celestial_sound

Hi everyone. My system Sonus Faber Olympica II Pass Labs INT-25 Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC Pro-Ject Phono Box SVS SB-1000 Teac UD-701N Kimber Kable 8 VS Base, PK 10 Base, Hero

So, what are you initial impressions @Miska? Does this unit lives the hype in this thread or it is just an ordinary piece of equipment?

Wow. I'm very glad that you put your fingers on this unit :) Looking forward for your feedback!

For those who might be curious, I wanted to provide an update on my experience with the TEAC UD-701N after nearly five months of living with this exceptional unit. I must say that the TEAC UD-701N has far surpassed all of my initial expectations. I wont go into any details and make a very long post I will just say that this unit is incrediable. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like any particular insights based on my experience with the TEAC UD-701N. I've also updated my audio system (CelestialSound Room) so you can see how this unit blended with my other components. Cheers!

Just to add to my previous post. The beautiful thing is that you can tweak your settings and configure the sound you like ti most, and it will mostly depend on your speakers and amplifier as well. For example, my current speakers are Sonus faber and the amplification is Pass Labs, both components are known for their relaxed presentation and slightly warmer sound. And that is probably why appreciate clarity air and definition from the DAC, they combine different attributes which leads to more complete sound. Someone with more analytical setup having speakers like Magico's / Børresen etc will probably appreciate 1 bit DSD more .

Sorry for jumping in you discussion @Jakenz, @bodiebill I just want to share my impression on the configs. My personal choice is multi-bit PCM with 512x fs and on some occasions 8x up-conversation. This config I feel gives me best low frequency definition, widest soundstage, best clarity and air around the instruments. Switching to 1 bit DSD FIR-1 gives a bit of roundness and smoothness which is also really nice but in my opinion it sacrifices clarity, air and definition. Switching the up-conversion algorithm on (8x fs) gives me shimmering and sparkle to the cymbals which i really like but I feel it trades a bit timbral accuracy.

Another review of UD 701N with a direct comparison to Esoteric N05-XD https://www-audionet-com-tw.translate.goog/thread-15974-1-1.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

@Miska Sorry, I think I wasn't clear enough with my previous question. Let me rephrase Does playing DSD source like HQPlayer bypasses both the internal oversampling and delta sigma modulator of the UD-701N?,

@Miska One more question. If fhe source signal is DSD, and the multibit pcm setting is active on the UD 701, does that mean the signal will be converted? Or DSD signals are always unchanged and outputted as 1 bit stream

Yep you are right. This is manufacturer response on my email enquiry. "Our delta sigma modulator is the multi-level delta sigma modulator, that outputs in 9 levels/values, from 0 to 8. The basic delta sigma modulator normally outputs in 1-bit, but we modified to output in multi-level for the tolerance to clock-jitter or solution for resonance. For example, in the 48kHz system of audio signal, it outputs 9 values 6.144MHz/12.288MHz/24.576MHz for x128, x256 and x512 settings"

I'm not entirely sure whether TEAC uses separate path for DSD and PCM albeit they support native DSD. This is from their website "DSD signals are transmitted as is, while PCM signals are transmitted after passing through a ΔΣ modulator and conversion to 1-bit signals."

Finally someone did a lab test on the UD-701N (https://reviewary.com/teac-ud-701n-review/). Unfortunately, this unit doesn't measure extremely well like some chines competitors do, but that doesn't change the fact that it sounds magnificent!

Glad to hear! Keep enjoying :)

I ran into the same issue, but changing the cable resolved the problem. Make sure that the cable supports data transfer (typical phone charger cables wont work).

Its really interesting that TEAC's algorithm for up-conversation is the first that makes any audible difference to me between off and 8x fs. I've tried several DAC's before with oversampling features and I couldn't hear any difference at all. Turning 8x fs on my UD-701n, always adds a bit of air and sparkle at the high frequencies. I think I can distinguish even in a ABX test.