TEAC UD-701 vs NT-505 vs ?

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

@nomorelands

Hopefully, the first of many posts!

Appreciate your sober, precise analysis of the merits of the UD-701-N. Few have heard the unit, yet, it appears. So your input is precious.

@nomorelandings 

Apologies. Put incorrect tag in my previous post.

@lordmelton 

Believe @nomorelandings has history of development of UD-701 correct.

Saw thread on musetec-005 that you pointed to. Got my attention. Rave reviews.

Lack of compatiblity with MQA and relatively new, unknown manufacturer without a US distributor give me hesitation.

I listen mostly to Hi-Res via Quboz but once in a while the MQA version on TIDAL sounds better.

Can't say that I have a lot of technical expertise but did spot that construction of circuit boards in Musetec unit is different from others. Cicuit board material is different- looks like a black foam board as opposed to typical stiff, green circuit board and connectors look plug-n-play as opposed to custom built.

But to repeat I am no engineer or technician so I could be and very possibly am off-base on last comment.

and I'm sure the UD-701 will be very good but Aurender are in a different league.

Here is my rub with the folks promoting the Musetec. They have absolutely no experience with the DAC that is being discussed, and they automatically imply that something other might be better than the DAC being discussed. But the DAC they promote is the best. Aurender makes a wide range of products. The A10 is a cheaper one with streamer and DAC together. It would be hard to believe that the all in one A10 would be better than the UD-701N. Don't understand why people post on stuff they have ZERO experience.

Yeah, I have read and was very much interested in the Musetec. But the tone of some of the users and the way they shoot down non-Chinese competition got me thinking that there is something more going on. Funny enough - the Musetec is readily available, while the cheaper Okto DAC8 Stereo (European make) has been flying off the shelf and not available to order - even though they use the same chips. And normally you make in China to save $$$. Why should the Musetec cost so much more than the Okto? The Musetec costs almost near the Teac price range.

Now lets wait for the rest of the Musetec gang to come up and defend their DAC or bash my post. I would really like to see some of these poster's system with that DAC in it.

In the meanwhile please continue to post on the Teac UD-701N. I am interested too.