TEAC UD-701 vs NT-505 vs ?

@milpai 

I don't think upsampling to DSD from FLAC is possible. But this is at edge or beyond of my technical sophistication. On page 15 of manual, chart shows 44.1 kHz (FLAC) can be upsampled 8x max to 352.8 kHz.  Delta-Sigma DA modulator sampling freq appears to be set independently of this with options of 128, 256, and 512 (page 25). Conversion of PCM to DSD appears possible by selecting appropriate setting.

Yes. I plan to get another 701. But who knows when that will be given supply disruptions present. Moon Audio has stock. But like bhvf I am not crazy about their terms.

Agree. “What’s it doing now” is beyond my limited technical knowledge, but my understanding is that post FGPA up sampling- I use 8X- it is converted to DSD which then only requires a low pass filter on the journey to the op amps. As per my original post, the SQ of CD input via Coax has brought new life to my CD collection. I have bought a few MQA CDs from Amazon and the screen says they unfold to 24/352.KHz the same as 8 X redbook 44-1. MQA is not subjected to the FGPA upsampling. The other coax receives output from a Node, which I bought specifically for Radio Paradise’s MQA stream. The 701 unfolds this raw MQA stream to 24/44-1 and then converts it to DSD as above. The end product is an outstanding SQ for internet Radio to my ears which comfortably beats the already good RP FLAC/ALAC stream that I previously enjoyed on the NT505.
A true digital hub that delivers on whatever you throw at it. NB. Not sure that Spotify is FLAC as yet. Long overdue. I will have to ask my son-in-law about algorithms in the FGPA as alien to me as trading derivatives!

Shenzhen has closed its factories due covid. Supplies are going to get even worse imho. When I first flew to Hong Kong in the 1970s, it was a fishing town over the border. Now 25million plus beavering away at high tech products. 

Thanks for listening reports, and discussion! I will probably stick around with my NT-505 for a while, before an eventual upgrade. I still need to "get to know it" better, even after a year of use. This is so also because I mainly play music from LPs. As I stated above, there is still a considerable gap, in my system/to my ears, between the superior analog sound, and the not-bad-to-quite good digital sound. Some have found the 505 bright and glassy. In my setup, compared to the Lyra Atlas cartridge, it is not very bright, nor very glassy, but it is clear that the treble air and resolution is greater with the Atlas, and thereby, the "thereness" of the music. I find it somewhat surprising that the AKM chip should sound "glassy", but I will check it more, myself.

I agree with many other observations: yes, standard cd format through Qobuz etc often sounds surprisingly good on the 505. The hi res takes are maybe not so much of an improvement as one should expect (I get varying results),

DSD sounds best to my ears also, and for DSD, the best formula seems to be to keep as close to 'native DSD' as possible. So I have not experimented much with filters.

I have no idea regarding the merits of adding a clock and suspect small gain vs $$$ , but might be wrong. Any thoughts?

I bought the CG-10M clock for one of my NT-505s and consider it the biggest waste of money I've made in the hobby.  There might be a little more something that it adds, but whatever it is, it's barely, if at all detectable to my ears.

The NT-505 at times sounded bright and at moments glassy.

I have to wonder if that's not a system or room issue.  Looking at your system, it doesn't seem it would be due to your system components, but there appear to be a lot of hard surfaces in the room.  I have two NT-505s and have used them in 3 different systems and found them to be more on the warm side, certainly in comparison to my current DAC - an Aqua La Voce S3.

Thanks, big-Greg. Saved me some $.