Measurements of TEAC NT-505

[WolfX-700]

 

[restorer-john]

You are using 192KHz vs 44.1KHz content and yet BW is set to 22KHz. Let's see what happens out to 100KHz at least.

 

[WolfX-700]

You are using 192KHz vs 44.1KHz content and yet BW is set to 22KHz. Let's see what happens out to 100KHz at least.

 

[Hemi-Demon]

This has a AK4497 in it, how does the distortion rise so high, and where are the high harmonics coming from? I've never seen those outputs from any AK chip. The linearity response seems awry.

 

[Veri]

Not that good..


Thanks for the measurement!!

 

[WolfX-700]

I opened this unit earlier. Some of these designs obviously cause problems in the measurement.
For example, on a digital processing PCB. The specifications of the crystal oscillator do not seem to be very good. At the same time, it is very strange for me to implement the external reference clock function. A low specification PLL chip is used on the digital signal path.

 

[tlathbury]

Hello,

Thank you for this info. I am a novice on the technical side, but still I do want to make sure any product I buy is of good quality. This particular product checks a number of boxes for me, and I've seen a few user reviews which indicate that it also sounds very good, real world. I'd like to give it a try but wanted to ask, do your distortion measurements suggest that the audible performance will be impacted negatively, or are these out of that range ? I see the SINAID at 102/104 which seemed decent comparatively, but the other measurements are lost on me.

FYI - my intended use is as a DAC / Preamp. So Ethernet in to balanced audio out directly to my amp. Stream Roon.

Thanks again.

Best regards....

 

[pozz]

@tlathbury There's no issue with audibility.

 

[tlathbury]

Thanks Pozz !

 

[neukrisz]

The made TEAC NT-505 measurement was great, but this type of unit can be completely different if you could measure it as network streamer (not as USB DAC) - the weakest point of this unit is the USB "gate" (unfortunately not as good like the XMOS XU208/XU216 types)
Since this unit is mainly a Streamer (from local network/internet) the most interesting measurements for most of the users is this capability.
The NET board is brand newly developed and I assume much-much higher quality than the USB input. (I guess Lumin D2/T2 level at least) YT review (see the ENG sub)
Is is possible to re-measure the NT-505 from network as source?

Many many thanks in advance!

 

[WolfX-700]

The made TEAC NT-505 measurement was great, but this type of unit can be completely different if you could measure it as network streamer (not as USB DAC) - the weakest point of this unit is the USB "gate" (unfortunately not as good like the XMOS XU208/XU216 types)
Since this unit is mainly a Streamer (from local network/internet) the most interesting measurements for most of the users is this capability.
The NET board is brand newly developed and I assume much-much higher quality than the USB input. (I guess Lumin D2/T2 level at least) YT review (see the ENG sub)
Is is possible to re-measure the NT-505 from network as source?

Many many thanks in advance!

In fact, I have measured it in the way of Roon terminal-no difference in results

 

[VintageFlanker]

The made TEAC NT-505 measurement was great, but this type of unit can be completely different if you could measure it as network streamer (not as USB DAC) - the weakest point of this unit is the USB "gate" (unfortunately not as good like the XMOS XU208/XU216 types)
Since this unit is mainly a Streamer (from local network/internet) the most interesting measurements for most of the users is this capability.
The NET board is brand newly developed and I assume much-much higher quality than the USB input.

Whatever it is true or not... A broken USB input in a 1699€ DAC/Streamer is completely unacceptable.

 

[neukrisz]

Whatever it is true or not... A broken USB input in a 1699€ DAC/Streamer is completely unacceptable.

I completely agree with you!
But luckily I don't use USB source at all and I was just courius about the results from the NET. In 95% of times I'm using Tidal. I'm looking for native Tidal (MQA) cabable streamer with built-in HP amp

Moreover this unit has an external clock input and I guess this is great opportunity for improvement.

Now we compared an NT-505 side by side with a Topping D90 from USB source and the Teac was sonically (by our ears) far better than the Topping D90. That's why strange the measurement.

 

[DaveM]

I completely agree with you!
But luckily I don't use USB source at all and I was just courius about the results from the NET. In 95% of times I'm using Tidal. I'm looking for native Tidal (MQA) cabable streamer with built-in HP amp

Moreover this unit has an external clock input and I guess this is great opportunity for improvement.

Now we compared an NT-505 side by side with a Topping D90 from USB source and the Teac was sonically (by our ears) far better than the Topping D90. That's why strange the measurement.

I am currently using a TEAC NT-505. Mostly stream from a MacBook Pro (late 2016) via expensive USB cable (long sad story that I don’t want to talk about anymore ) using the TEAC HR Audio Player software. I would be very interested in seeing its results when using the TEAC external clock. I am debating whether I should add a Synology NAS to my network and use the TEAC’s streaming capability with the LUMIN streaming application on an iPad or selling the TEAC and USB cable and moving on to the Benchmark DAC-3 which according to Benchmark doesn’t need no stinking expensive cable!

 

[Veri]

Moreover this unit has an external clock input and I guess this is great opportunity for improvement.

Expensive audio clocks are a scam https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/auralic-leo-gx-dac-clock-review.11001/

 

[DaveM]

Expensive audio clocks are a scam https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/auralic-leo-gx-dac-clock-review.11001/

Thank you, Veri!

 

[Veri]

Thank you, Veri!

I think it's really weird how in audio, the idea is often pushed that minor jitter issues are audible, and that super insane GPS-grade clocks will somehow make music sound "better". You can easily verify whether mild jitter is audible to you, archimago has done tests before on his blog http://archimago.blogspot.com/2018/08/demo-musings-lets-listen-to-some-jitter.html

Very interesting conclusions, and why one should be skeptical of magical clock claims :

The designers and manufacturers have had every opportunity to demonstrate that these devices are able to do something to improve sound quality. The fact that they don't show objective results for their products and in fact essentially ignores calls to produce evidence when confronted is telling (time for the snake oil detector to trigger!). I trust that after listening to these test files and reviewing the graphs, it's not hard to understand why I have a hard time getting too excited (worried?) about jitter these days with decent digital audio gear!

 

[DaveM]

I found that the addition of the TEAC CG-10M clock to my NT-505 significantly led to an increase in toe tapping. Not much else but it is an improvement to me. Total subjective evaluation on my part.

 

[McOz242]

Having lived with it for 2 years now here are my reflections.
The streaming quality is a lot better than the USB. Better resolution and better sound stage.
The HR Player is devilishly tiresome and impossible to operate easily.
No point using the USB other than for generating/updating my playlists on Tidal (alas no Qubos in DK).
Now saying that I´m very pleased with the performance as a streamer and the addition of the CG have in no way given me bloody ears although it may have leeched my pouch slightly.

 

[DaveM]

Now saying that I´m very pleased with the performance as a streamer and the addition of the CG have in no way given me bloody ears

I don’t understand. Is “bloody ears” good or bad?