Hi Richard I use the UCA-202 to connect my Acer laptop to my Avi Adm-9.1's, it works great! I know you also use the HDD forum and am shure others there or here must have used the 202's. It was recommended to me via this forum but I cannot remember who it was.
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When should you upgrade your hi-fi? How to control ‘upgradeitis’
idc:As a rule of thumb (recently invented by me), since Behringer supply the pro-audio rather than the audiophile side of hifi/audio, they will be more functional looking, cheaper, but just as good.
Yes. Behringer do seem to break the mould, even in the pro audio circles. Their ultra drive costs £300ish while the XTA equivalent costs in the region of £4000. I'm quite looking forward to getting this little box. Something else to dispel the BS of HiFi???. We'll see.
Yes. Behringer do seem to break the mould, even in the pro audio circles. Their ultra drive costs £300ish while the XTA equivalent costs in the region of £4000. I'm quite looking forward to getting this little box. Something else to dispel the BS of HiFi???. We'll see.
drummerman:Nothing to do with your signature of course ... or the hint earlier that you design speakers, just in case anyone missed the former
Richard's signature is in accordance with house rules, and it's widely known he designs speakers, so not sure what you're on about, drummerman.
Attacking other members is against house rules, so shall we stop this right now, drummerman?
Richard's signature is in accordance with house rules, and it's widely known he designs speakers, so not sure what you're on about, drummerman.
Attacking other members is against house rules, so shall we stop this right now, drummerman?
Andrew Everard:
drummerman:Nothing to do with your signature of course ... or the hint earlier that you design speakers, just in case anyone missed the former
Richard's signature is in accordance with house rules, and it's widely known he designs speakers, so not sure what you're on about, drummerman.
Attacking other members is against house rules, so shall we stop this right now, drummerman?
Andrew, don't you think that's a bit harsh?. My signature makes me vulnerable for thread hijack anyway. I don't think drummerman meant anything by it on this occasion.
drummerman:Nothing to do with your signature of course ... or the hint earlier that you design speakers, just in case anyone missed the former
Richard's signature is in accordance with house rules, and it's widely known he designs speakers, so not sure what you're on about, drummerman.
Attacking other members is against house rules, so shall we stop this right now, drummerman?
Andrew, don't you think that's a bit harsh?. My signature makes me vulnerable for thread hijack anyway. I don't think drummerman meant anything by it on this occasion.
Anyway, to get back on track, if this little box is any bottle, maybe your magazines should look at reviewing it. £32 quid delivered, USB, in and out phonos, optical out AND a headphone amp as well. £32 quid????. Just up your street. IF it's any good that is.
I bought a family member the UCA222, the slightly newer version I think, to introduce him to the concept of going computer based. His room was turning into one giant cd storage bin so I showed him itunes and a cheapie £10 lead and he was off. He hasn't looked back. He now uses a mac and airport and loves to use Spotify.
The UCA served it purpose and was very good for the price but I would see it as a starting block before stepping up once you are settled and comfortable with the setup.
The UCA served it purpose and was very good for the price but I would see it as a starting block before stepping up once you are settled and comfortable with the setup.
davemartin01:
The UCA served it purpose and was very good for the price but I would see it as a starting block before stepping up once you are settled and comfortable with the setup.
Exactly the point I made in my opening post but I think you would agree that going straight in for a DACMagic would be financially foolish.
The UCA served it purpose and was very good for the price but I would see it as a starting block before stepping up once you are settled and comfortable with the setup.
Exactly the point I made in my opening post but I think you would agree that going straight in for a DACMagic would be financially foolish.
AEJim
Well-known member
Richard Allen:Anyway, to get back on track, if this little box is any bottle, maybe your magazines should look at reviewing it. £32 quid delivered, USB, in and out phonos, optical out AND a headphone amp as well. £32 quid????. Just up your street. IF it's any good that is.
Might give that a look, we did a lot of experimenting with laptops and DAC's a couple of years back - the end result being that if you did it the right way (I can't remember the complete details but some DAC's didn't completely bypass the laptop internals) and use the right media player then you can get extremely good results. In'fact it worked so well we used an AE branded DAC at the CES show going through a £3k amp and our £1500 floorstanders - nobody (and I mean nobody) even noticed as we had it tucked to the side of a cabinet.
Even the top reviewers from Stereophile were extremely impressed by the system - when I told them the source was a laptop they looked confused, when I checked the file that was playing and said "Oh, it's not a lossless one either - only 192kbps!" they looked even more confused... The end result was that we had a very positive write up but they attributed much of that to the amp (which was frankly dire - luckily not a brand I've seen in the UK but I didn't know amps could sound that poor!??) and no mention of the laptop!
So I think it's well worth experimenting with, and in a blind test I'd like to see how many can tell a difference of a decent budget DAC and laptop and a £1k or so CD player... I'll try and update with what software we used as Windows Media Player and the like do not give you the full benefit - can't remember the details of why not but I'll check in with RnD later and find out what it was...
Might give that a look, we did a lot of experimenting with laptops and DAC's a couple of years back - the end result being that if you did it the right way (I can't remember the complete details but some DAC's didn't completely bypass the laptop internals) and use the right media player then you can get extremely good results. In'fact it worked so well we used an AE branded DAC at the CES show going through a £3k amp and our £1500 floorstanders - nobody (and I mean nobody) even noticed as we had it tucked to the side of a cabinet.
Even the top reviewers from Stereophile were extremely impressed by the system - when I told them the source was a laptop they looked confused, when I checked the file that was playing and said "Oh, it's not a lossless one either - only 192kbps!" they looked even more confused... The end result was that we had a very positive write up but they attributed much of that to the amp (which was frankly dire - luckily not a brand I've seen in the UK but I didn't know amps could sound that poor!??) and no mention of the laptop!
So I think it's well worth experimenting with, and in a blind test I'd like to see how many can tell a difference of a decent budget DAC and laptop and a £1k or so CD player... I'll try and update with what software we used as Windows Media Player and the like do not give you the full benefit - can't remember the details of why not but I'll check in with RnD later and find out what it was...
AEJim:
Richard Allen:Anyway, to get back on track, if this little box is any bottle, maybe your magazines should look at reviewing it. £32 quid delivered, USB, in and out phonos, optical out AND a headphone amp as well. £32 quid????. Just up your street. IF it's any good that is.
Might give that a look, we did a lot of experimenting with laptops and DAC's a couple of years back - the end result being that if you did it the right way (I can't remember the complete details but some DAC's didn't completely bypass the laptop internals) and use the right media player then you can get extremely good results. In'fact it worked so well we used an AE branded DAC at the CES show going through a £3k amp and our £1500 floorstanders - nobody (and I mean nobody) even noticed as we had it tucked to the side of a cabinet.
Even the top reviewers from Stereophile were extremely impressed by the system - when I told them the source was a laptop they looked confused, when I checked the file that was playing and said "Oh, it's not a lossless one either - only 192kbps!" they looked even more confused... The end result was that we had a very positive write up but they attributed much of that to the amp (which was frankly dire - luckily not a brand I've seen in the UK but I didn't know amps could sound that poor!??) and no mention of the laptop!
So I think it's well worth experimenting with, and in a blind test I'd like to see how many can tell a difference of a decent budget DAC and laptop and a £1k or so CD player... I'll try and update with what software we used as Windows Media Player and the like do not give you the full benefit - can't remember the details of why not but I'll check in with RnD later and find out what it was...
Great story James - love the idea of the Stereophile guys looking a bit confused. Like introducing apples to oranges I think!
Richard Allen:Anyway, to get back on track, if this little box is any bottle, maybe your magazines should look at reviewing it. £32 quid delivered, USB, in and out phonos, optical out AND a headphone amp as well. £32 quid????. Just up your street. IF it's any good that is.
Might give that a look, we did a lot of experimenting with laptops and DAC's a couple of years back - the end result being that if you did it the right way (I can't remember the complete details but some DAC's didn't completely bypass the laptop internals) and use the right media player then you can get extremely good results. In'fact it worked so well we used an AE branded DAC at the CES show going through a £3k amp and our £1500 floorstanders - nobody (and I mean nobody) even noticed as we had it tucked to the side of a cabinet.
Even the top reviewers from Stereophile were extremely impressed by the system - when I told them the source was a laptop they looked confused, when I checked the file that was playing and said "Oh, it's not a lossless one either - only 192kbps!" they looked even more confused... The end result was that we had a very positive write up but they attributed much of that to the amp (which was frankly dire - luckily not a brand I've seen in the UK but I didn't know amps could sound that poor!??) and no mention of the laptop!
So I think it's well worth experimenting with, and in a blind test I'd like to see how many can tell a difference of a decent budget DAC and laptop and a £1k or so CD player... I'll try and update with what software we used as Windows Media Player and the like do not give you the full benefit - can't remember the details of why not but I'll check in with RnD later and find out what it was...
Great story James - love the idea of the Stereophile guys looking a bit confused. Like introducing apples to oranges I think!
the record spot:AEJim:
Richard Allen:Anyway, to get back on track, if this little box is any bottle, maybe your magazines should look at reviewing it. £32 quid delivered, USB, in and out phonos, optical out AND a headphone amp as well. £32 quid????. Just up your street. IF it's any good that is.
Might give that a look, we did a lot of experimenting with laptops and DAC's a couple of years back - the end result being that if you did it the right way (I can't remember the complete details but some DAC's didn't completely bypass the laptop internals) and use the right media player then you can get extremely good results. In'fact it worked so well we used an AE branded DAC at the CES show going through a £3k amp and our £1500 floorstanders - nobody (and I mean nobody) even noticed as we had it tucked to the side of a cabinet.
Even the top reviewers from Stereophile were extremely impressed by the system - when I told them the source was a laptop they looked confused, when I checked the file that was playing and said "Oh, it's not a lossless one either - only 192kbps!" they looked even more confused... The end result was that we had a very positive write up but they attributed much of that to the amp (which was frankly dire - luckily not a brand I've seen in the UK but I didn't know amps could sound that poor!??) and no mention of the laptop!
So I think it's well worth experimenting with, and in a blind test I'd like to see how many can tell a difference of a decent budget DAC and laptop and a £1k or so CD player... I'll try and update with what software we used as Windows Media Player and the like do not give you the full benefit - can't remember the details of why not but I'll check in with RnD later and find out what it was...
Great story James - love the idea of the Stereophile guys looking a bit confused. Like introducing apples to oranges I think!
I don't think it's all that difficult to do either Record Spot!!!
Richard Allen:Anyway, to get back on track, if this little box is any bottle, maybe your magazines should look at reviewing it. £32 quid delivered, USB, in and out phonos, optical out AND a headphone amp as well. £32 quid????. Just up your street. IF it's any good that is.
Might give that a look, we did a lot of experimenting with laptops and DAC's a couple of years back - the end result being that if you did it the right way (I can't remember the complete details but some DAC's didn't completely bypass the laptop internals) and use the right media player then you can get extremely good results. In'fact it worked so well we used an AE branded DAC at the CES show going through a £3k amp and our £1500 floorstanders - nobody (and I mean nobody) even noticed as we had it tucked to the side of a cabinet.
Even the top reviewers from Stereophile were extremely impressed by the system - when I told them the source was a laptop they looked confused, when I checked the file that was playing and said "Oh, it's not a lossless one either - only 192kbps!" they looked even more confused... The end result was that we had a very positive write up but they attributed much of that to the amp (which was frankly dire - luckily not a brand I've seen in the UK but I didn't know amps could sound that poor!??) and no mention of the laptop!
So I think it's well worth experimenting with, and in a blind test I'd like to see how many can tell a difference of a decent budget DAC and laptop and a £1k or so CD player... I'll try and update with what software we used as Windows Media Player and the like do not give you the full benefit - can't remember the details of why not but I'll check in with RnD later and find out what it was...
Great story James - love the idea of the Stereophile guys looking a bit confused. Like introducing apples to oranges I think!
I don't think it's all that difficult to do either Record Spot!!!
AEJim
Well-known member
Ok, apparently it's a program called "Foobar" as this doesn't use the Windows Kernel (presuming the source is a PC, not a Mac) - I know our R&D guy took a long time finding a program which worked that way for purest quality. Hope that helps!
idc
Well-known member
PJPro is our resident expert on Foobar, which is a music manager like itunes or Windows Media Player and bypassing the Kernel mixer, which in Windows (not sure which versions) means all music files are re-sampled, even if they do have to be, before being sent to the DAC. The theory (I have no reason to doubt it) is that any interference with the signal is bad.
I'd love to hear how this compares to the Nuforce uDAC. There's quite a price difference !
These things are ideal for me as I work offshore for 5 weeks at a time with only my iPod and netbook for music. One of these partnered to my Denon AHD1001's and iTunes Lossless will tide me over until I get back home !
These things are ideal for me as I work offshore for 5 weeks at a time with only my iPod and netbook for music. One of these partnered to my Denon AHD1001's and iTunes Lossless will tide me over until I get back home !
Nick21:Has your Uca 202 arrived today?
I have just come across the craziest thing. Royal Mail!!.
I just entered the tracking number on their website that I got from Amazon and the following statement came up. " This cannot be tracked until after it is delivered". Now, call me thick, but if you've already got it, wass the point in tracking it???.
I have just come across the craziest thing. Royal Mail!!.
I just entered the tracking number on their website that I got from Amazon and the following statement came up. " This cannot be tracked until after it is delivered". Now, call me thick, but if you've already got it, wass the point in tracking it???.
OK.
UCA202 arrived yesterday. Still playing with it at the moment. Will post findings over the weekend.
UCA202 arrived yesterday. Still playing with it at the moment. Will post findings over the weekend.
JamesOK
Well-known member
OK.
I'll report my findings in the next 48 hours. I wonder if Mr. Everard will permit a mini mini review from my point of view??. Don't think he'll give me the space to do it somehow
I'll report my findings in the next 48 hours. I wonder if Mr. Everard will permit a mini mini review from my point of view??. Don't think he'll give me the space to do it somehow
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