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TEAC UD-503 DAC/Amp
01 / 09
TEAC UD-503 DAC/Amp
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5 Sold
Product Description
Winner of Japan’s prestigious Visual Grand Prix Gold Award, the TEAC UD-503 is ready to be the centerpiece of your audio system. This dual-monaural USB DAC supports 11.2MHz DSD with a built-in fully balanced/parallel-unbalanced headphone amp Read More
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pl_svn
23
Aug 31, 2018
just be aware, if your source is a macOS computer, this DAC might not work properly :-0
bought an UD-501 a few days ago and found it couldn't lock the USB signal. Checked some forums and seen it is a known issue: Teac UD-501, on macOS (versions above 10.10), does not handle properly resolution changes: if/when, by mean of some tinkering, you get it to work... then it will choke again as soon as you play a file that is lower resolution than previously played one (eg a 16/44.1 after a 24/96) :-/ Contacted Teac assistance and asked, at that point, if an UD-503 or 505, instead, would work but answer was... "Teac UD-501, 503, 505 all work fine macOS" so... packed up my unit and brought it back to seller for a refund
it's a shame as it was right what I need and was looking great paired with the HA-501 I already have
bought an UD-501 a few days ago and found it couldn't lock the USB signal. Checked some forums and seen it is a known issue: Teac UD-501, on macOS (versions above 10.10), does not handle properly resolution changes: if/when, by mean of some tinkering, you get it to work... then it will choke again as soon as you play a file that is lower resolution than previously played one (eg a 16/44.1 after a 24/96) :-/ Contacted Teac assistance and asked, at that point, if an UD-503 or 505, instead, would work but answer was... "Teac UD-501, 503, 505 all work fine macOS" so... packed up my unit and brought it back to seller for a refund
it's a shame as it was right what I need and was looking great paired with the HA-501 I already have
captain
240
Oct 13, 2019
Nope. But, again, if it does then you aren’t passing PURE AUDIO data to your DAC and are therefore obviating the whole point of paying big bucks for it—i.e. to get the purest best conversion from digital to analog audio. I’ve been very happy with my Logitch 5.1 DTS DAC/audio system, but yeah, I have to use the physical knob to change the volume. It’s certainly conceivable that a side channel could control the DACs volume, but I don’t know of any that implement that; Let me know if there are any and I may buy one! 😄
Actually I could implement a computer to IR “remote control” to change the volume, but it’s not worth it to me... yet. I guess I’m not a True Hacker®️ (willing to spend weeks programming, to save minutes of effort) anymore. 😋
dat.guy.dere
33
Oct 13, 2019
captainHmm, never thought about it that way but it makes sense. Unless I'm missing something, you'd need to decode the signal to attenuate the amplitude which defeats the purpose of using an external DAC. Unless there's a way to pass the volume attenuation info along without interfering with the digital audio signal.
LOL at True Hacker®️
cpurdy
4
Aug 30, 2018
An EXTREMELY well regarded piece of equipment, but largely unknown in the USA ...
The new 505 models are out. If the NT-505 were under $1k, it would be a no-brainer!
The new 505 models are out. If the NT-505 were under $1k, it would be a no-brainer!
BlueSkies
89
Aug 29, 2018
VarholiaglimpIt sure is. I've by-passed buying from Massdrop in the past because they wont offer the silver version of gear like this. I've asked them about it, but was ignored.
Mpitogo
17
Aug 31, 2018
VarholiaglimpDang was about to join but yea silver is out. I’ve been waiting a long time. I need siliver to match.
California_kid
21
Aug 28, 2018
Very underrated DAC and a great price. A very good measure of power supply is weight. Note the UD-503 weighs nearly 10 lbs. The wiring for balanced headphone out is clearly diagrammed in the manual so any competent custom cable maker can make an adapter for you. You have 2 choices of balanced - standard and active ground. The latter is only half the power, but creates an amazingly low noise floor. Very feature rich - for example for the balanced XLR outputs, you can specify 2 or 3 pin (no ground, ground) to connect to any active speaker or amp. You also get upsampling to DSD and choice of numerous digital filters to tailor the sound. Overall sound is very much neutral so your headphones will sound like whatever the manufacturer intended. If you are looking for a colored sound to compliment/offset your headphones' characteristics, look elsewhere. If you do studio work, this is a great all in one unit.
BlueSkies
89
Aug 29, 2018
California_kidTEAC is a strange company. They make cheap plastic boom boxes.. but also make great stuff like this DAC. I wonder if the "plastic boom box" version of TEAC turns people off from considering their better gear. It did that to me for awhile.
And then there is Esoteric, a subsidiary of TEAC which makes TOTL, world-class equipment.
And then there is Esoteric, a subsidiary of TEAC which makes TOTL, world-class equipment.
California_kid
21
Aug 29, 2018
BlueSkiesNot all that different from Sony if you think about it. But for sure, sound and video professionals are well acquainted with Teac and Sony. Part of the "stigma" of Teac is that they were synonymous with reel to reel tape players sort of like Xerox and copiers.
RayF
22220
Aug 27, 2018
A power button on the front? That's crazy--who doesn't want to fumble around in the back, between all the cables looking for a power toggle switch the size of a strait pin? And what's all this about a Clock?! I have a phone--why do I need a clock? Who designs these damn things anyway?
LCMusicLover
19
Aug 27, 2018
PointyI believe the output impedances they list are for the line outs, not the headphone outs.
silverbot01
124
May 6, 2018
Not long ago I got the UD-501 off here for 350. The 501 is a better standalone dac than this unit too. All this one offers over that is pre-amp capabilities and a higher powered headphone out. Neither of those features are as important as SNR/crosstalk/THD/etc on a dac. 501 has it beat on that front. The price just can't be justified, at this price you can grab a Gungnir D/S or a CMA400i.
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