TEAC UD-H01 USB DAC

TEAC (originally "Tokyo Electro Acoustic Company") has been making fine consumer electronics since the 1950s under its own trade name and its other two subsidiary TASCAM and ESOTERIC. The first one focuses on pro-audio, and the latter in ultra hi-end audio. As we all aware, Esoteric's digital audio products are considered among the best in the industry. Their VRDS transport mechanics are unsurpassed. Their digital to analog converters are known to up there with the state of the art.  

Vincent Kars hinted us that TEAC, the mother ship, has quietly launched (in Japan and Europe) the new UD-H01 DAC with USB input and a built in headphone amplifier. Using two 32 Bit 192kHz Burr Brown converters, the DAC upsamples data to 192kHz. It has coaxial and optical inputs and both XLR and RCA outputs. Due to be available in July for £299.  Also launching together is an AirPlay adapter that will enable you to transform your existing HiFi into an AirPlay compatible device, also for £299.  This DAC looks almost too good to be true in terms of specs and build quality versus price.

Features

• USB Audio Class2 High-speed Input from PC/MAC (using the Tenor 8802 chip)
• 32-bit/192kHz Dual D/A Convertors (BurrBrown 1795 x 2)
• Up-conversion to 32bit/192kHz
• Supports full speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode (to be confirmed, we suspect with drivers)
• Toroidal-core-Power Transformer
• Detachable AC Socket
• Headphone Out with Volume Control
• Aluminium Front Panel
• USB Input: x 1 (USB2.0)
• Digital Audio Inputs: x 2 (Coaxial, Optical)
• Balanced Audio Output: x 1 (XLR, 1-GND, 2=Hot, 3=Cold)
• Audio Output: x 1 (RCA)
• Headphone Out: x 1 (6.3mm)
• Input Signal Sampling Rate: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 215mm x 55mm x 215mm