TEAC UD-701N - STREAMING PREAMP, D/A CONVERTER

In Gramophone Dreams #88, I described the sound of TEAC's VRDS-701T CD transport as "dense and precise in a way I had never previously heard from digital." I went on to explain, "by dense, I mean there was a tangible corporeality effected by seemingly infinite quantities of small, tightly packed molecules of musical information."

- HERB REICHERT

What I noticed most during the review period was the extraordinary volume of data the 701T was vacuuming off those pits and lands and turning into music. As I have gotten to know it better, what I've noticed most is how the 701T sorts and delivers all that data in a manner that makes every DAC I pair it with sound more corporal and dynamic.

As I wrote that review, I wondered how the 701T would perform partnered with its matching UD-701N converter/streamer/preamplifier and how the TEAC flagship DAC's sound character would compare to flagship DACs from HoloAudio, Denafrips, and dCS.

Now I know. These are my impressions.

Description

The TEAC UD-701N ($4299.99) is the heart of a trio of matching 700-series components that includes the VRDS-701T CD transport and the smart-looking AP-701 power amplifier. The UD-701N isn't just a DAC; it's also a fully balanced, two-input (RCA + XLR) line-level preamplifier and a two-output headphone amplifier (4-pin XLR and 1/4" jack).

The DAC part of the UD-701N isn't just another chip DAC. TEAC explains: "Instead of using a generic DAC [integrated circuit], we incorporated a custom-developed TEAC AΣ (Delta Sigma) discrete DAC comprised of discrete circuitry that uses FPGA"-field-programmable gate array "incorporating our original algorithms." See the block diagram below.

"DSD signals are transmitted as is, while PCM signals are transmitted after passing through a AΣ modulator and conversion to either 1-bit or multibit signals, according to the end user's choosing." Multibit is the default. "With the TEAC AΣ discrete DAC, playback of 22.5MHz DSD and 384kHz/32-bit PCM is possible."

Up-conversion can be used with all digital inputs and comes in three powers: 2*, 4*, or 8×Fs. Users can also set the AΣ sampling frequency: 128×, 256×, or 512×Fs.