Ditton 66s for loudspeakers. Before purchasing this DAC I have been using the DAC on the motherboard of my PC, using a 3.5mm headphone cable to RCA. It sounded pretty damn good, good enough I was a little hesitant in wanting to buy a DAC. Not that I haven't had a nice DAC before, but it has been a while and the nice sound of the PC on its own threw me off. Anyway, the Teac is a major improvement over the PC. A lot clearer sounding with much more detail. It surprised me how much more open sounding the DAC is over the PC. The treble was a big improvement as well, and it really made the LCD-2s wake up.
So far I have tried the LCD-2s through the headphone output on the DAC itself and through the Sansui. The output of the DAC is a bit on the lower side, but I can turn the volume up enough to get it a reasonable listening volume. I find the Teac headphone output is a little brash sounding, with a touch of sibilance. But, it is enjoyable and smooth and is fairly detailed. The LCD-2s are forgiving but are demanding of their source and amplification and for a DAC at its price to have a more than decent headphone output is a bonus in my opinion.
Overall my first impressions are really positive. The only thing I am not liking so far is the slightly relaxed nature of the DAC, but I wonder if that is my mood or something in the combination. I do find as I am listening to it, the DAC is getting more and more lively. Perhaps it needs some more break-in time, so I am going to leave it at that and I'll report back once I have had more time on it. For $160, I am very impressed. Excellent sound.