Nuforce uDAC-2 Review

[ViciousXUSMC]

Hey guys, today I have a very special product review for you. I looked into this product as the answer to a few common questions I see on the forums.

"Should I get an external sound card"
"What is the best soundcard to get"
"What headphones should I get"

And other general questions that are similar.

So first before the review here is a little Q&A to get everybody on the same page.


What is the uDAC-2 ?

The uDAC-2 is a very small, ultra portable DAC & Headphone Amplifier in one. What is a DAC? It stands for Digital to Analog Converter. Its job is to take the digital signals produced by your computer when you play music and games and convert it to analog signals witch are what your speakers or headphones use to make sound.

A DAC alone can not do anything, it only makes a signal to be fed to an amplifier like your home theater systems line-in would have. So this unit also has a built-in headphone amplifier directly targeted for high quality listening with minimal distortion.

The uDAC-2 has enough power to handle headphones with up to 300ohms and only needs the power of a USB port so its easy to hook up and use.

In the back of the unit is a RCA and Coaxial output so you can connect the unit to past mentioned home amplifier system or any other device that accepts a line-in.


Why do I need a DAC ?

Well you do not need a DAC to hear sounds, your laptop has built in speakers and a headphone jack on it already. The proper question is why would you want a DAC. That is a very easy question to answer. QUALITY, if you seek quality sound out of your laptop a device like this is absolutely necessary.

While it is true in the last few years on-board sound cards for laptops have made huge leaps forward, they are still a far cry from the quality offered in even a budget level DAC. The difference in sound quality is truly night and day.

A few additional smaller reasons you may be interested in a DAC like the uDAC-2 is that it totally bypasses your soundcard, as it becomes a secondary soundcard to your system. It also bypasses your built-in headphone jack. So if you have a laptop with a broken or damaged headphone jack or sound card. Purchasing a DAC like this is probably cheaper that repairing the laptop and will give you the better quality to boot.

The other minor reason is since this becomes a secondary audio device for your system you can actually use it in conjunction with your onboard audio. Say play world of warcraft and have the game sounds on your laptop speakers, but then have Teamspeak or Ventrillo use the uDAC for voice communication so you can hear everybody clean & clear because the game sounds & music will not be mixed in.

Now onto the review!
____________________________________________________

Nuforce uDAC-2 Impressions & Review

Images are 200pix for people viewing on smaller screens (yes I care about you netbook users) click images to view in a new windows full size.


What's in the box

The package is small and simple, inside the plastic casing is safely tucked away the uDAC-2 unit, a USB A-B cable (about 3ft long), and the product manual.







Build & Design

The Nuforce uDAC-2 is actually industry leading in build & design. Its very pleasing to the eye to look at because of its all aluminum construction, simple curves, and straight forward aesthetics.

Many DAC's are made very "rugged" they perform fine but dont look very pretty. So if looks do matter to you because you will have it on display in public you should be quite happy with what Nuforce has done when they designed this unit.

It does have a few different color choices so you can get one that you like best or that matches your setup/laptop. The matte black was a dead on match to my Asus G73 and I like matte black products in general as they are neutral colored and do not get finger prints like glossy products.

The uDAC really was the most appealing DAC on the market for me due to both its size and price. When your on the go with a laptop, space is very important. Having something small enough to fit in a pocket of your bag is a top priority. So I think the uDAC deserves top marks in terms of build quality and design its tough metal construction means its durable and will hold up to the test of time, and the small size & weight make it ideal for travel.

Here you can see the size in comparison to a common quarter.



Here is how small it is compared to my Logitech G7 mouse.





You would actually look at the uDAC and almost think that it was specifically made for use with laptops.

The only thing I may change is to get a shorter USB cable for mine, everything else is perfect.


Ports & Features

The uDAC-2 has 4 ports total.

Firstly is the USB Input - It's what will receive the digital signals from the computer device so that it can convert them to analog for one of its 3 output ports.

In terms of output you have 3 choices.

There is the 1/8" 3.5mm headphone jack in the front of the unit along with a volume knob. This is for using with your headphones or earbuds.

Next is the RCA output and Coaxial output choices located on the back of the unit. These would be used in more of a desktop type configuration where you have some speakers and an amp you want to use instead of headphones.





This is a good time to mention that there is an alternate model of the uDAC-2 available. It is called the uDAC-2 HP it has removed the coaxial and RCA outputs on the back of the unit and comes with a shorter USB cable.

This reduction in features means a reduction in price. Everything else on the unit and the quality is the same. I consider the uDAC-2 HP to be the perfect item tailored for the person who wants to leave it in there backpack with the laptop and a pair of high quality IEM's or Headphones.

I think the uDAC-2 model like I have here is for the person planning to use it for a desktop, or likes to use there laptop at a docking station where they have some type of speaker system like want to use.

Just wanted to get that out of the way and let you know about it. The uDAC-2 is MSRP $130 and the uDAC-2 HP is MSRP $99 respectivly so if you know for sure you do not need the extra outputs its a smart purchase decision.


Value for the price paid

Really good, I already had some higher-end headphones & IEM's so I was just wasting their value until I started to feed them a better source with the uDAC-2.

$130 may be kind of hard to take down, but its a long term investment. This device is going to be with you or many years, and when you can easily spend $50 on a meal that will be gone in 24 hours time the investment starts to look not so bad.

The $99.00 price tag on the HP model is a bit easier to manage if you do not need the RCA & Coax ports on the back. I know audio is an expensive hobby (as for almost any hobby electronics related as we all know as NBR members) when I visit the head-fi.org forums I love how they greet new members "Welcome to head-fi sorry for your wallet" Its true, when looking at other DACs on the market the uDAC actually ranks in incredibly low in cost and yet still has great performance so I think the value is outstanding.


Performance

I have put in so many hours of listening with the uDAC-2. Unfortunately unlike my computer reviews I cant post some benchmarks and bar graphs to clearly define the "performance" of the product. Its subjective based on what I heard.

But still anybody knows when something sounds good and bad.

I did my listening tests with a pair of Audio Technica A700 headphones, and a pair of Logitech Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10's.





The setup was using my G73 witch is a new very high end laptop onboard and built in headphone jack vs the uDAC-2 headphone out.

The player was Winamp with WASAPI or ASIO output plugins for bit-perfect playback and all the music files were FLAC loseless rips from CDs.

Let me start by saying, before I got the uDAC-2 I had no idea how poor the quality of the onboard audio was on my laptop. It sounded great to me and I knew I had some good headphones & IEM's already so I though I was all set. The first time I plugged in and used the uDAC-2 it probably had that grin on my face like the Grinch that stole Christmas has after stealing somebodies presents from under a tree.

I was simply amazed in the difference in quality. Separation of instruments was more defined, bass was much more refined and under control, much less "muddy". It was also nice to have that volume knob there to control volume rather than messing with the digital volume of a computer.

Using a digital volume actually degrades the quality of music BTW so always have it at 100% on your software when using a external device to play your music.

So some of the specific differences I heard.

Playing some Nightwish witch I categorize as "symphonic metal" it has pounding bass from drums and bass guitar while the instrumental part of a symphony plays, and then you hear Tarja's beautiful soprano voice putting it all together.

When using the onboard the clarity of all the instrumental tracks was not as defined. The smaller more obscure details of the music was lost.

In the bass tracks the onboard seems to have a bad habit in all the listening I did of making the bass muddy and over bearing. Im a bass fanitic I love bass but I quickly learned that the clear bass delivered from the uDAC-2 sounded better and was more like how the music was supposed to sound like. Dont get this confused with lack of bass on part of the uDAC it gave all the thump it was supposed too, it just did it right.

After a lot of Nightwish listening (I had to keep listening it was so nice on the uDAC I didnt want to turn it off) I wanted to try a very different test.

I jumped out of music and into movies. In particular I had one very specific scene I wanted to test. The T-Rex scene from the first Jurassic Park movie. I though of this test to hear the difference in bass because thats what I always think of in that scene is the low rumble and thump made every step the T-Rex takes.

The test actually became the most clearly defining moment for me when I said the clarity is so much better on the uDAC-2. In that scene its raining and rain has a very specific sound.

When going back and forth between the onboard and the uDAC and watching this scene many times. The rain sounded so different. If I were to describe it the onboard sounded like if you walked outside in the rain and then cupped your hands over your ears. That distortion to the sound and that "muffled" noise is what I heard only after listening to the uDAC-2 produce this clear and brilliant reproduction of rain.

It really did sound like just putting your hands on and off your ears in the rain. That is the quality difference between onboard and the uDAC. With the sound of the rain I was able to hear more clearly the difference as compared to music since music is so complex with so many sounds and things going on at once.

After the T-Rex had his lunch I dove back into music listening.

I wanted to try another super radical test to see if I can discover any differences outside of normal music. So I went with my Bass Mechanic tracks, the stuff that people like to play on there 15" subs in a car that has ultra low ultra loud bass that is extended for seconds at a time. You know the stuff that has big warnings on it that it may blow up your speakers

So did the dance between the onboard and uDAC thinking that here is where I wont hear much a difference and due to the "muddy" bass the onboard has been showing it may even sound better.

Actual listening tests were a very surprising shock. It still followed that same trend of clearity as before in the complicated music. In these bass tracks while the bass is all up front there is always some kind of minor instrumental/electronic stuff going on in the back.

On the uDAC you could hear those background sounds much more cleanly and it sounded more like some kind of music instead of a pure all out SPL test.

Likewise on the onboard it sounded like one big mess of bass, the bass drowned out all the other sounds and took away all the detail in the music.

Through and through listening to a lot of other music and bands, the theme stayed the same.


Conclusion

To sum things up... I will never at this point be plugging my headphones into the headphone jack on my laptop ever again. The uDAC-2 has earned a permanent home in my laptop bag along side my Triple.Fi 10's.

I loved how everthing sounded so much better, it didnt matter what kind of music it was, if it was a game, a movie. Everything was better and not just a bit, it was substantially better.

I now think that when people are asking "what headphones should I get for my laptop" they are missing something they really need. a DAC & AMP combo like this is really needed to extract the potential out of any high quality headphones or earphones and I think its a very smart idea that if you are going to get one you should plan to get the other.

[Amnesiac]

Thanks for the review Vicious, you've done a great job. I'll most likely be purchasing one of these within the next couple of weeks, so it will be interesting to hear the difference.

Nice laptop BTW.

[Ingvarr]

Before you consider buying uDac2, know that there are some issues with it (design fault?). Maybe more relevant to on lower-impendance headphones.

uDac 2 - High frequency noise is audible on "quiet" input

[ViciousXUSMC]

Originally Posted by Ingvarr

Before you consider buying uDac2, know that there are some issues with it (design fault?). Maybe more relevant to on lower-impendance headphones.

uDac 2 - High frequency noise is audible on "quiet" input

Yeah I think that is a ground loop fault or something, I did not have that problem.

Its a common issue in almost all computers and requires a special device like this to fix it - http://www.amazon.com/GROUND-LOOP-IS.../dp/B001EAQTRI

But it is safe to say that its not a common problem when there are thousands of uDAC units on market and only a handful of people coming forward with problems.

[Ingvarr]

More likely only a handful of people have sensitive enough headphones/ears to notice.
Nuforce itself admitted they could not fix this and this is not unit defect.

Btw, I bet this is not ground loop, since ground loop sounds vary greatly on different sources. This high frequency sound 100% same on every system I've tested it. It is something generated within uDac 2 itself.

Edit: have you noticed that one guy on this thread actually tested his uDac2 with battery power and got same noise? No ground loop would be there.

[Vogelbung]

Probably an impedance mismatch - which means that owners of most balanced-armature IEM's might like to steer clear.

I know the Pico definitely does not suffer from that issue. However it is $300 more.

[a4500435]

The Audinst HUD-MX1 is the way to go...

Audinst HUD-MX1 | Headfonia

Only $179.

Audinst HUD-mx1 Hi-Fi USB Audio DAC - eBay (item 170540159147 end time Oct-16-10 21:14:08 PDT)

[ViciousXUSMC]

I know the MX1 is good an all but its just not the same thing. Its a small DAC for a medium price. the uDAC2 is like a micro dac for a small price.

I literally have just enough bag space for the uDAC-2 and it fits right into a bag pocket. I would not be ok with keeping the MX1 in my bag.

Now if it was a desktop situation that is different, but then I still have things I would prefer over the MX1 for a desktop use.

[a4500435]

I'm sorry, but $130 vs $180 doesn't seem to be a big distinction when comparing their performance. With the MX1, you're getting a much better DAC and an amp that'll handle high-impedance headphones, as well as 24/96k, optical out, etc. That's more than worth the $50 difference.

Your size argument is more valid (though it's still pretty small). I just think the Audinst is the best DAC/amp under $200.

[ViciousXUSMC]

For notebook users the uDAC2 HP should suffice it carries a $99.00 price tag.
99 vs 180 is neary double, as well is it over triple the size.


It depends on your needs of course, like you said. Optical out, High Impedance Support.

Not everybody needs/wants that so it would be pointless to pay more for it if you dont need it.

If you want a DAC for your bag to pair with your laptop for headphones... thats what I wanted and what I got. No need for +300ohm or optical and stuff if I wont be using it.

That money I saved just got me a 2nd pair of headphones (some AD700's on the way)


It should be noted that some people prefer the uDAC-2's unique sound signature over way more expensive DAC's the reviews and impressions I have read, have people saying they prefer it over there $500+ DAC's and not until they got well over the $1000+ range did they have something that they liked better.

I also consider headphones over 300ohm to be pretty rare, the uDAC-2 again handles up to that point, but once you go past 300ohm your probably in some pretty expensive audiophile stuff and would not be looking at anything in the under $200 range to pair your headphones with.

I really did focus here on laptop users and laptop uses, thats why things like the optical out on the MX1 really is not an advantage as the crowd I am thinking of is backpacking with there gear not at base camp with all there speakers and gear about.

Its fair to say the MX1 is a good product, its fair to say its an alternative product, but its not really fair to call it a replacement for the uDAC-2 since it is indeed so different.

When I say replacement I mean one product is clearly better than the other, if you had two identical netbooks but one had bluetooth and the other did not and they cost the same, there is no reason to consider the lesser model. One is a direct replacement for the other.

However if one was a 12" model and the other a 10" model, suddenly its not a direct comparison anymore. You can recommend one as an alternative but not a replacement. No matter how much better one product may be than the other, there are people that will get one or the other based on there needs. In my case I would go for the 10" because I consider anything larger than 10" to not be a netbook anymore and figure if I am going to go bigger I may as well have a much more powerfull 15" laptop.

Others may very well go for the 12" because they find the screen easier to view and are ok with the portability compromise.

Thats how the uDAC-2 vs the MX-1 stands in my opinion, you may find it to be better but its different enough in all ways (price, size, features) that it cant be directly replacing the uDAC-2 as you have been trying to suggest, but it is a viable alternative based on a persons needs.