Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company, better known to audiophiles as TEAC, announces a new, more affordable USB DAC. Called the Teac UD-301-X, it builds on the current, higher-end UD-501. The new basic design is similar to the larger model, including a balanced two-channel input, dual Burr-Brown PCM1795 DACs from Texas Instruments, and a high-quality toroidal transformer power supply.
The new Teac UD-301-X DAC works with DSD 2.8/5.6 MHz audio files via the USB input, while PCM audio files are limited in sampling frequency and encoding bit depth, only 192 kHz / 24 bit (compared to 384 kHz / 32 bit for the UD-501 model). There are both optical and coaxial digital inputs, supporting up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, and the analog audio signal is output to RCA and XLR connectors.
The TEAC UD-301-X circuit provides the ability to increase the sampling frequency of any input signals to 192 kHz, to ensure more accurate processing. If desired, this conversion can be disabled. The device is built on the basis of a high-class BurrBrown PCM1795 DAC chip (one per channel), and the analog circuit uses Muses operational amplifiers from the Japanese company NJR (also one in each channel), developed specifically for audio devices. The device circuit is made on the principle of dual mono, which ensures good separation of stereo channels and an expressive sound picture with precise placement of images. The TEAC UD-301-X power supply uses a toroidal transformer with a low level of radiated interference and a significant reserve in output power.
In addition to the DAC itself, the device contains a headphone amplifier that develops an output power of 2 x 100 mW when working with a 32-ohm load. This amplifier minimizes the use of decoupling capacitors (CCLC circuitry), which minimizes sound distortion. An analog potentiometer is used to adjust the volume. The device is equipped with balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, and its signal level can be fixed and adjustable. In the latter case, the TEAC UD-301-X can be connected directly to the input of a power amplifier or active acoustics. The UD-301-X digital-to-analog converter also has a built-in amplifier for direct listening to music through headphones. The output power for each channel is 100 mW.
