UD-10 USB Audio Converter

[*podman*]

Just a quick update on what I posted earlier.... Apparently the UD-10 is 2 channel only, so I'll have to use a sound card for AC3/ DTS as well as the UD-10... I wish I'd gone for a motherboard with on-board SPDIF now!

 

[Nasir]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lionel marechal /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about using it as a DAC and feed a headphone amp with the analog audio of the ud-10. Is that something you would consider or that you have tried ? Lionel

I also would like to do something like this. The only close DAC price-wise I could find was the Silverstone EB01. Does anyone know how they compare?

 

[NeoVibe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Again, people aren't talking about 10k dacs with $50 transports, more like $250 - $1,000 dacs with a versatile $100 transport lacking a huge markup. It's not unreasonable. You seem to be distorting the issue with unrealistic scenarios. Some of us are just looking for a decent transport to supply our decent DACs rather than spend astronomical amounts of cash on the best available. With all my household bills I have to look to cheaper, decently performing solutions like the UD-10 or M-audio. Of course, if I has shedloads of disposable income....

Maybe we're getting a bit off-topic but I think this IS important.

I've recently moved from CD players to PC based and during my research I couldn't believe that there was no piece of hardware somewhere between an M-Audio Audiophile USB and Empirical Audio's audiophile hardware, without any superfluous features (DAC, headphone output/amplifier, inputs, etc...) and specifically targeted at audiophiles.

I mean, given unlimited funds no PC-based HeadFier would opt for anything other than empirical audio's hardware... but for those of us with DAC's that cost as much as an entry level product from empirical audio there is only one solution: pay for an audiophile usb with too many things we'll never need that was not designed for audiophiles and that can give you a countless number of problems! (I know because I spent days (!!) figuring out how to solve IRQ-related problems...)

all we need is a tiny box that is:

- connected to our PC via USB (or wireless as the technology is getting cheaper and, according to ehat I read somewhere, is immune to some typical usb problems),
- self-powered,
- with just one GOOD coaxial output,
- a good set of native ASIO drivers.

No other input/output, headphone amp, DAC, etc...
My guess is that something like this could sell for under 100$ and be much better and easier to use than an audiophile usb (but obviously not as good as empirical audio's 600$+ products)

Can this device be it?? how about a digital-out comparative with the audiophile USB?

Come on, is it really necessary to wait for the Chinese to do a dirt-cheap device like this before anyone else realises this thing would sell???

I mean, a few years ago no one would believe that in 2006/7 we'd have as many headphone amplifiers on the market as we do. But the truth is that nowadays you can pick any budget and there is at least one amp within +/- 10% of your budget! besides, the target audience for a product like this is just about every audiophile out there who knows his way around a PC, not just headfiers!
Remember, after the mp3 and specially the IPOD revolutions, people got used to buying a CD and ripping it to a hard-drive so they can use it with their IPOD's... Nowadays, portable listenning is already necessarily PC-based... making highend hi-fi PC-based is the next logical step!

This is getting quite philosophical by now, but trust me, in a few years there will only be 2 ways of storing music: vinyl and hard-drives. and every audiophile not using vinyl will need a way to get the data untouched to his DAC/receiver.

I'm sure a user-friendly, trouble-free solution like this targeted at cost conscious audiophiles would make many more people think about going PC based...

The automotive world realised a long time ago that there are many people with too much money for a VW and too little money for a Ferrari...

of course, all of this is IMHO

 

[smeggy]

Well said. If I could find a good USB transport for, give or take, $250 with one good coax out I would be overjoyed. $100 doesn't necessarily get you good components, $600 is more than I can stretch to.

Talk about a market ripe for business.

 

[gychang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by agile_one /img/forum/go_quote.gif High impedance headphone report. Well, the battery pack is still not here (P.O. tried to deliver, but no one home to sign), so still do not know if it will give more output power than USB. the quality of the sound is outstanding. Pure, clean, detailed, and coming at you from a deep, dark, bottomless hole of silence. For me, the UD-10 is a definite keeper.

have u had chance to use it with analog output?, my understanding is it can be used as an external sound card as a temporizing measure til I get the whole setup. also does it have a DAC built in?.

thanks,

gychang

 

[gychang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser /img/forum/go_quote.gif Feeding this signal into a fairly high end DAC which most would be, one would be very hard pressed to tell the difference between the wagon being pulled by a Volkswagen or a Ferrari.... Wonder how this would compare with the M-Audio USB Audiophile device that I just ordered. Maybe I should have been checking this posts more. I could get both and do the work myself but has anyone did this before? What does most think, would there be a difference feeding this into the Lavry? I think my answer lies in the first paragraph above though. What interests me is the separate power design.

where does this fit in?, perfect bit output to spdif?

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/prod...o/indetail.asp

gychang

 

[slwiser]

Yes, bit-perfect output is how it fits. I like how the UD-10 has isolating transformers on each output. It is the fractional upsampling that gets these things in trouble. With the UD-10 there is no problem with this being an issue. The flexibility of the M-Audio USB Audiophile can cause it some problems if not handled properly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gychang /img/forum/go_quote.gif where does this fit in?, perfect bit output to spdif? http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/prod...o/indetail.asp gychang

 

[slwiser]

Humanflyz:

Which order method did you choose to get it so fast?

I am seriously considering ordering one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by humanflyz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I received the UD-10 yesterday, and I ordered on the 13th. So it took just 2 days to get here on the west coast from Hong Kong. I'm very impressed, the build quality is solid, it has all sort of digital outputs. I'm using the AES/EBU digital out going to the Lavry.

 

[NeoVibe]

has enyone tried comparing the digital out of the UD-10 to that of the audiophile usb?? any differences?

thanks

 

[Angaria]

another vote for someone to say how this compares to other mainstream (zhaolu m-audio etc) DACs. Thanks.!

 

[Tachikoma]

Well, if anyone is interested in another cheapie USB transport, Aegophile (based in malaysia) sells a $30 USB-SPDIF interface which comes with the standard optical and coax S/pdif outputs. Its bus-powered, but so far I haven't found any real flaws with it soundwise (except the little clicks that come with all USB transports, the $900 empirical audio offramp included).

 

[slwiser]

The main difference of this lower price versions is that it appears to me that they do not attempt to isolate the outputs using transformers like both the HagUSB and the UD-10. This can have some significant advantages over a non-isolated connection. Both the HagUSB and the UD-10 seem to me to be superior design and layout. I am not even sure that the M-Audio version isolate as well as the HagUSB and UD-10. From the pictures of the internals that I have seem it does not appear so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, if anyone is interested in another cheapie USB transport, Aegophile (based in malaysia) sells a $30 USB-SPDIF interface which comes with the standard optical and coax S/pdif outputs. Its bus-powered, but so far I haven't found any real flaws with it soundwise (except the little clicks that come with all USB transports, the $900 empirical audio offramp included).

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

So is the UD-10 capable of bit-perfect output or not?

It would be of great help if anyone with this product would find that out for the team!

Also, how's the jitter performance in this unit?

 

[humanflyz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dept_of_Alchemy /img/forum/go_quote.gif So is the UD-10 capable of bit-perfect output or not? It would be of great help if anyone with this product would find that out for the team! Also, how's the jitter performance in this unit?

I'm pretty sure I said this before in this thread, but the UD-10 does put out a bit-perfect signal. I know because I own the unit and am using it as we speak.

 

[NeoVibe]

just want to let European Head-Fiers know that I contacted www.crafty.nl (the only European importer listed in www.trendsaudio.com) and they said they should have it in stock by the end of January. No price yet.