My CAL is back & I'm test Driving a TEAC UD-501 DAC
pearsall001
Posts: 5,068
Yep, my CAL Alpha DAC is back & singing it's wonderful music. It was an easy fix according to Stephen & is surely welcomed back. But since this weather has been so crappy this winter & I'm just so sick & tired of it I figured I needed a diversion. When my CAL was in for repairs I did a lot of reading up on various DAC's that are now available without having to remortgage the house. The two that really caught my eye were the CHORD QuatHD DAC & the TEAC UD-501. The CHORD is over 2x the price of the TEAC & is not readably available for home audition. The TEAC on the other hand is readably available & is slated for delivery on Tues. It's packed w/ features & plays anything you could possibly throw at it. The one feature I like about it is that you can choose to have it upsample or not to upsample & you have a choice of three filters for Redbook playback & 4 filters for USB DSD. Both DAC's have received stellar reviews but the CHORD is a different animal that hopefully some day will be in my possession, not just now though. I'm not looking to replace the CAL but if the TEAC pleases me enough I just might start a collection of DAC's that I can roll in & out as the mood strikes. I'll post back later with my findings after it's been up & running for awhile.
http://audio.teac.com/product/ud-501/
http://audio.teac.com/product/ud-501/
"2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
Post edited by pearsall001 on
Comments
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I would be interested in your opinion of the Teac.
The FAT DAC (Firestone Audio Tobby; See http://www.head-fi.org/t/664270/review-firestone-audio-tobby-dac)
has the best USB implementation of any DAC I have owned. It barely etches out the Keces DA-151 in that area. It has an upsample on/off that the user can control like the TEAC. Post your impressions of the TEAC when you can.Living Room: HK AVR 354 as pre/pro, 2 x Polk Audio Micropro 4000, Adcom GFA-7500, 2 x Mirage OMD-15
2 x Mirage OMD-5, 1 x Mirage OMD-C1, APC H15, Sony S790, Philips 52" LCD, Beogram 3000, FAT (Firestone Audio Tobby DAC), Harmony One
Den: Sherwood R-972,as pre/pro, 2 x Velodyne SPL-1000R, 3 x Crown Drivecore XLS1500, 2 x Polk Audio Lsi9
1 x Polk Audio Lsic, 2 x Polk Audio Lsifx, Sony S790, APC H15, Dspeaker Dual Core 2.0, W4S DAC 2, Keces DA-151 -
2 different animals Phil....2 different presentations. Will be interesting to see which floats your boat but I already think I know that answer.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Welcome to the ud-501 club! Did you go silver, or black?
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2 different animals Phil....2 different presentations. Will be interesting to see which floats your boat but I already think I know that answer.
Tony, I will stay as neutral as possible during my evaluation. I already know that the CAL DAC presentation is very warm & musical to my ears. My listening to the TEAC will be with open mind & ears & we'll have to wait to see how it plays out."2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up. -
pearsall001 wrote: »Tony, I will stay as neutral as possible during my evaluation.
Ha...good luck with that.
Just kidding, you usually are pretty neutral in your observations. Since you obviously will be running the Sonos into whatever dac you choose, my observation is the Cal will sound better overall.
BTW, the 'gon has a Cal Alpha 24/96 tube dac up right now for 6 bones.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Ha...good luck with that.
Just kidding, you usually are pretty neutral in your observations. Since you obviously will be running the Sonos into whatever dac you choose, my observation is the Cal will sound better overall.
BTW, the 'gon has a Cal Alpha 24/96 tube dac up right now for 6 bones.
My Redbook CD's that are already ripped to FLAC via dbPoweramp will be the brunt of my listening. The setup will be thru the Sonos > Empirical Audio Synchromesh > DAC. I'll also try the Hi-Rez capabilities including DSD thru the USB...this of course takes the Sonos completely out of the picture. I don't have any ripped Hi-Rez music just yet so I'm very curious as to how that whole scenario will play out & of course sound.
Man, that 24/96 CAL sure looks tempting!!!!"2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up. -
Any more updates Phil ? What do ya hear ?HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Any more updates Phil ? What do ya hear ?
Tony, things ain't looking too good for the CAL...sorry but I have to leave ya hanging with thought. I just got beckoned by the wife to move it, we're heading out to dinner with friends. Will touch base later."2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up. -
That's cool Phil, either way. You know me, I'll hunt ya down for a review. LOL. When you have time bro...HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
That's cool Phil, either way. You know me, I'll hunt ya down for a review. LOL. When you have time bro...
Too funny Tony! Just some preliminary listening observations is that Redbook CD playback is outstanding. I haven't done any Hi-Rez or DSD playback yet. In a nut shell I've just barely touched the surface of this DAC's capabilities. Very, very impressed so far & I only expect it to get better."2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
