NuForce uDAC5 Review - Headphone Amplifier and DAC

First impression of the NuForce uDAC5

The uDAC68 is an inconspicuous 45 x 21 x 5 mm and weighs just 100 g. Because of the compact design, you could of course think that you are dealing with a mobile headphone amplifier, which is primarily intended for use with mobile playback devices, but the uDAC5 clearly wants to be more with its combination of HiFi DAC and headphone amplifier.

A battery was completely dispensed with, which then again restricts mobility a bit. Instead, the power is supplied exclusively via a USB type B socket, via which the DAC is also connected to a PC or Mac. Further connection options are an analog cinch output, a digital coaxial output and a 3.5 mm jack output. An analog rotary control for adjusting the volume is located on the front of the housing. The uDAC5 is also switched on via the rotary control and a white LED shows whether the tiny thing is actually active.

The processing is high quality and not objectionable. The entire housing is made of metal and has an elegant metallic look. The volume control sits tight, is easy to grip and turns precisely. The fit of the connections is also first class.

OPERATION

Commissioning is simple. For use with a PC or Mac, connect the NuForce uDAC5 to the USB Type B socket. To ensure that the DAC is correctly recognized under Windows, you need a suitable driver. The delivery includes a hint card with a link to the driver. On a driver CD optoma waives. If you want to connect the uDAC5 with a Mac, no further drivers are needed. With a USB OTG cable, the DAC can even be operated on an Android smartphone or tablet.

Klang

Let's get to the most important sub-point - the sound. The NuForce uDAC5 was tested on a Windows 10 PC and an Android 6 smartphone with a beyerdynamic MMX300 (600 Ohm) headphone as well as an AKG K530 (55 Ohm) headphone. In-ears of different price categories were used for a mobile test.

 The uDAC5 uses the entire frequency range almost perfectly. In the song “Last Flowers” ​​by “Radiohead” the piano and the high voice of the singer “Thom Yorke” come into their own, and above all harmoniously. Even at really high volume, the song is played very clearly. With the help of the song “Hotel California” by the “Eagles”, the DAC shows its wealth of sound details. You can really empathize with how the band stands in front of you and from which direction the instruments are played. Only with the in-ears did the DAC not really work. A background noise was clearly audible, especially at low volume.

 The NuForce uDAC5 is also suitable for PC players. Especially with tactical games like Counter-Strike, on-board sound cards miss the spatial representation and generally the representation of tonal subtleties. The uDAC5 enables tactical games in which every smallest detail is crucial, thanks to its very good spatial orientation. Using the Counter-Strike example mentioned above, steps and shots can be precisely located.

DSD (Direct Stream Digital)

A real rarity for DACs in this price range is support for DSD (Direct Stream Digital). This is made possible by the built-in “ESS Saber Hyperstream” chip. DSD is one of the highest quality audio formats and supports a sampling rate of up to 11.2 MHz. In order to be able to play the format at all, you need a special audio player. At the same time, it is not uncommon for the few - mostly classical pieces of music - that are available in DSD to be several gigabytes in size. Of course we didn't miss the opportunity and compared a DSD 256 sample (Britten: Frank Bridge Variations - Romance) with the same 24BIT/192kHz sample. Sound differences can be heard, but the added value gained is more for the audiophile listener than for the normal consumer. In addition, pieces of music in DSD format are still rather rare.