Review and Measurements of Sony UDA-1 DAC & Amp

[anmpr1]

Agreed. In the late 80s and early 90s the ES series was some of the best, from a mainstream brand.

Now I can, what mainstream brands can I turn to now?

Someone please name a well known multinational electronics brands thats building audio gear with a high level of excellence...

Good question. Panasonic recently revived their Technics line, but it is no longer good value, IMO. Kenwood and Sansui are history. Marantz is still around, as is Denon. TEAC. Yamaha. Whether they offer real engineering value is a big question. Higher end brands should always be sourced from a dealer, who can be expected to offer you service if your gear breaks. But you will pay a lot for that kind of service, up front. It's why McIntosh has been in business since 1949. They have cultivated an established world wide dealer network, and value customer loyalty. Does any multinational company care about customer loyalty? That said, who can say if any company, even an old established one, will be around in 2029?

I've found that best value is in the pro oriented companies that are dedicated to building SOA products, for a reasonable (but not cheap) price. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but look at Benchmark. For five large you can buy a high quality low noise DAC/amplifier combination. World class specs. Compare Yamaha. For thirteen thousand dollars you can get their top of the line integrated amp/CD player combination. But they won't have specs as good as the Benchmark, I'll guarantee it. What will you get for twice the price? Nice meters, fancy wood side panels, and a lot of pounds. On the downside, if it breaks, no one from Yamaha will be there to talk to you (I'm guessing). You can call Benchmark up and speak to someone friendly, anytime they are open. And my guess is (it is only a guess) that the latter will fix your unit a lot quicker than the regional Yamaha service center. On the other hand, if you are looking for a dirt bike, or a piano, Yamaha might be the way to go.

 

[SEKLEM]

Post #4 found the same pic already

Oops. I must have skipped right past that. The expression on Mike’s face in my avatar accurately captures my surprise.

 

[SEKLEM]

I looked back at the Topping MX3 to compare to the Sony. The Sony gets a slightly better measurement for the DAC's SINAD by about 4dB, but the amplifier performance all but negates the minor edge the Sony has in the DAC, if we can call it that. It's surprising that the Sony still commands such a high second hand price when you can have a product like the MX3 for 1/3 the price.

 

[estuardo4]

Good question. Panasonic recently revived their Technics line, but it is no longer good value, IMO. Kenwood and Sansui are history. Marantz is still around, as is Denon. TEAC. Yamaha. Whether they offer real engineering value is a big question. Higher end brands should always be sourced from a dealer, who can be expected to offer you service if your gear breaks. But you will pay a lot for that kind of service, up front. It's why McIntosh has been in business since 1949. They have cultivated an established world wide dealer network, and value customer loyalty. Does any multinational company care about customer loyalty? That said, who can say if any company, even an old established one, will be around in 2029?

I've found that best value is in the pro oriented companies that are dedicated to building SOA products, for a reasonable (but not cheap) price. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but look at Benchmark. For five large you can buy a high quality low noise DAC/amplifier combination. World class specs. Compare Yamaha. For thirteen thousand dollars you can get their top of the line integrated amp/CD player combination. But they won't have specs as good as the Benchmark, I'll guarantee it. What will you get for twice the price? Nice meters, fancy wood side panels, and a lot of pounds. On the downside, if it breaks, no one from Yamaha will be there to talk to you (I'm guessing). You can call Benchmark up and speak to someone friendly, anytime they are open. And my guess is (it is only a guess) that the latter will fix your unit a lot quicker than the regional Yamaha service center. On the other hand, if you are looking for a dirt bike, or a piano, Yamaha might be the way to go.

I was browsing thru Benchmark site, after reading the thread here at ASR and checking the measurements their amp has. What I found somewhat troublesome is the warranty that they have. Only one year, not transferable, warranty. It can extend to 5 years total, if you register the product, but again is not transferable. And two years if you're an international buyer. Usually large audiophile companies offers 5 years minimum, and the larger ones even a "lifetime" warranty, even if you are overseas. If I'm going to save for their amp, I want to know why their warranty is so limited.

 

[JJB70]

Sony offer something which is easy for audio enthusiasts familiar with the less well known brands to forget - they are available from local shops and dealers, with local warranty and after sales support and they are a name most will recognise and have some confidence in. That will count for a lot for many. And regardless of measurements I suspect that most buyers will be very happy with this amp as it is a nice looking unit and the audible performance is probably perfectly good for most.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Good question. Panasonic recently revived their Technics line, but it is no longer good value, IMO. Kenwood and Sansui are history. Marantz is still around, as is Denon. TEAC. Yamaha. Whether they offer real engineering value is a big question. Higher end brands should always be sourced from a dealer, who can be expected to offer you service if your gear breaks. But you will pay a lot for that kind of service, up front. It's why McIntosh has been in business since 1949. They have cultivated an established world wide dealer network, and value customer loyalty. Does any multinational company care about customer loyalty? That said, who can say if any company, even an old established one, will be around in 2029?

I've found that best value is in the pro oriented companies that are dedicated to building SOA products, for a reasonable (but not cheap) price. I don't want to sound like a commercial, but look at Benchmark. For five large you can buy a high quality low noise DAC/amplifier combination. World class specs. Compare Yamaha. For thirteen thousand dollars you can get their top of the line integrated amp/CD player combination. But they won't have specs as good as the Benchmark, I'll guarantee it. What will you get for twice the price? Nice meters, fancy wood side panels, and a lot of pounds. On the downside, if it breaks, no one from Yamaha will be there to talk to you (I'm guessing). You can call Benchmark up and speak to someone friendly, anytime they are open. And my guess is (it is only a guess) that the latter will fix your unit a lot quicker than the regional Yamaha service center. On the other hand, if you are looking for a dirt bike, or a piano, Yamaha might be the way to go.

McIntosh have almost never been available Here in the UK. Their recent(ish) marketing push has seen an importer appointed and their huge range is being advertised by a small number of dealers now.
As a brand they were something we read about in foreign magazines and the impression one got that they were more about styling and marketing and the engineering was unadventurous (probably no bad thing)
I have never seen an McIntosh equipment in 50 years of being a Hi-Fi buyer.

 

[anmpr1]

I was browsing thru Benchmark site, after reading the thread here at ASR and checking the measurements their amp has. What I found somewhat troublesome is the warranty that they have. Only one year, not transferable, warranty. It can extend to 5 years total, if you register the product, but again is not transferable. And two years if you're an international buyer. Usually large audiophile companies offers 5 years minimum, and the larger ones even a "lifetime" warranty, even if you are overseas. If I'm going to save for their amp, I want to know why their warranty is so limited.

Five years on an electronic product is not bad. I've not concerned myself with transferable warranty details because that has never been a factor in my purchases. But that's just me. If I sell something used, it's discounted heavily, and that makes up for lack of warranty.

I have no idea why anyone would not register their product. At least an item that is not throw away in the quality and price department.

FYI, below are a few brands I picked out at the top of my head, and did a quick Internet search. It was cursory, so don't hold me to it. I tried to limit myself to amplifiers. Some of the brands offered less warranty for things with moving parts.

As far as I know, Bryston has (and always has had) the longest warranty. They are so far removed from the regular warranty thing that it's silly to even mention anyone else in the same sentence.

Sony 2 years
McIntosh 3 years
Mark Levinson 5 years
Luxman 3 years
Audio Research 3 years (90 days on tubes)
Crown 1 to 5 years depending on product
Yamaha 2 years on amplifiers and receivers
Marantz 3 to five years depending upon product
Denon 3 years
Bryston 20 years non transferable; 5 years on digital products.

 

[anmpr1]

McIntosh have almost never been available Here in the UK. Their recent(ish) marketing push has seen an importer appointed and their huge range is being advertised by a small number of dealers now.
As a brand they were something we read about in foreign magazines and the impression one got that they were more about styling and marketing and the engineering was unadventurous (probably no bad thing)
have never seen an McIntosh equipment in 50 years of being a Hi-Fi buyer.

That's interesting to me. I presumed Mac gear would be everywhere given their network. Similar story from the mid '70s. I'd read about Quad, but never heard the gear. They may have had a presence in NYC, or LA, but not in my area. Rare as hens teeth. I happened to be in London, and sought out a dealer. Sight unseen (or is that ear unheard?) I bought a 33-405/ESL combo, and had it shipped to my US address. No VAT, so that covered shipping. I just went in and ordered. Didn't even check the stuff out. Funny thing: when it arrived I was all excited to hook it up. I looked on the back and saw all these DIN connectors and half sized fuses. I said to myself, "What is that!" I spent the next week sourcing connectors to hook up my gear. LOL

 

[tsanguine]

I'm the owner who sent in this unit.

I'm not really surprised with it's poor showing. My Radsone ES100 sounds way better to my ears even with it's occasional eccentricities. Looking forward to measurements here.

I did purchase this from ebay based on it being on the official reccomendation guide at Head-FI. This was before their hosting changed and I have no idea where the original review is. I do recall it was on it's recommended DAC list but the review wasn't done by Jude. I am a freequent shopper of Woot but missed the fire sale of these at $200. That price seems more fair than the $800 or so MSRP.

More disappointing is what is shows Sony has become. I have two of these and paid around $300 for each. They do what I want them to do and at the time there weren't many options. I needed a desktop/nightstand DAC and amp for speakers and headphones with a physical volume knob that would take both optical and an RCA SPDIF input as well as a USB. I don't think I've ever driven my desktop speakers or bedroom speakers with more than 1 watt with efficient speakers.

Only others options I recall were made by Teac which I still like and Creative Sound Blaster X7 which lacked RCA SPDIF if I recall.

The Sony has a great feel, look and solid weight to it. Internals were tight and looked solid. I have never heard the fan in either of my units and I sleep with my head about three feet from it.


Hopefully Sony will get serious here at some point. I worry though even if and when they do make a good product, their corporate structure will make it impossible for it to be competitively priced.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Nathan Raymond]

I needed a desktop/nightstand DAC and amp for speakers and headphones with a physical volume knob that would take both optical and an RCA SPDIF input as well as a USB. I don't think I've ever driven my desktop speakers or bedroom speakers with more than 1 watt with efficient speakers.

Thanks for loaning this item to be tested, I've been curious about it for some time. Over the last few years I've migrated away from integrated DAC/amps to small separates for my desktop computers, which gives me more flexibility, and I think the individual products are better than integrated ones at similar price points. I've bought a few over the years, and these days use SMSL amps based on the TDA7492 Class D amplifier. I've been subjectively happy with both the SMSL SA50 (a simple stereo amp with external AC-DC brick and analog volume control) and SMSL A2 (has a subwoofer out, digital volume control, and some digital tone controls, though I've never tried adjusting bass/treble). I have a subwoofer with speaker-level and subwoofer-level inputs but the auto on/off capability only works on the subwoofer level inputs, which is the only reason I'm using the A2 instead of the SA-50 (I prefer the SA-50 analog volume control because the A2 digital volume control is an infinite rotary encoder with detents that result in steps a little bigger than I like). The A2 is a current product, I'd be curious how it tests objectively:

http://www.smsl-audio.com/productshow.asp?id=102

 

[Raimei Templar]

LOL those are some terrible results. I actually bought this around a year or two ago and I can confirm that even subjectively it sounds pretty bad. It sounded weirdly dark and had strange distortions at times. Now I know that darkness is because of the freaking over 300 ohm output impedance. Wow!

I returned it due to it having a hiss in the right channel and I am very glad I did now that I see these results! This thing was super heavy and really nicely built too, its a shame is performance is so damn bad. I bought it because it looked so nice and I love Sony stuff but man wasnt it a giant disappointment.

As a fun fact the UDA-1 was far far cheaper here in Japan than in the US. It sold for around $400 new here in Japan.

 

[estuardo4]

LOL those are some terrible results. I actually bought this around a year or two ago and I can confirm that even subjectively it sounds pretty bad. It sounded weirdly dark and had strange distortions at times. Now I know that darkness is because of the freaking over 300 ohm output impedance. Wow!

I returned it due to it having a hiss in the right channel and I am very glad I did now that I see these results! This thing was super heavy and really nicely built too, its a shame is performance is so damn bad. I bought it because it looked so nice and I love Sony stuff but man wasnt it a giant disappointment.

As a fun fact the UDA-1 was far far cheaper here in Japan than in the US. It sold for around $400 new here in Japan.

He he he. At first, when I read your post, I thought you were talking about the SMSL amps listed on the post previous to yours, then I realized you were talking about the Sony amp.

It's incredible how things are changing on electronics these days. Who knew a few years back we'd be talking about Sony as trash and SMSL as a up and coming quality company.

 

[tktran303]

I think there's also a lot to be said for other non-audio quality aspects.

I also value-
Excellence in supply
Excellent in reliability
Availability of repair (authorised service centres, service manuals etc)
UX (user experience (touch, feel, usability)

I don't value functionality a lot, but I do know my wife really gets annoyed that she has to turn things on/off in a particular order, press multiple things to get a simple thing going "I just want to be able to listen to my CD and I can't even do that on our system"

Is it that hard to get it all right?

You know, with a <1ohm output headphone impedance, enough drive for 32-600ohm headphones, SINAD >= 96dB, 40W/8ohms (16dbW) to drive the speakers...

 

[bravomail]

Thx for review, Amir! It becomes a trend that highly integrated products (DAC/PowerAmp/HeadphoneAmp) get bad measurements. I wonder if it is even possible to put these things into 1 tiny box and expect miracles.
Don't dismiss Sony, though. It is such a massive company with so many divisions and depts. And with rich history too. I read the book of Sony founder long ago. They were trying to use celluloid for their first tape players/recorders. Celluloid is too flexible though And that created issues for them!

 

[amirm]

It is definitely possible. Focus need to be on sum parts than individual components. You can get a great DAC that is no bigger than a credit card. And a streamer that is the size of two American quarters.

 

[SEKLEM]

I’d like to see a product featured like the Topping DX3 Pro, but with an equally good ADC, and Hypex Ncore amplification about the size of this Sony.

 

[Jimster480]

In the 80s or 90s, buying a Sony was almost a guarantee that you were buying a the best that
money could buy. Whether that be a Sony Trinitron (CRT TV), Walkman or Discman (portable music player; tape or CD respectively) or ES series home disc player eg. SCD-XA777ES.

I remember when plasma and LCDs first came out, Sony were still pushing their CRTs. They just didn’t know what was about to hit them...
Apple with their iPod and iPhone effectively killed their mobile music division...

I wonder, if it wasn’t for the hit that their PlayStation was, I wonder where their electronics division would be today...

Sad really...

I can tell you that iPod was just one thing which competed. Sony had alot of other products which fell into lower price categories.... but all the chinese clones and other cheaper MP3 players from emerging brands really ended the Sony era of audio products..... Sony had a few decent MP3 players over the years but nothing that was a homerun.

 

[formdissolve]

Their latest flagship SACD player sounded amazing to me over their balanced analog outputs. CD quality was some of the best I've heard..

http://www.sonypremiumhome.com/es-audio-players/SCD-XA5400ES.html

 

[SEKLEM]

Their latest flagship SACD player sounded amazing to me over their balanced analog outputs. CD quality was some of the best I've heard..

http://www.sonypremiumhome.com/es-audio-players/SCD-XA5400ES.html

Most would be hard pressed to hear the difference between most CD players these days.

 

[amirm]

Their latest flagship SACD player sounded amazing to me over their balanced analog outputs. CD quality was some of the best I've heard..

http://www.sonypremiumhome.com/es-audio-players/SCD-XA5400ES.html

Never thought I would see the specs for a CD player from Sony without a single measurement!