Finally, a much higher end DAC released, with much lower price and much smaller size! Have no time to post the detail of it until today due to busy working hours. The design goals were built by optimizing the layout to maximize the performance of the DAC while maintaining tiniest possible size.

The selling price was squeezed to lowest possible by introducing lowest possible parts count of SMDs and avoided the use of unnecessary expensive and meaningless electrolytic capacitors, either in signal or power paths. With the integration of negative charge pump in the DAC, there are no capacitors throughout the signal paths that will colorize the sound characteristics to retain purest possible audio signals transmission. Throw away the need of high or low frequency filtering stage on signals path ensuring full signals transmitting. Shortest signals travelling, reducing EMI throughout the DAC. And finally, introducing with direct connectivity to your USB slot without additional USB cable greatly reduced the messiness of cables on your tables.

The premium point is that the DAC is using ESS sabre ES9023, which can outperform most of the commercial DACs at a certain value. My words on this product is, don't judge the performance of this DAC base on the size and the selling price that will biasing your final conclusions.




I have named this as UD100 as the first product under my newly registered trading company. And I have added a logo on my PCB to protect myself from the same incident happen again.

A simple review from my friend, click

This post has been edited by chchyong89: Aug 2 2012, 07:44 AM

Wow, what a simple design. Never know you can directly mount ES9023 onto USB.

questions!

- what incident?

- possible for adding a sealed tight cover(water/dust proof etc)? maybe acrylic too if you wanna maintain it to be able to "show off" the internals?

- for those who don't need portability/size requirement, would you have a "desktop version" that comes equipped with much higher current feed? (eg: power adapters/sockets from direct power source of wall socket etc)

double surface mounting. USB receiver is on the back side.


-the old kakis on this forum know this

-molding a case will increase the selling price a lot.

-There will no desktop size DAC until 2015 in the planned road map. By the way, you don't need large current output unless you are using it to drive your headphone directly, or you are connecting to a super low input impedance amplifier.

This post has been edited by chchyong89: Aug 2 2012, 07:19 AM

Ah, that makes much more sense. For a moment there I thought you put some magic into it

sounds tempting!

how low is low?

This post has been edited by power911: Aug 2 2012, 10:57 AM

looks like something that is within reachable for amature user

can it be designed so that it will not disturb other USB ports?

- im not old kaki, please elaborate

- well it can be an option to some, do put some consideration

- i kiasu, want big current, big everything.

WM8501 incident lol? you might need to dig up the old bro chchyong's thread

thanks! will do

Very low



you will change your opinion after you audit it.



At left USB mounting, the jack is facing to front, while on the right side, the jack will facing backwards, I think this is good enough for arranging cables on the table

dug up some old bones, surprising to see even my rl friend posted in that thread heh.

perhaps a loaner program will convince people much more, currently i have 3 dac sets with me, hoho if this can test then i have 4 for a elaborative test, haha

Its good to hear that you have 3 DACs ready at the moment to carry out comparisons! Let me know if you can drop by at pj after 830pm, I can borrow you a sample.

This post has been edited by chchyong89: Aug 2 2012, 07:51 PM

sad sad, not at semenanjung well at least try to find couple top rank audiophiles in LYN to test

PJ where? would like to audition it myself so i can save myself a lot of time on switching configs for my speakers/headphones

=edit=
hell, do consider joining the AT gathering
more people can audition, more exposure.

also do consider my earlier requests too lol

This post has been edited by Quazacolt: Aug 2 2012, 08:00 PM

If you guys search around, you might find a review for this DAC up a couple weeks ago

no real reason to have big currents for your DAC output.

I'm very lazy to type this now. Perhaps I'll elaborate tomorrow on the technical details of this DAC chip, and why it is better to have it confined rather than add needless "upgrades" which defeats the purpose of this DAC.



This is good stuff. At least trust me on this one. Bug me so I can type it out if any of you are interested.

from my perspective, if the upgrade over my existing setup is insignificant, i dont see a point in spending an extra cent.

in other words, i am using DACport (or more specifically LX ver without the internal amp) as a benchmark, as it is very heavily priced, however it isnt that much better than my creative sound card running on ASIO. at least, it isnt good enough for me to splurge 1k for it is what i'm trying to say.

so having something so small, without having all the fancy capacitors and whatever engineering marvels that we might see in a higher ranged DAC, that also usually sports a dedicated power supply/source requirement too, just have a lot to prove for itself. (which i also request for an audition naturally)

lastly not having cover, for something that i will probably never move at all plugging in my pc's back ports, which the pc is sitting on the floor level, is just asking for lots of dust or dirt to accumulate. over time, this could potentially have static damage or have further accelerated oxidization on the unit itself. i'm sure this could at least be a valid concern and a good suggestion to be put into consideration, no?

This DAC is meant to give you ALOT for a LITTLE money.

No real reason to get this when you're already comfortable with a Buffallo II level DAC.



precisely.



There is no need for a dedicated PSU, the thing is already regulated with a LDO!

That is honestly his style It helps to bring down cost a lot. Go dig up his old thread. It was already like this back then.

buffallo II level DAC? dont think i am familiar with that.

but yeah i've dug up his thread. it really is an option for consumers considering he IS selling his product, no?
not everyone like their stuff naked, just the point i am making.

think of it as a car, or maybe a phone. not everone likes to drive around with just a wireframe on wheels, or having their phone internal parts exposed while it's in your pocket or while you're carrying it around. imagine a random water splash/spill, whoops there goes your android/iphone/windows phone (or w/e phone) that you spent 2k on

Perhaps he would offer it in the future who knows lol.

Point being is that it is unfeasible for the nature of his sales ATM I would reckon.

EDIT: Going to sreep, kerja awal tomolo.

Anyway, I don't know the dimensions, but it seems to me it would be an incredibly simple thing to retrofit a case for it. I think there should be an abundant of cases we can use for it.

This post has been edited by LittleGhost: Aug 2 2012, 10:09 PM

LittleGhost, plz go into technicality. I get a bit stiffy or turn on when reading the technical stuffs.

lol

This post has been edited by kumanosuke: Aug 2 2012, 11:38 PM

how is this compared to t-muso ?

The gap is too big to compare

too big as in better??

Aiyo..tio poison liao..

The NAKED USB DAC is back...

Bro chyong,

Off topic but i was just so curious to know what was your final year project in your Uni life? Audio stuff related also?

Any new users joining the club? Received my unit today

USB DAC by pixeltailz, on Flickr

I knew it was small, but I seriously did not expect it to be this SMALL... In fact, the standard PosLaju envelope seemed overkill But size (looks) can be deceiving, because it sure packs some BIG sound.

Haven't had much time to really listen for now but initial impressions, absolutely brilliant! Even my non-music centric Logitech Z-2300 sounded so good, bass goes low and deep with a powerful controlled punch. Highs are crystal clear, mids not too sure (Z-2300 is horrible with mids, cannot judge ) Gonna test it with my IEMs next to get a better "feel".

Bought it to replace my onboard audio (Realtek's flagship ALC898) but seems like it can replace my modded X-Fi XtremeMusic as well xD

This post has been edited by Dreamworks: Aug 7 2012, 12:34 AM

i'll be honest, i'm actually intrigued.

wonder when we can have an audition session with this unit then?

please post up more review when you test on your iem

I demand reviews

poisoned liao

shure



haha, yeap. I did a stupid FYP btw


Great skill in photo capturing!

Yea, I need to see some reviews as well on this thing VS other higher end DAC since TS is quite confidence.
Lets see, the list would follow against:
1. FiiO E7
2. FiiO E10 (24-bit)
3. Hippo CriCri
4. Hippo CriCri+ (24-bit)

Any other could be much appreciated.
Btw, what's the max frequency support on this? Has anyone tried on 24/48? 24/96? 24/192()?

Can plug headphone/IEM directly to this DAC without any amp?

---

Added on August 7, 2012, 8:16 pmDIY casing use short USB extension cable...

This post has been edited by wkkm007: Aug 7 2012, 08:16 PM

It work, but it's not recommended due to limited output current and the output impedance is not low enough.

Means this dac memang have to use with amp?

since this is a audiophile grade dac i feel that is better that it need external amping hohoho than we can have our own choice of amp

This post has been edited by dennisyeoh: Aug 7 2012, 11:32 PM

Audition this DAC or my modded sound card? I'm in Penang (Mainland side) though.

Kinda busy with work atm, review will be done earliest by this weekend. Why not just get yourselves a unit instead?

Thanks bro Would be better if I have a macro lens, which I don't... And this thing being seriously tiny doesn't help, after take pics need to crop away empty spaces

Only 16 bit, 32kHz - 48kHz. I suppose this limitation is due to the USB audio device/chip used and not the ES9023 DAC itself I'm sure you'll get better answers from the designer.

---

Added on August 7, 2012, 11:38 pmOutput levels are more or less similar to a sound card's line out as far as my ears can tell

This post has been edited by Dreamworks: Aug 7 2012, 11:38 PM

It don't have volume control?
I read somewhere direct plug in headphone/IEM will damage both user ear and headphone/IEM driver due to no volume controller.

Can I use my Panasonic SC-HC25 Micro Hi-Fi as amp+volume control leh?

Now using LG Flatron W2261VP monitor (HDMI) via 3.5 audio jack output .
Is from:
- Realtek S/PDIF onboard (Asus P6TSE motherboard) pin
- cable to
- Asus EN9500GT TOP
- HDMI cable to
- LG Flatron W2261VP monitor (HDMI) via 3.5 audio jack output
- my headphone/IEM, Sonic Gear speaker USB Morro 200 Black or Panasonic SC-HC25 Micro Hi-Fi

This post has been edited by wkkm007: Aug 8 2012, 01:22 AM

Received it today!
Connect to speaker, OBVIOUS improvement!
Details are out, even USB speaker sounds amazing

---

Added on August 8, 2012, 6:30 pmIMO, the result is more significant on speaker than headphone.
For those who solely wanna use it for headphone, you might consider a simple amp.
The sound is good enough just not powerful enough perhaps?

---

Added on August 8, 2012, 11:12 pmListening headphone with slower volume at quiet night, the DAC really add more LIFE to the music! Grateful for the little simple DAC

This post has been edited by :+:[J]erR[y]:+:: Aug 8 2012, 11:13 PM

This is one crazy small DAC!

How is this compare to DacPort?

Thanks

Can't control the volume from the computer?

sorry techie noob here

Hi, its possible but you are decreasing the bit resolution of
your song. It's recommended to control on your amplifier/preamp.

when you say decreasing the bit resolution is increasing the volume decreasing the bit or lowering the volume

The default state is at 0dB (maximum loudness), when u lower down 6dB, you are reducing 1 bit.

which amp you recommend if I were to pair this to IEM/headphone?

This one can do 24/96?

usb receiver is 16 bit .

This post has been edited by studwo: Aug 12 2012, 11:25 PM

so to get the best out of it we must put the volume at 100% for both the player and also in out computer system than control the volume through the amp volume control?

forget already most of the audio/video player PC software having their own stock volume controller.

Yes.

---

Added on August 14, 2012, 12:14 pmDoesn't matter. Any software attenuation causes lost in bits information.

Unless you have 24 bits to work with.

This post has been edited by LittleGhost: Aug 14 2012, 12:14 PM

I wanna know this question's answer too, new to all of these audio things

hi,
electronic is not my world, as i can see the DAC circuit is naked, is it safe to touch it, electrocuted?
or if you touch it when it still plug to the USB does your body electrostatic will damage it..

do you have any plan to integrated an amp to this.. DAC + AMP ... ??

does it mean if i connect an Amp to my Mp3 player, i need to max out the vol of my mp3 player and control the volume using the amp in order not to lost any bits ?

but when you use mp3 is already has a built in amp in it of you amp it again is going to be a double amp. unless you have a dac output

poison~~ really alot improvement compare to t-muso? i got t-muso, it is good for my headphone but i see no difference in connect to my sp2500 to my asus xonar dx and t-muso..

This thing feels weird on my speakers, might be because im used to the EQ settings for my HCS2330

but connect it to my AdagioII, Consonance and M2......the sound is just.......fuh DAMN

This post has been edited by JonSpark: Aug 16 2012, 08:55 PM

I bought another unit for my fren, not an audiophile......but a satisfied buyer

this is what he said:

Yes.

not only due potential loss of bits, but also highest SNR when you're at your max volume.

Then again, if you don't have line out, any amp = waste.

dun use the DAC with your previous EQ setting bro let it flat , if u really want tune the EQ, tune it precisely by start from flat after connect to this DAC , adjust according to what your speaker system cannot give u or to suit your listening preference.

UD100 next to ODAC.

Surprisingly UD100 measured very well in RMAA, even against ODAC. I think it is safe to say for now, at least for my ears, UD100 is 95% of an ODAC if not more. Really excellent USB DAC for the price.

What is your rmaa setup like?

Nothing fancy: PC - (USB DAC) - O2 - Behringer UHA222 for line-in. Didn't use any load for O2 because it doesn't matter in this case. I am just looking for the difference between USB DAC. I would have forgone the O2 if UD100's volume is adjustable on Windows.

For listening, it is PC - USB DAC - O2 - RE0.

This post has been edited by ClieOS: Aug 17 2012, 07:42 PM

Are you sourcing them with the same PC? Because if you are, you're having ground loops -> hence problematic results.

Fortunately, ground loop isn't a problem on my PC. I tried two PC setup before and it doesn't make much difference. Also played with USB isolator before as well.

Ground loops is not PC dependent. It's when you tie an "extra" ground with the sleeve of the jack when the ground is already shared within the same PC.



To be honest, RMAA is rarely a good gauge of absolute performance. It's very finnicky. I kinda side with nwaguy in RMAA's case.

I don't disagree that RMAA isn't the greatest of tools, but it is free. If I have that kind of setup like NvAvGuy, I'll learn how to use them. But till then, RMAA is here to stay. However, the key is to know RMAA limit and know what to look for (and what not to). Even with a bad tool, it can still work if you know how to use it right. Which is why I measure the UD100 against ODAC, which has been well documented. By looking at the difference between result instead of pure number, a lot of things can still be told.

Well, if that fail, I still have my ears and a digital SPL meter to match the volume.

Tried ARTA yet?

Heard of it but never try. I thought it is a shareware, no?

naw mate.

My senior used it for his FYP.

Ok, will try it sometime.

---

Added on August 17, 2012, 8:46 pmAlright, back to the UD100. I happen to have a few TF card reader collecting dust, so I took one part and see if the UD100 will fit inside. Well, what do you know...





This post has been edited by ClieOS: Aug 17 2012, 08:47 PM

FUH...This is fit perfectly nice

UD100 -> cMoyBB v2.03 (with OPA637BP) -> Recabled Koss KSC-75

the sound stage, detail really nice
definitely better than FiiO E7 DAC alone.

This post has been edited by ming86: Aug 17 2012, 11:14 PM

why didnt i think of this?! i also have a few card readers lying around

like tailor-made housing/casing

use FiiO E02i Rocky + UD100 good ah?
I know the mic doesn't work here

This post has been edited by wkkm007: Aug 19 2012, 03:34 PM

E02i is okay with UD100. But if you are just looking for minimalist setup, E6 would be better choice than E02i.

+E12 lagi , UD100 better then E7, how about E10 or E17

For DAC alone, I probably prefer UD100 over E10 and E17 right now.

This is another picture comparing the ODAC to the UD100.

Photos by my japanese customer.


Onkyo GS-1


Yoshii9




This post has been edited by chchyong89: Aug 23 2012, 12:02 AM

the DAC arrived last friday, but since i wasnt home i had to take it today at the post office.

now, im using an old discontinued headphone by sony mdr-v150, the padding's seal is no more and the clamp is loose enough to fall of your head if you tilt too much.
but the DAC turned it into a whole new headphone. i noticed some details i had missed in some songs.
no amping though. but listening even at low volumes still produce good quality.

where do you stay?

Perhaps I can lend you an amp.

cyberjaya. im waiting for a new set of headphones though so you might want to lend it later.a
also, i dont have much lossless. 320kbps ya

what?

I use youtube for my music these days. I don't get to criticize others on their shitty sauces.


I'll be beck to cyber perhaps in one month+ or so.

oh my, i didnt check before posting. some words were clipped off at the end LOL
i have mostly 320kbps, and not much lossless formats is what i mean.

ya i listen to youtube a lot too. sure if you'll be in cyber in a month+ we can have a meetup.
was thinking about getting a DAP along with a new amp but then i think i'll hold that back in the meantime.

OT:Can I join the next cyber meetup? Am going to MMU cyber for this october intake.

what a coincidence, im in MMU too
i've never been to any meetups at all, its been only 2-3 weeks i had started to browse this Audiophiles section.