TEAC UD-701 vs NT-505 vs ?

Agree. The Korean Rose 150 switched to ESS for Europe as did TEAC for the NT505X. Think Cary in the USA secured enough AKM4499 chips to maintain production. 
 

Thank you bosssound for your detailed write-up. I have no experience of any other competitor so my own appraisal is subjective. Glad that it is meeting expectations even with one channel operating. My “ revelation” comment was due to its capabilities to deliver an exceptionally wide and detailed soundstage without any fatigue. Last night I listened to Keith Jarrett’s live Koln concert from 1974 on Qobuz 24/96. It was the very first CD that I bought or heard, (in Wichita,ka) when my colleague bought a Sony player back in 1983. I have enjoyed that cd hundreds of times over the years, but the TEAC reveals more ambience from the hall, creaks and a cough, plus a vibrancy to the music. I’m not capable of describing piano notes accurately, but was in no doubt that this was a more enjoyable listen than my old cd. Look forward to your thoughts when secure a fully functioning unit.

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

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!

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. 

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. 

Hi Milpai,

agree re: vibration etc. didn’t want to make subjective claims and distract from the thread.

Thanks for that review. Although limited to its performance paired with the class D power amp, a fair conclusion. At least they used some high end Borreson speakers. A direct and detailed A/B comparison with the NT 505 might have helped bosssound. My first experience of delta sigma and have not heard R2R etc, but can safely say that the 701 is all the streamer/ DAC that I will ever need, as are my amp  and speakers. More expensive PS audio, Esoteric and dCS delta/ sigma DACs must be very good indeed. 

Thanks mantis007. Will have to wait for my son-in-law to visit - he is a software expert for a Swiss bank and has a windows device. I haven’t tried the preamp into my Luxman, but good to know. I am in the process of selling my nt505 and have also been offered a good trade in against the cg-10m clock. I have no idea regarding the merits of adding a clock and suspect small gain vs $$$ , but might be wrong. Any thoughts?

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, big-Greg. Saved me some $. 

Hi bosssound. Great write up and in line with my own experience. Both channels working on the 701 will be a revelation! Thanks for keeping us updated. So often on UK forums, advice is sought then silence. I agree, the output from my Node130 has been beyond expectation. Better still when output to the TEAC. 

Hi Mantis,

any idea how you update the system firmware as I do not have any Microsoft based computer, only Mac? Net firmware updates fine in the HR app. Thanks. 

Hi bhvf,

Glad you are enjoying it  - 6 months with mine  The pre amp is analogue, although I have not tried it. Fixed volume out via XLR to a Luxman integrated  I have added the cg10 M clock which, despite advice to the contrary, lifts the bar a little higher to my ears. Happy listening  

My sympathies. I responded enthusiastically to Bossound early in the thread. Having upgraded from the NT 505 and like you, added the clock. Loved it.  Then qobuz started to misbehave. Here in the uk, there is now no support as TEAC have centralised to Germany. The third party repair centre had no manual and eventually said could not obtain a spare board. 4 months later I got a refund and sold the clock at a loss. I loved the DAC in 1 bit mode. Superb. Will never buy a Shenzhen product again. Now have an Innuos pulse streamer and a musical fidelity DAC, both built in Europe. Hope you can resolve your issues.