ANYBODY using uDAC-2 with their M17X????

Glad you like it. But after switching in and out for a while, try to give the uDac a couple of days and switch to the headphone out, then you will "Whoa" and "WOW"

The bass is tight, mid is lust and high is transparent and clear for sure.

Oh and by the way, the red will look better without the plastic cover

 

LoL
Yes I took it out of the plastic!
I used Velcro and mounted it behind my NZXT Cryo LX cooler.
I also added a cool retractable USB cable underneath for a slick look.
I double side taped the USB underneath
What do you think?

 

Everytime I reboot my laptop I always have to go into the uDAC's properties and change the settings to 96khz and 24bit/96000hz/studio quality!
Is there anyway to save that so I can just plug in the DAC and that's it
?

 

Got your PM about this.

Windows has a built in "mixer" it literally mixes the sounds together when there is more than one sound playing at the same time. When it does this it has to take sounds that are of different bitrates/resolution and resample them to be the same since a sound device can only play one at a time.

The setting your messing with is just adjusting the resample rate that windows will mix everything too.

When your playing a game or music as long as you do not have system sounds playing or something you will be in exclusive mode and there will be no resampling so that setting wont be doing anything.

Some people like to use plugins for there media player like ASIO or WASAPI and force them to exclusive mode output so no other sound can play and cause a resample.

I am using Winamp with WASAPI for when I want to worry about quality, I use Songbird when I am not using headphones since I like how it organizes my music best but there is no bit perfect playback plugins for that player.

The AD700 are really nice, but if you get some sealed headphones later you will really hear the difference in the bass.

 

Wow that's a great idea Rob. I feel ashamed I did not think about hiding the uDac underneath Cryo LX when I was using the uDac. Rep + for that

 

Yea it fits underneath and on the rear
Pretty neat stuff
All that's next is to mod my AD700's

 

Here is the link to an AD700 fully with mic attached, recabled and black n' white painted. $90 shipped CONUS.

Somebody should grab it quick

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/516121/fs-modded-ad700-and-hd555

 

wow after a couple days of listening the uDAC-2 is very nice with BC2
Going back and forth from onboard to uDAC-2 is very noticable.
The DAC sounds so much better. Im a happy customer.
If only i could use both onboard and the udac at the same time

 

You can, but maybe not in the way you want?

Like I said in my review of the uDAC-2 any program that can specify the sound device to use does not have to use the windows default device.

So say you were using the uDAC-2 with foobar and WASAPI exclusive mode setting the uDAC-2 as the sound device for foobar manually.

Then in the Windows control panel set your onboard to the default sound device, you can still hear and use your computer like normal and hear the system sounds and do other stuff while foobar uses the uDAC-2.

For me this was more economical when I used to play world of warcraft. using teamspeak on the big group raids for me I could never hear anybody very well because the game sounds/music were mixed in. Even turning down the game sounds a great deal didnt help a whole lot and just made the game less fun to play.

When I got a usb headset I was able to set teamspeak to use the usb headset and so I only had the voice chat in there, then I had the game continue to use my soundcard and play the game sounds on my speakers. Worked really well believe it or not.

 

Yea thanks for the reply
Good idea I never thought of doing it that way.
The only complaint I have about this DAC is that the plastic volume knob is warped ever so slightly. So everytime you turn it the high side hits the DAC housing. It's annoying. The only fix is to pull the knob out a little so it doesn't hit. But the volume knob still turns warped

 

I don't know much about audio hardware for computer so can anyone tell me about that uDAC 2 and which branch that you choose for yours?thanks in advance!

 

If it bugs you thats not normal so send it back for a new one.

 

Just got my uDAC 2 and man did it make a difference. FLAC recordings are finally clear. I always had some white noise using my Shure SE210 earbuds, and I started to think it was the fault of the headphones themselves as the noise wasnt as pronounced on other buds. Now everything is crystal clear and I'm very happy!

 

Have you tried it for gaming yet?
I wish there was a DAC with simulated surround sound.
The only thing I'm lacking is positional audio
I wonder if a Astro Mixamp could hook up to a uDAC via coaxial out
I think the uDAC needs Dolby Digital Live out to a Mixamp for it to work. What is everyone else using for positional audio for gaming?
Am I forced to buy a Logitech G35?

 

@ djhuydx: Not sure what you were trying to say but uDac-2 is a dedicated DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and it's a brand Digital signal from CD, movies, media files etc... will bypass built-in crappy DAC of other devices, say laptop, desktop, A/V receiver, you name it... and stream directly through dedicated (much better) DAC where it's converted to analog signal (which you are able to hear). The difference between built-in DAC and dedicated DAC sound quality wise is literally night and day. So if you want to achieve crystal clear, authentic and transparent sounding, a good dedicated DAC, such as an uDac-2, is very welcome

@ rsgeiger: Glad you like it

@ Rob: If you connect the uDac-2 to the Astro Mixamp via S/PDIF you will not be able to get Dolby Digital. Since the uDac-2 is not capable of DTS and Dolby Digital passthru, your Astro Mixamp will only accept signal as stereo digital and decode it to virtual 5.1 using Pro Logic II.

Your best bet is using just the Astro Mixamp. It's just an external USB soundcard and while its built-in DAC is great, I think, because there are people like it a lot, I doubt it can be as good as stand alone DAC.

I have no problem with pinpoint positions with open-back headphones, especially ones like AD700 where soundstage is huge and angled drivers simulate very nice 3D experience. A lot of people claim 5.1 headsets are marketing BS (put it this way: Why put 3 drivers into each cup while they, after all, transfer the sound to your ears in exactly the same direction?). I haven't try any of them so I will leave my comments aside but I think people do have reasons to say so. You may try it and share your thoughts It may be superior to normal headphone positioning wise, I don't know. But sound quality wise, I don't think Astro Mixamp + G35 can ever beat uDac-2 + AD700.

Edit: Oh and adding a uDac-2 between M17x and Astro Mixamp will do nothing in the first place. Forgot to say lol.

 

There are better DAC's out there for little more money if space/portability is not an issue.

 

He is from my country, not from the U.S., so something big will result in crazy shipping fee

 

Where can I read your uDac-2 review mate?

 

I'm not really understand clearly about DAC and what I meant is which one do you guys use for your self and what is the best for sound system-not only for the headphone, I dont care much about the size but I like you said,something big maybe result crazy shipping fee and btw i'm in france right now so what's your suggestions?thanks all

 

Read my above post for better understanding on DAC.

For better understanding how sound system work, look at this chain (assume we are using digital source such as CD, .mp3 or .flac files etc...)

Digital format ---sending to---> Digital to Analog Converter ---being converted to Analog ---> Amplifier ---amplified Analog signal---> Speakers/Headphones.

That's the essential setup. You may add something in between but taking anything above out is uh-oh.

Sometimes you see a less complicated system. That's because there are parts that are combo. For example: Amp/DAC combo or self-powered speakers (no stand alone amplifier needed).

Bear in mind that your iPhone, iPod, laptop, TV, CD player etc... all have built-in DAC and amplifier. That's why all you have to do to make some noise is plug the speaker/headphone cable into the 1/4" or 1/8" input on those device and BINGO!

Problem is, built-in DAC/Amp sucks! That's why we have this thread. Same reason why we are having XFX 5870M in our system instead of on-board GPU.

How it benefits your sound system depends on what kind of system you are having. The headphone output on uDac-2 will benefit any headphone and computer speakers which usually have 1/8" jack to connect directly to analog source. And you can do that because uDac-2 is DAC/Amp combo.

Now say not every DAC has built-in amplifier, so they don't have headphone output nor volume knob. They need to be connected to dedicated amplifier through RCA output.

The RCA output on the back of the uDac-2 does exactly the same thing. That's for people who have a separate amplifier and only wish to use the uDac-2 (or any other DAC/Amp combo) as a DAC only.

Now if you have dedicated amplifier and your speakers are supposed to be connected thay way, use the RCA output on the uDac-2.

Either way it will work. That's the benefit of uDac-2 which supposed to be compact, convenient and easy to setup.

Hope that helps!

PS: Or we can just start throwing PM in our native language for God's sake lol.

 

ViciousXUSMC's excellent review of the uDAC 2 is here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/accessories/523590-nuforce-udac-2-review-4.html

 

Yea his review is why I bought one!

 

i had a out of round volume knob for this uDAC-2 i just got a week ago and Nuforce shipped me out a new one next day!!!
Great Customer Service!

 

What a rig you have there

Im probably getting a LCD-2 + Asgard too or a T1 + Valhalla, btw congrats

 

I've got a M11x connected to a receiver via HDMI, and I use the headphone output on the receiver for gaming. Does something like the uDAC provide better sound then using a receiver, or does it all depend on the receiver and such?

 

how much are you guys paying for the Udac-2

 

The uDac-2 with RCA output (for people just wanna use the DAC only) is $130.

The uDac-2 HP don't have RCA output (for people wanna use them as DAC/amp combo without the need of using amplifier) is $100.

@ Allamar: It depends on many variables: how you setup your stuff; how good your receiver DAC component as well as headphone output are compared to those of the uDac-2 and what headphone you are using.

If you are already having a nice receiver you don't really need the uDac-2.

 

I am pretty excited - quite sure my wife is getting me a udac2 (HP model) and triple.fi 10's for xmas.

I am worried that my audio library won't be able to keep up. Much of what I have is d/l from iTunes. Probably half was ripped from my CD collection which I stopped buying discs for about 5 years ago. Not sure what bitrate they were ripped to.

1. What bitrate should I rip music to in order to get the most from my setup?
2. Are my iTunes tracks going to be even close to that?
3. Any recommendations for good ripping software that captures the appropriate bitrate and also names/tags things in a way that plays well with iTunes software?
4. Any music recommendations to push this setup? I have varied taste in music, but I am assuming some modern hip hop would push the low end and maybe some speed metal or strong vocals to stress the range. If you had to pick a handful of songs to listen to on this, what would they be?

 

hey did you buy the triple.fi and the udac yet don't get the HP model reply and i will try to hook you up on a nice deal on both...couple nice sales going on around the INTERNET =p


Edit:

Here is the deal i told you guy on the Udac -2 for $109 shipped

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_773UDAC2S/NuForce-uDAC-2-Silver.html?search=udac

use coupon coe : 3A825

 

1.) FLAC is best, if you need compression go for Nero AAC VBR Settings: Q ~0.5 LC)

2.) I would never use iTunes I dont know but probably not. They have started to use there own version of AAC and they even have there own version of FLAC but chances are they are using a lower quality setting for smaller file sizes.

3.) EAC

4.) Try everything


P.S. TripleFi 10 was on sale $95.00 on Amazon the other day.

 

1. FLAC or Apple Lossless if you are using Mac OS

2. No! iTunes music are ripped at 128kbps. Pretty easy to notice how bad they sound compared to high quality 320kbps or lossless files.

3. That and dbpoweramp

4. I think by saying "push" you mean "break-in"? Just listen to music you love

5. Don't use iTunes on Windows for god's sake. It sounds really really bad. Windows Media Player or Winamp or Foobar are much better choices. WMP is lack of plug-ins tho.

Nice find faiz23 I'm about to buy an uDac-2 for my dad

Update: I bought the uDac-2 using your code. +rep for saving me $20

 

The reason for iTunes support is that I also like to sync my music to my iPhone to listen to when I am travelling. After doing some research though, I found that MediaMonkey can rip/play FLAC as well as almost any format and also is capable of syncing music to iPhone/iPod. So iTunes support isn't as big a deal for me anymore. I plan to use MediaMonkey for ripping and playback (it has pretty good management features).

You are right about iTunes being a terrible ripping tool. All of that music is in 192kbps, so I will need to rip it all again. Music downloaded from iTunes was 256kbps at least. Is there a decent online source for better quality music files, or do I just need to go back to buying plastic CD's and ripping them myself?

I actually opted to get the "vi" triple.fi 10's so that I can take calls and such too, which brings me to another question... headsets/earbuds with integrated mic (like the vi, but also the low-end earbuds that ship with iPhone) use a fourth conductor on the headphone jack. You can still plug this in to a "normal" jack and the mic just becomes irrelevant. What I would like to do though is split off that mic input for Ventrilo/Skype usage on my laptop. I haven't been able to find a splitter that can do this... is anyone aware of such a thing?

Ideally, this would have a female 4-conductor jack and two male plugs - one for headphone output and the other for microphone input. If I can't find this then I guess I can continue using my (crappy) gaming headset for Vent/Skype, or maybe invest in a more expensive gamer set. I would prefer to be able to use my new buds for this though.

 

just want to give a heads up i picked up the Triple.fi pro regular version and not the VI version with mics and such. Let me tell you i have messed around with Triple.fi and such for a long time the difference between the 10vi and 10pro is just a simple cable. The products are the exact same one has a cable with a mic and button the other is just a simple cable. The cables are removable and you can swap to either PRO or VI cables.

So if i want to get the VI i would use my $95 headset and buy this $20 cable to turn them into triple.fi 10vi.

Ultimate Ears | Universal Fit Accessories

46" Replacement Cable (Black)
with integrated microphone and on-cord control (vi version)

46" Replacement Cable with integrated microphone and on-cord control for TripleFi 10vi – NOT COMPATIBLE with Custom Stage Earphones.
$19.99

 

Cool idea, I may want a vi cable then so I can use it with my phone also.

 

Sweet. Thanks for that tip. Hopefully my wife can stop the order before it ships and change to the non-vi model. That will save me a good $90 even with the headsets costing $250.

 

OK so now I'm looking at the uDAC-2, I know there is a lot of talk about iTunes being terrible as far as bitrate is concerned. My question is, since I have a lot of purchased music through iTunes, will the DAC still inprove the sound vs the M17x R2 output jack? Will I still notice an improvement? I'll be using Bose QC3 headphones. Are there better DACs at the same price? Portability would be a plus. I like that the uDAC-2 is small.

 

Yeah you will hear an improvement, you will just also be able to hear the flaws in music easier too.

 

^^this.

 

Well guess I'll have to see. It's on it's way, but a have a lot iTunes music

How was your experience with it jeremyshaw?

 

A few of my Albums I thought were faulty or poorly ripped, turned out to be poorly mastered. Though maybe it's my audio setup (MPC-HC, straight up, nothing else).

 

Ahh gotcha. I'm looking forward to trying it out.