TEAC UD-701N - Undiscovered gem or farce

2 hours ago, lamtindangerous said:

Also adding my  DAC description: ESOTERIC K-03XD      0644:806c

It should already work with my custom kernels, HQPlayer OS and with soon to be release new NAA OS version.

@kevin gilmore

How is the 701 doing in your system?

Molly is the best K9!  Not much of an audiophile, though!

takes this thing about 4 hours to sound good. so i blanked the display and leave it on all the time.

really excellent on remastered classical music from tower records japan. some of the DG recordings that i used to think were absolutely awful no longer sound awful. the remastered from analog masters to dsd and the performances are stunning.

for some reason i could not get this to work with my old windows 7 laptop. (like 15 years old) so it went into the garbage can and i got a brand new dell from costco. works great with wifi6 even at dsd x4. no wired ethernet needed.  but a wired dongle is on its way just in case.

On 7/12/2024 at 9:28 AM, bobfa said:

@kevin gilmore

How is the 701 doing in your system?

 

Molly is the best K9!  Not much of an audiophile, though!

Hello,

I read the whole thread and thinking about purchasing the unit. I would use it almost exclusively as DAC and headphone amp (balanced with Sennheiser HD800S) with Roon. There would be no need for the preamp section.

Are there measurements of the headphone amp available? How much power has this beast in real life? How is the output impedance? How differs the electrical values between the two modes „balanced“ and „active ground“?

Would someone like to make the device tasty for me, please? :)

Erik

Also you can check out new Teac UD 507 with discrete audio converter

https://eu.teac-audio.com/en-AT/audio-hifi/amplifiers-receivers/amplifiers/preamplifiers/ud-507-usb-dac/preamp/headphone-amplifier/p/253891

Thanks. Yes, I am aware of this unit. The headphone amp seems to be stronger but there is no network module. I like the Roon Ready certification of the 701N.

Got the unit some days ago and I am happy overall. I use it only as headphone amp balanced to my Sennheiser HD800S with 701 transport and over RAAT with Roon. Maybe will do a HQP test later.

One thing that concerns me is the rising hiss on the digital inputs (opt, coax, USB), audible from - 5 to + 24 dB. Could somebody test it if my unit has some kind of damage. It was purchased as a b-stock unit. The hiss is only present if a source sends a signal otherwise the unit is dead silent.

line outputs set at max gain are absolutely silent thru to the speakers.

assuming same or similar design to previous units the headphone amp is the same as the line out amp.

its the sensitivity of the sennheiser headphones that allows what noise is there to be audible. but you would never

be able to listen to music at those levels.

Thanks for reply. I think I will check the XLR outputs with my speakers. I think it does not have to do directly with the sensitivity of the HD800S. Beside the growing hiss there is also a short noise with every volume step above - 5 dB. I could be easily checked with coax or opt input and a switched on source. On USB the test is trickier because some seconds after silence from playing music the USB input does drop the data stream and the unit gets dead quiet again.

I use FIR convolution for my headphones and and have to compensate - 15 dB with the volume control by the unit.

I did a test with my active speakers. I get a enjoyable volume with approx -15 dB and from + 10 dB the hiss will become more and more audible. I have here no noise after volume steps like on XLR4 output.

So it seems indeed normal to me (like @kevin gilmore  already wrote). Interestingly the noise disappears completely if the source is powered off which confused me a bit.

If somebody else could verify the behaviour (especially with headphones) I would be thankful.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on audiophilestyle. I discovered this thread a few days ago when I started researching the UD-701N, and appreciate everyone's contributions to this conversation. I was wondering if  @celestial_sound and @bodiebill, who purchased the unit over a year ago, are still happy with it. I also hope @Audionerd17 figured out the problem with hiss in his unit. 

@tdx and @TNK, who mentioned they own the Esoteric N-05XD, could I ask you the following question: what are your sound impressions regarding the similarities or differences between the DACs of these two units? Is the DAC in the UD-701N close to the one in the Esoteric unit, or is this a "too good to be true" situation?

On 8/1/2024 at 10:17 PM, sasho said:

Also you can check out new Teac UD 507 with discrete audio converter

https://eu.teac-audio.com/en-AT/audio-hifi/amplifiers-receivers/amplifiers/preamplifiers/ud-507-usb-dac/preamp/headphone-amplifier/p/253891

 

Interesting. If you don't care about the network input, it would seem to be pretty much an even swap for the 701. It has the same discrete DSD engine.

6 hours ago, classic8 said:

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on audiophilestyle. I discovered this thread a few days ago when I started researching the UD-701N, and appreciate everyone's contributions to this conversation. I was wondering if  @celestial_sound and @bodiebill, who purchased the unit over a year ago, are still happy with it. I also hope @Audionerd17 figured out the problem with hiss in his unit. 

@tdx and @TNK, who mentioned they own the Esoteric N-05XD, could I ask you the following question: what are your sound impressions regarding the similarities or differences between the DACs of these two units? Is the DAC in the UD-701N close to the one in the Esoteric unit, or is this a "too good to be true" situation?

 

Hi welcome to the forum! I can't speak to the differences with the UD701N as I never had that unit. The N-05XD is really good though, I have moved on since I've had it to MSB but I think as an all in one it's hard to beat for the price, especially on the used market. 

Hi @classic8

thank you. I will get a replacement for my demo unit because it has some minor scratches.

Will give some feedback later.

What I can say is that I am in love with the unit and with the corresponding transport too. It is more than a delightful headphone setup.

7 hours ago, classic8 said:

I was wondering if  @celestial_sound and @bodiebill, who purchased the unit over a year ago, are still happy with it.

I loved mine until the end. Great sound. The only reason I sold it was that I wanted I2S. Now all seems a bit moot, as I am playing vinyl 95%.

I'm pretty sure no one has directly compared the UD701 with the Esoteric N-05XD...which is strange, given that many forum posts and "reviews" mention how similar they are to each other--so, the similarities are implied as a selling point, without anyone having heard both. 

I bought my UD701 as an upgrade to my RME ADI. At first, the upgrade was clear: the RME struggled to process DSD, whereas the UD701 is ideal for DSD. But the RME must have needed a firmware update or something, because now I have to really focus to hear a difference via PCM, as well as via DSD (so, placebo and confirmation bias are just as likely difference-makers). To be continued:)

Appreciate everyone's comments!
@tdx Thank you! I can imagine the N-05XD is a great unit! I keep an eye for used units, but prices are still quite high. Do you use it mainly as a DAC? Regarding the streaming functionality, I understand Esoteric uses Lumin streaming card and app.

@Audionerd17 Hope the new unit will solve your problems.

@bodiebill Good to hear it is a good unit.

@Aspirant Audiophile Thanks for sharing. I too own a RME (ADI-2), and I am hoping to find a DAC that will be a noticeable improvement; if your impression is that the RME sounds very similar to the UD-701N, maybe the later is not what I am looking for.

did you purchase a unit appropriate for your line voltage?

the 100v units used in the usa overheat and the regulators no longer produce the right voltage.

4 hours ago, classic8 said:

Appreciate everyone's comments!
@tdx Thank you! I can imagine the N-05XD is a great unit! I keep an eye for used units, but prices are still quite high. Do you use it mainly as a DAC? Regarding the streaming functionality, I understand Esoteric uses Lumin streaming card and app.

As I said I dont have it anymore I have moved to another DAC tier but when I had it it was used as both a DAC and a streamer. Honestly that would be the main reason to buy it, as a DAC only there are other options in the same price bracket that could be better. But as a DAC/streamer/headphone out/preamp there is very little competition at that price...