TEAC UD-701 vs NT-505 vs ?

Regarding the lack of reviews for Teac, I had read that they do not loan units out for review, not sure if that's true.  Long time UD-501 owner (Burr-Brown chips), very happy with the  unit, fantastic build quality and trouble free.  Smooth rather than hyper detailed, my Mytek Brooklyn+ beats it there, but it's still a keeper.  Lusting for the NT-505 or 701, but financially not feasible.  Miim pro next for sh*ts and giggles as replacement for my PC based streaming.

I completed a long weekend home demo with the UD-701N last week...

so impressed with what I heard (as was my wife) that I went ahead and asked my dealer to order one for me on Tuesday and picked it up yesterday (very fast turnaround).

It's now residing in my system rather comfortably.  Very nice piece of equipment and I feel a great value (as is the NT-505X).

BTW, I'm not real thrilled with the Lumin/TEAC/Esoteric app, but it's usable.  Mconnect is still my go to for control, but that may change if/when I ever do more streaming (other than my local NAS).

Although nothing beats a home demo, this thread here was very useful (and just a few others I found in the interwebs).  Lots of other usual suspects in this price range for Streamer/DACS, but this TEAC fully suits my needs.

I’m a dealer so take this as you will, but I got a demo unit to test on the possibility of picking up the Teac line.   
 

The first thing you notice is the build quality, which for the money is off the charts.  But build quality isn’t sound quality — I hooked it in our reference system and A/Bd it vs a couple of DACs, cheaper and more expensive.   Longer story short, it’s a terrific DAC at its price point and above.  Add in the flawless operation of the streaming (via Roon or its own app), ability to work as a 100% analog preamp for vinyl and many other features, and I think it’s a killer value and an excellent component on an absolute level.   And in a surprise to me anyway, adding the external clock clearly improved audio performance.   Based on this experience, we picked up the line.  I’ll be A/Bing it vs its Esoteric counterpart soon.  
 

From the house designed DAC to the build quality/internals at the price point; the UD 701N reflects what a larger company with the engineering prowess and buying power can do for the money if they put their mind to it.   

@vinylcat 

Delighted that you found unit that brings you joy. Could you say a little more about sound quality of UD-701N, in particular in comparison to other models that you considered.

Cheers.

@rblnr 

Decision to pick up line is telling. Eager to hear your thoughts on comparison to Esoteric counterpart.