Teac UD-501 DAC

CES 2013

By Michael Lavorgna • Posted: Jan 9, 2013

The Teac UD-501 offers 64x/128x DSD (via USB) and 32bit/384kHz PCM (via USB) with 7 user-selectable filters (3 for PCM and 4 for DSD). Inputs include 2 Toslink, 2 Coax S/PDIF, and 1 asynchronous USB and there are RCA and XLR outputs and a headphone amp with volume control all wrapped up in a rugged aluminum chassis. And Teac gives you all of that for $949.00. Nice.

Comments

Teac UD-501 DAC

Submitted by valenroy on January 10, 2013 - 9:40pm.

I have one of these first units in Singapore and I must say the FIR filters for DSD does initially seem discernible between the 4 different variants but upon further investigation, the 4 analogue DSD FIR filters have different gain levels in all of them that could be deceiving when doing a direct comparison. I have found that Filter 2 being the loudest and the most revealing while Filter 3 offers the most balanced and satisfying sound to me. If not, the value proposition seems good for the price with all the bells and whistles of DSD64/DSD128/DXD decoding and the sound reproduction so far has been very satisfying. Keep in mind though that it does not have pre-amp facilities and the digital inputs are not as diversified as the Mytek 192-DSD DAC but its built quality is anytime better. Mine has not fully run in yet so I can't comment further. If not all the decoding facilities work as advertised. DSD decoding is available via ASIO and DoP v1.1 on the Windows platform and DoP v1.1 on Mac OSX.

I have a small discussion going on here:-

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/teac-...

Looks nice except that lever

Submitted by labjr on January 9, 2013 - 4:46pm.

Another site had the list price at $1460. Hopefully, they lowered the price

I like the two-tone color option too. Looks nice except that lever switch. Those always broke on the old receivers.

It appears they've ditched the typical phenolic board for epoxy glass. Anyone know for sure?

Their web site says it uses PCM1795 which is supposed to be capable of sample rates up to 200khz PCM and DSD 64. Is there a version of the PCM1795 with different specs?

Let us know

Submitted by Rob McCance on January 9, 2013 - 4:46pm.

When a library of DSD files is available.

A library of DSD files is available

Submitted by Michael Lavorgna on January 9, 2013 - 6:48pm.

You didn't say how large. And you know, every DSD DAC also plays PCM so you can consider DSD a bonus.

meh...

Submitted by Rob McCance on January 9, 2013 - 8:14pm.

No thanks, Mike.

I've got probably 500 redbook CDs, maybe 10 hi-rez albums which may or may not sound arguably a little better than redbook. Some not even.

I'm not even taking the line a little bit on all this DSD nonsense which is being propagated by the hardware (DAC) vendors so they can have something else to sell.

This time, unless the music leads, I'm not buying. And so far, no sign of that happening.

Instead I'm goign to expand into vinyl while continuing to build my CD collection.

Look, I like progress as much as the next guy, I'm just not being a sucker on this. If you already own a DAC then buying a new DAC now is to just add DSD.

What music will you buy, from where and for how much? Plus will the recording be worth a darn from whatever oddball studio is giving up their DSD master file?