Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
The combination of the Teac UD-503 DAC, Audiophile Optimizer and JRiver Media Center is astounding. The vast majority of my music collection consists of roughly 4TB of 24-bit/192Khz Flac, DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 files, in a variety of music genres. The above combination of hardware and software makes everything I listen to sound as if I'm hearing it for the very first time. It is that revealing.
The difference in sound quality between the UD-301 and UD-503 is staggering, and if you already have the UD-301 and you're considering upgrading, don't hesitate to do so; it is MORE than worth the extra money and the difference in sound quality is literally jaw-dropping.
I think the UD-503 is one of the most underrated and under appreciated DACs on the market. I used both the UD-301 and UD-503 in my studio, in a typical 'near-field' setup, so I can't attest to how it might sound in a more conventional living room or listening room environment. Friends who hear my system are simply blown away by the quality and quantity of crystal-clear music, and when they return home and listen to their own audio systems, they immediately want to upgrade their gear.
I have been an audiophile since the 70s (revealing my age here), and I've owned some very high-end audio gear over the years; McIntosh, Apogee, B&K, California Audio, Conrad-Johnson, to name a few. I'd put my studio system up against any of them. While that may not be a fair comparison (studio setup vs living room setup), it is to me as close to perfection as I'm able to attain. I HIGHLY recommend the UD-503.
Audio quality is ok. But it POPS LOUD with every sample rate change. Most of the better software doesn't have this problem (because they have built in delays)... but gods forbid you try and use it with something like Plex. Bleeding ears or blown speakers.
Sometimes the unit doesn't initialize properly when playing back audio, and the output is garbled. Stopping and starting audio fixes that.
The unit itself is kind of prone to dropouts when using it on my 2016 27" i7 iMac. Isn't the cable or the mac, audio is streaming from Roon on an Xeon D-2146NT using 12*He8 SAS connected drives across a Cisco 3850U-E. Streaming to the UD-501 using the same cable, mac, server, and songs doesn't. This might be problem with my local unit.
If I'd have bought it anywhere other than MassDrop, it'd have been returned immediately. Might have a good set of chips for the DAC, but that firmware is just horrible.
Comparing it against the UD-501 I have? Man, the 501 is a dream. You just feed it audio. Done. Its internal up-sampling is good enough for my TV purposes. It NEVER makes unexpected loud noise. And when you flip the blade power switch, the bloody thing is OFF.
I am using the 501 with the Lake People G109p for headphones and am very pleased with it, but that doesn't change the fact that the 503 is intriguing.
I remain surprised that TEAC doesn't have a larger following.. for the money, they make amazing gear, as you have stated.
I have no complaints about the headphone amp in my UD-503, which is driving my AKG K712 Pro cans, modified for balanced operation, and a couple of different pairs of IEMs with balanced cables. Everything runs in balanced mode in my studio setup; the 503, studio monitors, subwoofer, console, DI/mixer, etc. It's the only way to fly, in my book, and with no music playing, everything is noise free and dead silent.