TEAC UD-701 vs NT-505 vs ?

Certain destinations had their moments, but my commute to Heathrow was often more stressful!

I had mine set to 512dsd for several months, but then switched to PCM/ 8X upsampled. Found DSD a little softer which suited some recordings. Conversely, the 701 in 512 mode is probably my final setting. Like you, I used soft roll off in pcm mode. I have no experience of ESS, but suspect that without the factory fire, TEAC would have gone with the akm4499. Happy listening. 

@bosssound Thanks for all your updates on your thread.  I really look forward to hearing about your DAC shootout in ATL. I wish I was a little closer than 805 miles. I've reached out to HiDEF Lifestyle to see if they have a demo on the floor of the UD-701. I also reached out to Moon Audio who have it listed on their site and heard nothing back. Just an FYI, on my NT-505 (AKM version) in my system I prefer Short (Delay Slow) with 4x upsampling. My second favorite is DSD 512 and wide like you have. I run it direct into an Odyssey Kismet amp and like it better than pretty much anything I've tried including integrateds and using a preamp.

@nomorelandings  Get your tag now. Trust not holding the lives of hundreds in your hands relieves some stress. Curious what filter settings you employed with your NT-505? I I have settled for now on fixed volume (line out) DSD 512 (Upconversion), slow roll off (PCM filter), wide (DSD filter). Also, what's your estimate of burn-in time? I will withhold opinions on sound until I listen further. By the way, I got hold of NT-505 unit with AKM chips, since folks are so enthusiastic about that model.

@big_greg Same questions to you. Peace.

Interesting point. I have no experience of the outboard clocks and cannot quantify the improvement vs cost, which is very substantial for big brother Esoteric and dCS. If anyone does have first hand experience, I would be glad to hear your views. I have tried to get the best out off the ud701n with Audioquest power cable and Ethernet cable, plus xlr and vibration mitigation. Whether any of these are beneficial is unknown, but do no harm other than to the wallet.

I guess there is no digital out as TEAC judges that the onboard DAC is already the strong point and why would anyone buy the product for its streamer section alone? In saying that, I have a Node130 solely for radio paradise MQA stream output via coax.

Hope you enjoy the demos, bosssound and look forward to hearing your views. I visited ATL many times as an aviator. Busy, busy busy!

@bosssound Nice to see you've got a nice audition ahead.

A big positive with the TEACs is that they have 10Mhz, 50 Ohm clock inputs, if you can listen to them with the clocks connected that will make a big difference.

Unfortunately Aurender doesn't give clock inputs until you get up to the N20, $12k.

The TEACs DO NOT however give digital outputs which means you can't connect an outboard DAC. All Aurenders allow this.

Take your time and listen. Best of luck.

@bosssound ,

Excellent news. Looks like a lot of reading for me in the next few days on this thread. Will be eager to know how the comparison went and what you end up with. Do keep us posted.

Good luck and have fun!

Cheers👍🏼

@nomorelandings Thanks for notes on TEAC HR streaming app.

@milpai Appreciate pointers to Dutch and Japanese reviews.

@lordmelton Hope to check out Aurender kit. My dealer used to carry their equipment. Not sure if he still does.

I located open box units of both NT-505 and UD701-N. Former thanks to Dylan, who was pleasure to deal with, at HiDEF Lifestyle in Red Bank, NJ. Expect to receive both units this weekend.

Plan DAC shootout at HiFi Buys in ATL next week. Will be able to compare TEAC units to HiFi ROSE streamer/DAC, Marantz CD Transport/DAC, Chord Hugo and possibly others,with dCS Bartok as a benchmark. 

Hope to be able to add to observations of nomorelandings then.

Peace.

But I guess that would involve one on one auditions instead of wild presumptuous conclusions.

Please go back and read about my statement on trying to audition this summer. And other words I used were "seems", "hoping", etc. So not jumping to conclusion like :

system and I'm sure the UD-701 will be very good but Aurender are in a different league.

If you are considering a separate DAC you can't do better than the Musetec 005, read the thread on here.

Also good to know that you enjoyed looking at my system and carefully noted my choice of music. Thanks for the kind words. D comes before K. So that screen shot in my system page shows only partial list of the music. I listen to all sorts of music - I do not differentiate - "music expresses the joy of the soul". That was what I had on the wall of my previous listening system. Would love to see your system, if you got some time to post.

And if you find more reviews/user posts on the Teac, please do post it here.

Hi Bossound,

Hopefully I can eradicate the lack of capitals this time! I do not store music on hard drives etc. but as a streamer, the TEAC does a great job via the HR app. Tidal connect works although I prefer to construct my playlists in the app. MQA unfolds accurately as has dual clocks for 44.1 & 48 multiples. A few tracks on tidal unfold to 352.8 ( Norwegian label 2 L) as do MQA CDs. Agree with you, Tidal can be excellent, although I find Qobuz more consistent sq wise. As mentioned, FLAC and Regular CDs sound great to my ears after up scale and 1 bit conversion. I listen to internet radio via a node as BluOS only way of receiving Radio Paradise MQA which has superb SQ, imho. I also feed it optical from a smart tv for those music videos. I was a little sceptical as to any benefit vs the NT 505/ AKM but worth the investment. Not heard the ESS9038 version of the 505 - it lacks the MQA in via digital inputs, but sure it would be a quality choice for streaming. Horses for courses. I do find both need some hours to give their best and hope you can find a demo.still only one dealer advertising here in the uk. I bought direct from TEAC. 

@milpai 

One more thing to keep in mind - you will need to "separate the Wheat from the chaff" on these forum posts. You know what I mean.

But I guess that would involve one on one auditions instead of wild presumptuous conclusions. 

Nice Diana Krall collection...lol, btw where's your Kenny G?

@bosssound ,

Looks like there are more reviews coming up on the Teac UD-701N.

The first one is the latest from Europe while the second one is from Japan. Both had to be translated. The DAC looks impressive with great build quality.

https://hifi-nl.translate.goog/artikel/30939/Review-TEAC-UD-701N-en-AP-701-Stoer,-luxe,-gemak-en-kwaliteit.html?_x_tr_sl=nl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

https://www-phileweb-com.translate.goog/review/article/202103/24/4275_2.html?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

The Teac also seems to be solid built and uses Esoteric's own delta sigma tech instead of off-the-shelf chips. This was one thing I liked about the Marantz SA-10. The SA-10's sound quality, per some posters who own them, are nothing short of phenomenal, at a price that is much less than the competition. I am hoping the same for the Teac. Might have to find a way to audition this DAC, sometimes this summer

One more thing to keep in mind - you will need to "separate the Wheat from the chaff" on these forum posts. You know what I mean.

Let me say that I have a TEAC UD-503 headphone/pre-amp, DAC which is capable of being used in a full blown system and it's very good soundwise and very well built and I would recommend it and it's later models to anyone looking for a reasonably priced good quality one box solution.

Enter Aurender the UD-701 competes directly with the A10 and A100 servers/streamers.

What I suggest and will always suggest, go and audition these servers because they really are great performers and will hold their price better in the used market than TEAC.

Enter the Musetec 005. I know there's been a lot of talk on this forum about the 005 but that's because it's a watershed product. The product that made Chinese HIFI come of age. Most of the parts it uses if not all major items are imported. Mundorf capacitors from Germany, Amanero USB board from Italy, chips and oscillators from the US and I believe the transformer is from the UK. Point to point wiring.

You owe it to yourself to hear this DAC.

There is a US distributor and Aurender plays MQA but not ROON.

and I'm sure the UD-701 will be very good but Aurender are in a different league.

Here is my rub with the folks promoting the Musetec. They have absolutely no experience with the DAC that is being discussed, and they automatically imply that something other might be better than the DAC being discussed. But the DAC they promote is the best. Aurender makes a wide range of products. The A10 is a cheaper one with streamer and DAC together. It would be hard to believe that the all in one A10 would be better than the UD-701N. Don't understand why people post on stuff they have ZERO experience.

Yeah, I have read and was very much interested in the Musetec. But the tone of some of the users and the way they shoot down non-Chinese competition got me thinking that there is something more going on. Funny enough - the Musetec is readily available, while the cheaper Okto DAC8 Stereo (European make) has been flying off the shelf and not available to order - even though they use the same chips. And normally you make in China to save $$$. Why should the Musetec cost so much more than the Okto? The Musetec costs almost near the Teac price range.

Now lets wait for the rest of the Musetec gang to come up and defend their DAC or bash my post. I would really like to see some of these poster's system with that DAC in it.

In the meanwhile please continue to post on the Teac UD-701N. I am interested too.

@lordmelton 

Believe @nomorelandings has history of development of UD-701 correct.

Saw thread on musetec-005 that you pointed to. Got my attention. Rave reviews.

Lack of compatiblity with MQA and relatively new, unknown manufacturer without a US distributor give me hesitation.

I listen mostly to Hi-Res via Quboz but once in a while the MQA version on TIDAL sounds better.

Can't say that I have a lot of technical expertise but did spot that construction of circuit boards in Musetec unit is different from others. Cicuit board material is different- looks like a black foam board as opposed to typical stiff, green circuit board and connectors look plug-n-play as opposed to custom built.

But to repeat I am no engineer or technician so I could be and very possibly am off-base on last comment.

@nomorelandings 

Apologies. Put incorrect tag in my previous post.

@nomorelands

Hopefully, the first of many posts!

Appreciate your sober, precise analysis of the merits of the UD-701-N. Few have heard the unit, yet, it appears. So your input is precious.

Hi,

First post on here. The UD 701n was developed in conjunction with Esoteric and was always a delta sigma from concept. See £10800 Esoteric N05XD. The NT 505 X upgrade had to switch to ESS because of the akm fire.
My Ud701n arrived in January, one of the first batch to arrive in Europe I was on a second Tidal trial but have now gone back to Qobuz Digital inputs can receive MQA and I have MQA cd in plus Radio Paradise MQA in via Coax from a Node130. all sound fabulous to my ears having bought 4 MQA CDs but even regular CDs are enhanced from a Marantz SA14 se, not too shabby itself, particularly at the top end with enhanced detail, spaciousness and refinement. A true digital hub that delivers

as with the excellent NT 505 which it replaced, you can make small adjustments by up sampling, choice of processing and filters I have it set to eight times up sampling, 512 DSD conversion and filter 1 amp is a Luxman 507 mk2, speakers Dali Epicon 6, chord clearway coax,xlr,rcas Audioquest NRG Z3 power cables - my end game system. I can highly recommend the TEAC with the caveat that I have not heard any competitors. Subjectively, the processing narrows the gap between red book and high res  and gets very close to SACD  the esoteric big brother must be amazing at three times the price. Although not cheap, the ud701 n is a relative bargain, imho

@bosssound Hi, First let me say that the UD-701 is a beautiful looking unit and I was considering upgrading my UD-503 headphone amp to it but then the AKM chip plant burnt down and TEAC had to re-think their plans. They were going to use the AKM chips and I think a few early models had them, but now are using 2 Delta Sigma chips developed by TEAC, clear as mud.

I would certainly go with an Aurender either with or without DAC. They are fabulous machines. I have thoroughly enjoyed my UD-503 headphone amp and used it in a full system and I'm sure the UD-701 will be very good but Aurender are in a different league.

If you are considering a separate DAC you can't do better than the Musetec 005, read the thread on here.

I have an NT-505 with the AKM chip before they had to switch to Sabre due to the AKM factory fire. I haven't heard the new 505 but would love to hear both the new 505 and the 701. Music Direct offers a 60 day trial but they're backordered.  My local Teac dealer has none to listen to unfortunately. I know my response doesn't help but I will be following this discussion. Hopefully someone who's heard any of the new ones can chime in.