Telepathic

Thanks for the clarification. I read that as the Teac is always receiving power from the USB bus unless you turn it off and use the S/PDIF inputs instead. Most would choose to go USB because that's the only way to decode DSD on this dac. I have a Grant Fidelity Tubedac-11 in my rig for almost 3 years already. I have been pretty happy with it. Warm sound very reasonably priced dac. I like the tube output a lot. Plenty of choices now in budget DSD dacs which is a great thing. The UD-501 has got my attention right now. I'm in the value for dollar club.

Greetings... New member here and have a question. How does the X-12 stack up to the Teac UD-501 in audio quality? Were talking about a ES9018 chip vs two 32 bit burr brown chips implemented in the Teac so this could be apples and oranges here. The Teac also has two toroidal power supplies in it and the build quality seems very solid. In the Gustards favor is the price. It's about 300 bucks cheaper. I have heard that both dacs have a warm analog sound? What's the better value or am I comparing two different animals here?