Long Overdo Tony...but here she is on the TEAC UD-501

pearsall001

I didn't mean to take this long but here goes. Let me start with a few spec's to let you know the TEAC UD-501's capabilities, & there's plenty!

First up let's talk PCM:
Over COAXIAL digital it handles 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, & 192kHz.
Over OPTICAL digital it handles 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, & 96 kHz.
Over USB it handles 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8 & 384 kHz.
Bit rates over Coaxial & Optical are 16/24. Bit rates over USB are 16/24/32.

DSD Playback over USB is 2.8 & 5.6 MHz (5.6 is double SACD's resolution!!!).

Now all those specs are real nice & all that but how does it sound?????

In a word..."Phenomenal" Starting off with PCM 16/44.1 Redbook playback I was quite literally taken back by it's smooth, warm & involving presentation. The Redbook 16/44.1 was played thru my Sonos & the Empirical Audio Syncromesh. Nothing at all digital in it's rendition of the music regardless of what I was listening to. Redbook on my system never sounded this real & believable. The entire soundstage was close your eyes & you are there good. The imaging was dead on meaning the instruments were placed with plenty of air separation & pin point location with your eyes closed. Vocals, both male & female had an air of authority without being chesty or straining, the vocals just flowed as if floating down a stream. As impressed as I was with it's Redbook playback, it only gets better...and better...and better!

Moving up to 24/96 playback over USB it quantified the Redbook 16/44.1 playback by a factor of about 3. By that I mean it raised the bar over Redbook playback about 3 times as real, inviting, smooth, and just amazing clarity & realism.

Moving up to 24/192 playback over USB it literally raised the bar even further over 24/96. If I didn't hear it for myself I wouldn't have believed it.

I mainly stuck with PCM 16/44.1 over coaxial & 24/192 over USB for my listening sessions. I stayed with music I was quite familiar with, Nora Jones, Diana Krall, Dave Koz, Blue Records Collection, Patricia Barber, Regina Carter & others.

Now I just had to dabble with DSD playback. This is where things can get pricey so I just downloaded 1 album that I am very familiar with & can tell immediately when things don't measure up. Blue Coast Collection. In a word I'm still looking for pieces of my jaw that were scattered once it started playing!! I wasn't even remotely prepared for what I heard. Simply amazing is all I can really say. Hopefully down the road DSD download prices will drop so I can add more to my library. But in the meantime I have plenty of other music that never sounded so good.

For the most part I'll be listening to Redbook 16/44.1 as my everyday playback which is amazingly good until I eventually build my music library. As crazy as this may sound even as I sit here typing I have Rhapsody "Smooth Jazz" playing and it defies me to knock it's musical sound. My ears don't lie, it sounds remarkable.

So there you have it, the TEAC UD-501 is one awesome piece of gear that has replaced my beloved CAL Alpha tube DAC. As much as I loved music playing thru the CAL it really did show it's age compared to the TEAC. Now If I never heard the TEAC the CAL would still be bringing a smile to my face.

Now I have to get a pair of headphones to try the TEAC in that application. I never had "Cans" before so what am I looking for here? Recommendations welcome

JuanR

http://usa.denon.com/us/product/pages/refurbishedproducts.aspx?catid=refurbishedprocat(denonna)&catalog=denonna_us

Get your first pair of cans! Denon has the AH-D600 for $239 or step up to the AH-D7100 for $649

I own the AH-D600...you can't go wrong at that price!!!

Let me know what you think if you get them.

Juan

4xoddic

I'm sure tony will want to see some graphs for himself. /sarchasm

What is your USB source? per computeraudiophile, a SSD or operating system on a flash drive will take the music to the sublime level.

have you played with the filters?

And this inquiring mind still wants to kow IF you went silver or black ud-501?

tonyb

No, Tony could care less about graphs....do you know me ?

Congrats Phil, looks like you found a winner. Obviously it made the Sonos sound better ?

pearsall001

4xoddic wrote: »

I'm sure tony will want to see some graphs for himself. /sarchasm

What is your USB source? per computeraudiophile, a SSD or operating system on a flash drive will take the music to the sublime level.

have you played with the filters?

And this inquiring mind still wants to kow IF you went silver or black ud-501?

The TEAC comes with a free download from their website for the USB dashboard. It works just fine & sounds great. Maybe down the road I'll look into what else is out there. I found that leaving the upsampling off & the slow filter was the sound that did it for me playing 1/44.1 redbook. I didn't play too much with the DSD filters. That'll be for another day. And my unit is black.

tonyb wrote: »

No, Tony could care less about graphs....do you know me ?

Congrats Phil, looks like you found a winner. Obviously it made the Sonos sound better ?

pearsall001

I hit the button by mistake before I responded to Tony's post.

Tony, as far as making the Sonos / SM sound better...you had better believe it! And I'm not talking subtle either. Don't worry once that CARY DAC arrives you'll be in for a real treat yourself.

On3s&Z3r0s

pearsall001 wrote: »

...
Now I just had to dabble with DSD playback. This is where things can get pricey so I just downloaded 1 album that I am very familiar with & can tell immediately when things don't measure up. Blue Coast Collection. In a word I'm still looking for pieces of my jaw that were scattered once it started playing!! I wasn't even remotely prepared for what I heard. Simply amazing is all I can really say. Hopefully down the road DSD download prices will drop so I can add more to my library. But in the meantime I have plenty of other music that never sounded so good...

Regarding the DSD playback... if you have some spare time, download the free trial of JRiver Media Center just to convert some of your music to DSD. Try some of the hi-res stuff you mentioned and even try some plain ol' redbook quality stuff. Then see if maybe the stuff converted to DSD doesn't sound better than when it is streamed to the DAC in PCM. On a few newer DACs I've heard, the DSD format is simply better, even if you start from a different format and just do a simple conversion. When I figured this out I said to hell with waiting for more DSD formatted stuff to become available to buy... I'll just convert the stuff I already have for an instant upgrade!

tonyb

Phil, am I to assume you used the Yammy as the pre amp ? Or did you go straight from dac to amp ?

pearsall001

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Regarding the DSD playback... if you have some spare time, download the free trial of JRiver Media Center just to convert some of your music to DSD. Try some of the hi-res stuff you mentioned and even try some plain ol' redbook quality stuff. Then see if maybe the stuff converted to DSD doesn't sound better than when it is streamed to the DAC in PCM. On a few newer DACs I've heard, the DSD format is simply better, even if you start from a different format and just do a simple conversion. When I figured this out I said to hell with waiting for more DSD formatted stuff to become available to buy... I'll just convert the stuff I already have for an instant upgrade!

Interesting...I'll have to check into that. Thanks for the heads up.

tonyb wrote: »

Phil, am I to assume you used the Yammy as the pre amp ? Or did you go straight from dac to amp ?

Tony, yeah I'm using the Yammie as the pre. I have to say Yamaha really nailed it with their AVENTAGE series line up of AVR's. The 3010 that I have was their flagship model the year I purchased it. Yamaha knows a thing or two about musical qualities & they sure incorporated that into the 3010. My mind is pretty much at rest concerning another pre unless I ever decide to move on to tubes.

4xoddic

pearsall001 ->

I appreciate your experience & perspective. I'll be using the XLRs from the ud-501 to my Yamaha A-S2000. I found a post by an owner of both units who eventually got Yamaha CS to state the XLR input levels were matched to the RCA levels. His listening experiences match yours. I believe he has the matching Yamaha CD-S2000 Super Audio CD player.

This begs the Q of how would a SACD -> DSD conversion compare to Acoustic Sounds hirez DSD original Sony masters from which the SACD came? Perhaps there is copy protection, or a PS3 route?

I'm glad the TEAC app is working well for you (PC based, I'm guessing?). I limped thru the demo PureMusic DSD Native DAC Setup Guide Release 1.0 Copyright © 2012 Channel D; but found many TEAC users were enthralled with Audirvana Plus with Macs. The developer of Audirvana+ is in the habit of posting beta update info on computer audiophile & accepting requested mods from Apple users.

Due to my cognitive impairment, I'm very slow at making the printed word -> physical unit transition in my thought process. I know it will be a long, up-hill challenge on the learning curve for Audirvana+. I have ~ 12' of vinyl to convert to DSD. Should have a lot of What Are You Listening To? posts ahead. SMILE

I've wondered about the aesthetics of my black UD-501, as other than the front panel, the box has the appearance of fine "scratches" in the black finish. Do you have those, as well? I'm guessing that's intentional (hides manufacturing flaws?), & that the silver units have only a silver faceplate. Not having 3-D vision, I was a litle alarmed to see the finish when unpacking a "used," heavily-discounted Amazon unit.

There is a thread out there where owners questioned the level of the ud-501 XLR outputs not matching the inputs of an Oppo. Oppo CS insisted on scaling the dial (digital attenuator?) down to ~ 0.50. This cut off some higher frequencies in the digital realm. Oppo CS originally denied this. But their engineers confirmed this reduction. Another TEAC owner suggested 0.80 & those frequencies came back in.

Tony, I enjoy gigging you regarding those graphs. You won't want to see:

http://archimago.blogspot.ca/2013/05/measurements-bit-perfect-audiophile.html

pearsall001 -> FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: Archimago is a fellow ud-501 owner, & in his hunt for a DAC he did a graphic face-off between the Oppo 105 & the TEAC. His graphs, limited by his test equipment in the DSD realm, show them to be a close match. The ud-501 comes out above in some areas, the Oppo in others. The Sabre chips have been reported as not sounding as nice with Mac interface; one reason I went with the TEAC. I found DSkip's comment here complementary; as his report of his short ownership of a ud-501(or was it a TEAC UD-H01 = aka "house sound") was negative. I don't know what computer OS he's using, but I would guess PC; as I understand his preference to be the Sabre "sound."

tonyb -> my hearing of high-pitched female voices when a woman is NOT facing me is declining further than @ my last audiology test date. I will see the KSU audiologist ASAP. Every year that I go back for a retest, he shares some new "hearing aid" revolution in the digital realm. The "high-end" models ($5K/ear) can be dialed in like an equalizer AND adjusted over the phone (!?!).

I already have a blood sugar glucometer I stab my pinkie, place a drop on the test strip & it transmits levels to my insulin pump; which keeps logarithms of the insulin in my body, & suggests I take the additional 0.0X amount. My endocrinologist recently suggest I get a new watch which eliminates the pinkie stab, = 24/7 feedback loop.

Knowing the #s of our generation & that everyone experiences some level of hearing loss, whether they're aware of it, or not, leads me to believe we're not far off from having a SLM app which adjusts the aids on the fly, with settings for CLUB/STADIUM/PILLOWTALK DSPs. I will be looking forward to a tonyb "musicality meter" setting, with dropdowns for Butler, McIntosh, Krell,& specific tube-rolling abilities. SMILE &/OR SARCHASM.

Have a Good Day All !

Little Joe aka 4xoddic

pearsall001

Little Joe, The TEAC download is working great. It was a snap to install (I'm nerd challenged) and works flawlessly. It is PC driven, not Mac. It's fairly basic without a lot of bells & whistles but that is just fine in my book. As far as the graph's go it looks like it measures consistently no matter program it was using. I'm assuming the other programs are associated with a cost where the TEAC program is free. I like free...especially when it works just fine. As far as the black color goes, I really didn't notice anything until reading your post. Upon further inspection it does have a rough (if that's the correct word) looking front panel but is a gorgeous gloss color. It is by no means anything that I would consider distracting, in fact it's downright gorgeous looking. I guess it was a different look or design that they went with. All in all it is a fine piece of gear that performs & exceeds my expectations. I wasn't expecting it to be this good but I guess when a company as big as TEAC (Esoteric) is & have been around as long as they have they can muster up some really great sounding gear & keep the prices reasonable.

mantis

I've heard many good things about the 501. It actually can get n the ring with much higher end DAC's and hold up well on very high end systems.
A good Audiophile friend of mine has been talking about it and he already has a high end DAC. He liked it so much he's picking one up to challenge his $2,000.00 model.

Congrads on the DAC Phil , I'll have to make some time this year to stop by and check it out.

pearsall001

mantis wrote: »

I've heard many good things about the 501. It actually can get n the ring with much higher end DAC's and hold up well on very high end systems.
A good Audiophile friend of mine has been talking about it and he already has a high end DAC. He liked it so much he's picking one up to challenge his $2,000.00 model.

Congrads on the DAC Phil , I'll have to make some time this year to stop by and check it out.

That doesn't surprise me at all Dan. TEAC sure has a winner on their hands with the UD-501. I know I'm enjoying the hell out of it & I've barely scratched the surface of it's capabilities.

EndersShadow

How bout some pics of this sexy beast installed in your rack