TEAC NT-503: any opinions?

[wgscott]

This appears to be like the UD-503 (which is an improvement on the UD 501). The difference appears that it has ethernet in rather than analog in, and bluetooth in, and no dual balanced headphone jacks. I was paying serious attention to the UD-503, but I don't need the headphone or analogue in, so maybe network capabilities would give it the edge?

(It would replace an old Peachtree Nova DAC and Pre stage, FWIW). Looks like $999.

http://www.teac.com/product/nt-503/

Opinions?

 

[Mivera]

This appears to be like the UD-503 (which is an improvement on the UD 501). The difference appears that it has ethernet in rather than analog in, and bluetooth in, and no dual balanced headphone jacks. I was paying serious attention to the UD-503, but I don't need the headphone or analogue in, so maybe network capabilities would give it the edge?

(It would replace an old Peachtree Nova DAC and Pre stage, FWIW). Looks like $999.

http://www.teac.com/product/nt-503/

Opinions?

Marty said the UD-503 sounded like crap compared to his cheaper Gustard X20U

 

[wgscott]

Who is Marty?

 

[Mivera]

Member NC42acc

 

[wgscott]

Thanks. That clears everything up nicely.

 

[Mivera]

Thanks. That clears everything up nicely.

Here's what he said:

"I just tried the Teac UD-503 with the AKM4490 chip.and it was pretty bad on PCM and DSD. YMMV"

"when I listened to PCM on the UD-503 I it sounded shouty, 2 dimensional and just bad."


http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...t-will-shame-30K-systems-all-day-long!/page30

 

[Opus111]

Unlikely to be the DAC chip that's 2D, it'll be the analog stages beyond. Too low value resistors around opamps I'd hazard.

 

[Mivera]

Unlikely to be the DAC chip that's 2D, it'll be the analog stages beyond. Too low value resistors around opamps I'd hazard.

I know it's not the chip because it sure doesn't sound that way in the PD2. Or the cheap little Mirand DAC.

 

[Mivera]

Here's the inside of the NT-503. Quite a bit of stuff crammed into a small space:

 

[Opus111]

Two toroidals in parallel means high susceptibility to mains-borne noise. Could be a cause of shoutiness.

 

[Mivera]

Two toroidals in parallel means high susceptibility to mains-borne noise. Could be a cause of shoutiness.

A million things could be the cause of shoutiness in there. I think keeping it simple is the way to go. A guy sold off his $7000 Sim Audio DAC after buying this cheap simple DAC. Simplicity, quality parts and board layouts are the way to go.

http://mirand-audio.dk/?product=ak4...ort-discrete-diffse-shield-pcm-filter-setting

 

[Opus111]

There's more than one way to skin that cat. Doing everything with discrete opamps looks to me like overkill - the DAC chip's cheap on Taobao (under $3), why implement such a relatively expensive output stage?

 

[wgscott]

Where is the volume knob?

But seriously, what I am after is a DAC/pre (good digital volume is fine) that I can RC and feed directly into my amps. Preferably under $2K. The more under without sacrificing quality, the better. The Gustard looks like a good deal. I can't seem to find any measurements.

 

[Mivera]

There's more than one way to skin that cat. Doing everything with discrete opamps looks to me like overkill - the DAC chip's cheap on Taobao (under $3), why implement such a relatively expensive output stage?

Because it sounds way better. He also sells a much cheaper IC opamp based output board for those who want to save money. That's actually the board that was used when this guy decided it was better than his $7000 Sim audio DAC:

https://translate.google.ca/transla.../t646-mirand-audio-ak4490-dac-dsd&prev=search

http://mirand-audio.dk/?product=ak4490-usb-dac-with-dsd-support-single-ended-shield

 

[Opus111]

Because it sounds way better. He also sells a much cheaper IC opamp based output board for those who want to save money.

Imagine how much better it'll sound if you teach Sonny about biassing opamps into classA.

 

[Mivera]

Where is the volume knob?

But seriously, what I am after is a DAC/pre (good digital volume is fine) that I can RC and feed directly into my amps. Preferably under $2K. The more under without sacrificing quality, the better. The Gustard looks like a good deal. I can't seem to find any measurements.

Sonny has a Pre/DAC based on that DAC above with full preamp, analog inputs and everything almost ready and is going to be under $2000 completely assembled with 2 year warranty. 100% discrete class A signal path. If you can find something better for under $10K please let me know about it. It's a killer deal.

Here's the case but not completely finished yet.

 

[Mivera]

Imagine how much better it'll sound if you teach Sonny about biassing opamps into classA.

The discrete board runs in Class A. Anyone too cheap to pay the extra 90 Euro's for the discrete class A board will have to settle for the $7000 DAC killing IC opamp board I guess.

 

[Opus111]

You forgot to apply your usual MRSP multiplier.

 

[Mivera]

You forgot to apply your usual MRSP multiplier.

These are retail prices. The finished Dac/Pre will be approx $1800 USD landed in the U.S. shipped to your door with 2 year warranty. I'll start a thread on it once it's ready.

 

[Opus111]

So $1800 gets you the discrete opamp version and the opamp version is just $1699?