TEAC UD-701N - Undiscovered gem or farce

[TNK]

Hello

 

@robi20064 Yes, you are right. 
 

@Nicoben45 You can thank me to have installed/tested NAA OS, that allows you not to test your Holo RED on your Esoteric 😂 

 

For me, it is almost a philosophical, maybe non rationnal decision, but I will always chose DAC with integrated Streamer. I may reconsider my philosophy if someone offers me a D1X Gradioso Esoteric DAC 🙃
 

Kind regards

Thierry

[Nicoben45]

31 minutes ago, TNK said:

You can thank me to have installed/tested NAA OS, that allows you not to test your Holo RED on your Esoteric 😂 

 

🤪 Indeed if it's not to have a direct DSD 512 and have to switch from DSD256 to DOP, I might as well stay in network playback... but I'll still try RED with HQplayer in usb on the Esoteric, having already installed NAA OS on it.

I remain quite amazed that in our time a usb input from a Japanese brand like TEAC or Esoteric is not able to be configured to know how to communicate with other machines natively... not this kind of mockery with my Holo May for example... 🧐😶‍🌫️

[stefano_mbp]

5 minutes ago, Nicoben45 said:

Japanese brand like TEAC or Esoteric is not able to be configured to know how to communicate with other machines natively

They (Teac, Esoteric) should send their usb specifications to Linux developers to include them in Linux kernel …. 

[TNK]

Hi

 

@Nicoben45

Native DSD (DSF or DFF) is not part on OSX Core Audio. TEAC and Esoteric provide Windows and OSX USB drivers, but not for Linux. 
 

@stefano_mbp I perfectly understand for example @Miska who uses an external USB  streamer. He is an expert in both audio and software.

But in terms of market, people who buy this TEAC or Esoteric mainly buy those to use ethernet et do not « bother » with Linux and USB to eventually get 2% improvement in rooms with 20 dB accidents where what they listen comes at 95% from the walls, ceiling and floor. 

 

Kind regards 

Thierry

[wklie]

12 hours ago, Nicoben45 said:

I remain quite amazed that in our time a usb input from a Japanese brand like TEAC or Esoteric is not able to be configured to know how to communicate with other machines natively...

 

I think this judgement is wrong.

 

@TNK The kernel in those Linux distributions simply need to recognize the following DAC ID to enable native DSD512 output to Esoteric / TEAC USB.
 

Quote

    case USB_ID(0x0644, 0x806b):
    case USB_ID(0x0644, 0x806c):

 

 

[Nicoben45]

@wklie Being amazed of that is not a wrong judgement, it’s just a fact that usb audio is not plug and play for the end user who just want to listen to music … not to enter Kernel in a linux distribution to add a Dac ID to make a native DSD flow possible 😁.  Who is responsible of that between the receiver or the sender should not be the end user problem 😶‍🌫️😇

[Miska]

8 hours ago, Nicoben45 said:

Who is responsible of that between the receiver or the sender should not be the end user problem 😶‍🌫️😇

 

I've been the one mostly maintaining the Linux kernel DSD support. Most manufacturers don't even bother to contact me. Some do.

 

TEAC/Esoteric use a different USB DSD implementation that requires different kind of support, they don't support the defacto method. (Note that USB Audio Class standard doesn't mention DSD at all, so the support is defacto augmented industry standard)

 

UD-701N support is now in upstream Linux kernels, but apart from Esoteric D-05X the other Esoteric models are not yet. That 6b is UD-701N, 6c is not in the upstream yet. I will include it in my next NAA build and if some Esoteric owner is willing to test to confirm it, I can then push it upstream as well. That way it will eventually find it's way to Linux distributions too.

 

[Nicoben45]

47 minutes ago, Miska said:

if some Esoteric owner is willing to test to confirm it, I can then push it upstream as well

@Miska I am a volunteer of course, with Holo Red and N05-XD at home.

[TNK]

Of course, I can also help and test with raspberry if needed. 
 

Kind regards

Thierry

[wklie]

20 hours ago, Miska said:

UD-701N support is now in upstream Linux kernels, but apart from Esoteric D-05X the other Esoteric models are not yet. That 6b is UD-701N, 6c is not in the upstream yet. I will include it in my next NAA build and if some Esoteric owner is willing to test to confirm it, I can then push it upstream as well. That way it will eventually find it's way to Linux distributions too.

 

6c (for Esoteric XD series) works in the same way as 6b.  Thank you.

[alecm]

@Miska I have encountered several contradictory statements regarding UD-701N. did you manage to upsample via USB to 48 -> dsd512 / 48 / 24.5Mhz?

[stefano_mbp]

32 minutes ago, alecm said:

@Miska I have encountered several contradictory statements regarding UD-701N. did you manage to upsample via USB to 48 -> dsd512 / 48 / 24.5Mhz?

This is from the official Teac page

 

[Miska]

47 minutes ago, alecm said:

@Miska I have encountered several contradictory statements regarding UD-701N. did you manage to upsample via USB to 48 -> dsd512 / 48 / 24.5Mhz?

 

Based on quick test seems to work and is detected correctly.

 

[stefano_mbp]

… quite perplexed by how many specs are wrong … and this not a just released model  … if one spec is wrong how many will be wrong?

[alecm]

On 1/30/2024 at 9:21 PM, Miska said:

Based on quick test seems to work and is detected correctly.

 

Great, @Miska. Thank you a lot for the quick check! It made a big difference as most DACs with DSD512 don't support 24.5 MHz, which is what I tried.

 

I was wondering, what filters work best with this DAC? Also, what do you use for personal listening?

[Miska]

1 hour ago, alecm said:

Great, @Miska. Thank you a lot for the quick check! It made a big difference as most DACs with DSD512 don't support 24.5 MHz, which is what I tried.

 

I was wondering, what filters work best with this DAC? Also, what do you use for personal listening?

 

Best performance is with DAC's DSD filter set to FIR1 or OFF. Worth checking which one works better for you.

 

Default HQPlayer filters are good starting point and may be just perfect if you look for a general purpose all-round filter. You can check the manual for some genre/preference specific recommendations. But those are just rough guidance, nothing specific, so your preferences may differ. Use ASDM7EC-super (512+fs) or ASDM7EC-light (512+ fs) depending on amount of processing power your have available and your preferences.

 

I run following most of the time:

1x = poly-sinc-gauss-long

Nx = poly-sinc-gauss-hires-lp

Modulator = ASDM7EC-super

 

[granosalis]

I just placed my order, but as already having the lumin U2 mini streamer I decided to take the VRDS 701 Cd Player.

No streamer, but same DAC ith just minor drawback of USB C connection. For this reason I bought a specific cable on Amazon. 

I'll compare it with my Rockna wavelight; they look like two very different machines ... 

 

[Exus]

Is there anyone here who has heard the Teac against the Holo Audio Cyan 2? 

@Miska

I've just got a good offer on the Teac and am pondering whether I should go for it. Which device do you prefer, purely in terms of sound? As far as I know, you have both devices. What should I know about USB and network input? Are there any restrictions with regard to HQPlayer playback?

[alecm]

@Exus 

teac has a clock input which makes sound much more refined and higher level. Sure the result depends from clock quality. 

 

Teach has a good preamp section and very good internal control features. 

So, If you do not plan to use dsd1024 then I would prefer teac. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Exus said:

Is there anyone here who has heard the Teac against the Holo Audio Cyan 2? 

@Miska

I've just got a good offer on the Teac and am pondering whether I should go for it. Which device do you prefer, purely in terms of sound? As far as I know, you have both devices. What should I know about USB and network input? Are there any restrictions with regard to HQPlayer playback?

 

If you ask me, at that price you are better off with Spring 3. Or for cheaper with Cyan 2.

 

Network side doesn't support NAA, so it is useless from HQPlayer perspective. USB works fine with my NAA OS. And latest Linux kernels, since as usual, I've upstreamed the DSD support I made quite a while ago.