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Teac UD-H01 DAC

67.108.46.104
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 21:41:25
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 I just received my Teac DAC today and popped the top top have a look inside. Now I should make it clear that I do not expect this DAC to replace my modded Marantz KI-Pearl. It is a project for me and I will share everything I learn about it with everyone on this sight. So, with the top off I see that the op-amps in the audio section are 5532's. These are old devices, maybe second generation. They are run off of plus-minus 12 volts. There are dozens of 47uF/16 surface mount caps all over this PCB. They are even used for all the IC's including the DAC and op-amp's. I looked up the data for the DAC chips and can see the caps connected to the power pins. These are some of those 47uF caps that I mentioned. The AC wires are not twisted and are bundled with other wires. I will be changing things starting with the wiring. Then a lot of those small caps will be made 1000uf. These will have to be radial with long leads. The op-amps will be up-graded to the latest LME's or others. There is a n op-amp this I am not familiar with a Muse 8920. I looked it up too, and it doesn't look like anything special to me. That one is a dip package so I have a lot of IC's I can use there. I'm letting it burn in over night so I will be listening to it stock tomorrow. If anyone knows anything about this unit Please let me know. Thanks, bobwire

 

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RE: Teac UD-H01 DAC Chapter-2, posted on February 8, 2013 at 21:04:27
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 I gave the Teac DAC a days burn-in before connecting it to my Pass X-1 via balanced cables. (The cables are my own hand made bobwire balanced cables.) The sound compared in this way to my KI-Pearl DAC. The image was smaller and flatter, less depth, width was not as wide. It was clean sounding, no sins of commission. It did have a bit of fuzz around everything and I was sure I knew where that came from. The AC wires. I twisted all the ac wires going into and out of the transformer and some DC ones too. The fuzz went away. I've studied the data sheet for the Burr-Brown DAC and it shows three important capacitors around the DAC. These are all 47uF in the Teac. I will be making these and many others larger values in steppes as I go along. For now, anyone with a Teac DAC should think about twisting the AC wires. More in Chapter 3. bobwire

 

Just in case, posted on February 8, 2013 at 21:36:15
unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010
 you think no one is reading your posts, I most certainly am. I have nothing to contribute so I don't comment, but I am deeply interested in what you are doing, even though I do not own nor have even seen the device in question.

As an aside, I would appreiate a photo or two .... ;^)


Thanks

Stu

 

Thanks for the report, posted on February 9, 2013 at 09:11:18
barryb
 I look forward to hearing more. Nice choice for a project -- the DAC seems to have a lot of potential and has even gotten good mention in stock form.

 

RE: Teac UD-H01 DAC Chapter 3, posted on February 9, 2013 at 13:22:33
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 I may spoken to soon when I said I didn't expect the Teac Dac to come up to my KI-Pearl. Today I did four caps each around the DAC chips. These were C201, C301, both of these are on the digital 3.3 volt Vdd inputs(pin9). Next, were C203, C205, C207 and C303, C305, C307. These are Vcc1, Vcc2R, Vcc2L. The pins are 15, 23, 28. I used 1000uf/16 radial caps Digi-key P10253-ND. The stock caps are surface mount so I added a drop of solder to the solder tabs of all of them, this makes it easier to solder the new lead right on top of the old cap leads. The new caps have long leads that I cut to about 5/8 inch, and then put a red and black sleeve over each lead. Red for positive, black for negative. I bent the lead into an "L" shape (very short). I tinned these and soldered then to the top of the stock caps solder tabs. Done.

Right off, the bass came way up with power. The image got wider and deeper. I could just about call it done at this point, it's really good. I'll give it a few more days burn in and test it again. Good Luck, bobwire

 

Nice!, posted on February 9, 2013 at 15:29:54
barryb
 It's particularly interesting because this is a reasonably priced DAC.

 

Hear! Hear!, posted on February 9, 2013 at 16:58:53
rwiley
Audiophile

Posts: 1050
Location: Southeast
Joined: February 20, 2001
 Bobwire...I've always enjoyed your contributions to AA (although I think I remember you "packing it in" and moving to the mountains some time back).

Keep us posted.

 

Kobyashi's been there; done that....link, posted on February 9, 2013 at 17:48:48
viridian
 See link

 

RE: Teac UD-H01 DAC Chapter 3A, posted on February 9, 2013 at 21:26:17
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 After playing the DAC for several hours I sat down for a good listen. I have this Prog-Rock CD where all the cuts are remastered. (Greatest Ever Prog Rock, The Definitive Collection) The first cut is Roundabout by Yes. This is the first Cd where I cut understand all the words. The Teac played it well, with good width but still a little short on depth. Next, I played White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, off the same CD. The remix is a must if you ever want to hear this song the way it should have been done back in the day. I noticed a slight I don't know, call it a grayness over the music. I went back to the KI-Pearl and no grayness. I had a thought, so I disconnected the headphone circuit, both power and signal. They were easy to unplug. The grayness was gone. My thinking on this is that the op-amps are loaded down as far as they can go. Think of it this way, you are asking the op-amp to drive feedback and cables too. I hope that adding large value caps to the power pins of each op-amp will do the trick. We'll see. The difference now between the two DAC's is very small, with the KI-Pearl being in focus all the way to the back of the stage. I ran out of caps and will order more so I'll have to wait to see if I am right. bobwire

 

RE: Hear! Hear!, posted on February 9, 2013 at 21:37:17
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 When I came to this part of Idaho there was no high seed internet, we had only dial up. Now, we have high speed wireless. They made my house the hub for my sub-division. The Tribe put it in and it took forever to get here since the Tribe works at tribe speed. (Not white-man speed.)But it sure is good to be back on the air again. bobwire

 

Must be nice, posted on February 9, 2013 at 23:11:55
unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010
 to start off with blank boards.....

Stu

 

Look carefully, he desoldered the components.Except the red board for the new clock. nt, posted on February 10, 2013 at 11:16:49
viridian
 nt

 

Muse 8920, posted on February 10, 2013 at 19:19:52
rwiley
Audiophile

Posts: 1050
Location: Southeast
Joined: February 20, 2001
 This opamp has been the subject (pro and con) of a lot of interest for the past couple of years.

 

RE: Teac UD-H01 DAC (Final), posted on February 12, 2013 at 15:53:37
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 Hi Guy's, I let the DAC burn in while I made an over night trip, so it got enough hours. When I returned I tested it and decided that the four caps that feed the six op-amps should be next. These are C210, C211, C310, C311. These got 2200uF/16 each. Right away I knew that this was good. After another night of burn in I made the last change. I added two more 2200uF/16 to the headphone PCB. These lay on their sides and are soldered to the underside of the connector pins. WOW, WOW, WOW! This did it. I went back and forth playing my test cuts and comparing the KI-Pearl to the Teac. Then, this afternoon I played Dark Side of the Moon. I HAVE NEVER HEARD IT LIKE THAT BEFORE! Next, came b-Tribe, followed by Blonde and Fleetwood Mac.
By now I had taken away the KI-Pearl and placed it in retirement. I only did the change this morning so it's going to get even better.

The clarity is hard to put into words so let me say this, get this DAC and make this simple change and enjoy. Like we say here in Shenandoah, "Hear it again for the first time." Good Luck, bobwire

 

RE: Teac UD-H01 DAC (Final Chapter), posted on February 13, 2013 at 11:46:37
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002



For those that would like a photo. bobwire

 

Much appreciated, posted on February 13, 2013 at 12:12:32
unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010
 Thanks,

Stu

 

You swapped out the opamps for LMs?, posted on February 14, 2013 at 07:36:41
barryb
 I couldn't tell from the picture and you didn't mention which ones you used? Great report and thanks! Congrats on the results.

 

RE: Muse 8920, posted on February 15, 2013 at 08:04:35
Hornlover
Manufacturer

Posts: 2529
Joined: March 8, 2002
 Sounds like it is trying to be a LM4562. However, the 5532, as much maligned as it is, is still a very capable chip. Very few others, even today, can match its all around suitability for audio use. It is not the weakest link. Here is a good article to give a reality check on op-amps.

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/op-amps-myths-facts.html

 

RE: You swapped out the opamps for LMs?, posted on February 15, 2013 at 18:04:11
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 No I did not swap the op-amps. I'm thinking about it but the unit is sounding so good I have to wonder what new op-amps can do? It's been four days now since that last change and it has continued to improve. It's smoother at the very top end and lets you hear even more detail. My buddies and I are amazed at what we hear, the details. Everyone keeps saying how clear it is and life like. That's not a good way to put it but I find it hard to put into words. I can only hope that some of you out there will follow my lead and go for this DAC, you will not be sorry. bobwire

 

RE: Muse 8920, posted on February 15, 2013 at 18:06:15
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 I have some LM4562's and I still might try them but I'm enjoying it to much to want to take it apart right now. bobwire

 

RE: You swapped out the opamps for LMs?, posted on February 16, 2013 at 08:05:11
barryb
 Thanks for the report. I couldn't tell from the pictures about the opamps. I'm very glad to hear the DAC is everything you had hoped and more. It looks like a terrific and pretty straightforward project. When I find a little time, I might go for it myself. I could use a modern DAC for high rez downloads. Right now I use 2 DACs which have been maximally modded -- an MSB and a valab. I get great sound out of both -- the Valab being a bit more forgiving on poor CDs and a bit lower resolution. So much was done to the MSB -- new boards added for output stage, every single part upgraded in outboard PS, etc. Still, for everyday use, I enjoy the Valab, though it doesn't provide the shock and awe on good material.

I seem to recall that you did a valab dac yourself. I assume that the Teac is a few notches better.

 

RE: Teac UD-H01 DAC (Final Chapter), posted on February 17, 2013 at 23:23:24
benie
Audiophile

Posts: 1851
Location: Alberta, Canada
Joined: October 24, 2004
 Thanks for letting us know about this little gem! :O)

 

Another photo, posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:49:30
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002



Hi All, I thought another picture would be helpful for some of you to better (see) understand how I added the new caps into the DAC. Good Luck, bobwire

 

RE: Another photo, posted on March 6, 2015 at 07:58:31
VolvoSpeed
Audiophile

Posts: 3
Joined: March 6, 2015






Hi Bobwire

Just wanted to share my mod per your directions. Thanks for all the help!!

 

Capacitors at a stand-up night club, posted on March 26, 2015 at 12:42:50
jedrider
Audiophile

Posts: 15166
Location: No. California
Joined: December 26, 2003
 Some of them look like they've had too much to drink.

I always thought capacitors should look like soldiers standing guard.

 

RE: Capacitors at a stand-up night club, posted on May 26, 2015 at 17:30:18
VolvoSpeed
Audiophile

Posts: 3
Joined: March 6, 2015
 lol!! I believe I was the one who had a few that night... The caps I had on hand where a bit to tall hence the drunken soldiers at the night club action. ;)

 

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