miniDSP U-DAC8 8-Channel USB DAC Review

[t129]

Glad I didn't buy it and kept using my Asus DX for my 5.1 system. I guess there aren't much cheap solutions with RCA outs (under 300 euros) than can beat that little audio card.

Well, there is ESI Gigaport HD+ (Manufacturer's webpage, Thomann sells it for 89€). But oh boy, talk about obsolete tech, 16bit 48 or 44.1khz, adaptive(!) USB and very low output voltage. I use one every day. Easy USB power, matches the avr input sensitivity, is designed by a somewhat reputable "pro" equipment company, fully class compliant and IIRC has similar mfg specs to the U-DAC8. It will not beat your DX but at least it is cheap and has 8 RCA's on it.

 

[TweakGames]

This is an amazing forum. Thank you for taking the time to share all your findings.

May I ask, what would you recommend for someone looking for an 8 channel USB dac for an active crossover type build? I am very glad I found this before purchasing a U-DAC8. Is a 7.1 sound card still the only affordable option available? Does it matter which one?

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

 

[g29]

This is an amazing forum. Thank you for taking the time to share all your findings.

May I ask, what would you recommend for someone looking for an 8 channel USB dac for an active crossover type build? I am very glad I found this before purchasing a U-DAC8. Is a 7.1 sound card still the only affordable option available? Does it matter which one?

Thank you, and Happy New Year!

Check out this thread. OKTO DAC8 Review

 

[somebodyelse]

May I ask, what would you recommend for someone looking for an 8 channel USB dac for an active crossover type build? I am very glad I found this before purchasing a U-DAC8. Is a 7.1 sound card still the only affordable option available? Does it matter which one?

The 7.1 sound cards can have significantly worse performance on secondary channels than the main L/R channels, so be careful when picking if you go that route. Unfortunately the early measurements here didn't check for this. Pro audio interfaces with multi-channel outputs are an option - pick your number of outputs and price point, and consider the used market - as pointed out in another thread (I forget who by) the last generation of firewire interfaces are being replaced by many studios, and there are some bargains to be had. The MOTU 8A is one of the current generation that measures well. You could also look at the Hypex FusionAmp range - probably the least expensive way to get nCore amps, and they come with DAC and DSP.

Check the master review index for the ones that have been measured here.

 

[qmarjov]

I have MiniDSP 2x4 HD and I use it at crossover for my active loudspeaker. But this nice box is limited to 2-way so in my 3-way system I use passive crossover between mid and high.
My idea is to use J.River as crossover. Parametric equalizer inside of J.River can be easy adjusted to work as crossover.
In that case on PC, USB output I will get separate 8ch. Enough for 4-way.
Idea is to use MCHSTREAMER (MiniDSP).
MCHStreamer - USB Audio Swiss-Army knife - Multichannel PCM/DSD/PDM/ADAT/TDM/SPDIF interface

With this I will get 8x I2s outputs. With I2s I can connect any DAC with I2S input, something like this:

NEW HiFi Assembled ES9028 I2S input decoders ES9028Q2M mill board DAC | eBay

This could be best possible crossover implementation. Anyone used MCHSTREAMER in such configuration?

 

[QMuse]

My idea is to use J.River as crossover. Parametric equalizer inside of J.River can be easy adjusted to work as crossover.
In that case on PC, USB output I will get separate 8ch. Enough for 4-way.
Idea is to use MCHSTREAMER (MiniDSP).
MCHStreamer - USB Audio Swiss-Army knife - Multichannel PCM/DSD/PDM/ADAT/TDM/SPDIF interface

With this I will get 8x I2s outputs. With I2s I can connect any DAC with I2S input, something like this:

What exactly is your idea? How exactly do you plan to get 8*I2S outputs? You need miniDSP UDIO-8 to do that.

 

[BDWoody]

What exactly is your idea? How exactly do you plan to get 8*I2S outputs? You need miniDSP UDIO-8 to do that.

Speaking of which, given the DSP capabilities of the 70xP's we are talking about in another thread, would going Udio-8 direct to the AES in give a knowledgable user what they need to 'compete' with, for example that same Udio-8 into the ddrc-88d and then AES in. All digital either way, but how hard is that to do?

I ask because I have both the udio-8 and the 88d, and was planning to set up a small format pc to see how that might all mesh together.

If I can bypass the 88d completely by using the 70xP's internal dsp, and get comparable results, the udio-8 straight to AES in on the 708's might be an interesting project.

 

[QMuse]

Speaking of which, given the DSP capabilities of the 70xP's we are talking about in another thread, would going Udio-8 direct to the AES in give a knowledgable user what they need to 'compete' with, for example that same Udio-8 into the ddrc-88d and then AES in. All digital either way, but how hard is that to do?

I ask because I have both the udio-8 and the 88d, and was planning to set up a small format pc to see how that might all mesh together.

If I can bypass the 88d completely by using the 70xP's internal dsp, and get comparable results, the udio-8 straight to AES in on the 708's might be an interesting project.

I'm sorry but I don't know what "70xP" is.

PC->UDIO-8->DDRC-88D is a possible combination , but before talking about the soltuion I have to ask you what exactly are you trying to achieve?

 

[BDWoody]

I'm sorry but I don't know what "70xP" is.

PC->UDIO-8->DDRC-88D is a possible combination , but before talking about the soltuion I have to ask you what exactly are you trying to achieve?

Sorry...JBL 708P's and 705P's.

 

[QMuse]

Sorry...JBL 708P's and 705P's.

Ahaa

Ok, so what are you trying to do with them and with miniDSP boxes?

 

[QMuse]

Ahaa

Ok, so what are you trying to do with them and with miniDSP boxes?

I mean, as they both have room EQ why not simply feed them with some balanced DAC and forget about ddrc-88d?

 

[BDWoody]

I mean, as they both have room EQ why not simply feed them with some balanced DAC and forget about ddrc-88d?

Because if I was setting up a 16 channel theater, for example, I'd rather not have to use 8 DAC's, but would like to find a way use the 708P's internal DACs...since they are already there and all...

My end goal is a pc based multichannel system, with as few added boxes as possible.
More an idea than a firm goal at this point...

Edit: Basically, does Dirac give a better result than I could get just from the speaker's internal DSP capabilities.

 

[QMuse]

Edit: Basically, does Dirac give a better result than I could get just from the speaker's internal DSP capabilities.

I'll assume this is a question although there's no question mark.

In a general situation, yes, it does. But if your own scenario can be efficiently dealt with internal DSP than why spend additional money.

 

[qmarjov]

What exactly is your idea? How exactly do you plan to get 8*I2S outputs? You need miniDSP UDIO-8 to do that.

Idea is to use J.River for crossover functionality and also splitting 2ch to 8ch output on USB. MCHSTREAMER has USB and catch all 8 channels and send out in any format. Let say to use I2s you can connect up to 4 stereo DAC's with I2s input.

 

[qmarjov]

What exactly is your idea? How exactly do you plan to get 8*I2S outputs? You need miniDSP UDIO-8 to do that.

MCHSTREAMER is better version of UDIO-8. It has more options and no limitation. Most interesting is I2S output which is not limited to 192Khz but 384kHz. Here is MCHSTREAMER capability:

SPDIF: Stereo in/out - 24bit up to 192kHz
I2S: Up to 8ch bidirectional audio - 24/32bit up to 384kHz
TDM8: Up to 24ch bidirection audio - 44.1/48/88.2/96k
PDM: Up to 16ch audio recording - 24bit up to 48kHz
DSD: Up to 8ch DSD64/128/256

 

[somebodyelse]

I'd say different rather than better, although the UDIO-8 does seem overpriced for what it does. Beware - the few very cheap DAC boards that have been measured have performed badly. Unless you can find one that's been measured you may be better off with a known-reasonable one like the HifiBerry DAC+ Pro.

 

[Edgar]

Because if I was setting up a 16 channel theater, for example, I'd rather not have to use 8 DAC's, but would like to find a way use the 708P's internal DACs...since they are already there and all...

My end goal is a pc based multichannel system, with as few added boxes as possible.
More an idea than a firm goal at this point...

I am a little late to this thread. I just read about the miniDSP UDIO-8 and I also want to setup a PC based home theater with those JBL speakers.
Did you ever do that? Did it work the way you planned it? Thanks

 

[peng]

Since the u-dac8 is discontinued, are there anything that can do the same, or even just 2.1 in the same price range? I just need a 2.1 dac to work with my windows laptop and run Dirac Live pc standalone version with dlbc. Thanks.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

My U-Dac8 is available.

 

[datrumole]

sorry for necroing this old thread, probably not many of us out there who bought this before this review thread

having an issue now on win11, never happened on win10, where every 3rd, 5th, 2nd (completely random) reboot or wake from sleep where windows likes to move my udac8's output from 7.1 to 2.0 in the config

anyone else suffering from this? driving me absolutely up the wall