Trends UD-10.1 Lite USB Audio Converter

If you are using your computer to listen to your music collection through your stereo than this little box is a must. I recently purchased a Trends UD-10.1 DAC converter and was at first a bit skeptical as to the level of audio improvement I could expect from this little box. The end result is absolutely stunning and I am now listening to details in my music that I never knew were there. With the use of this DAC my MP3 collection has gone from somewhat dead sounding to vibrant and alive. I never knew my MP3s could sound this good and have no problem recommending that others purchase this unit.

I have a music collection on primarily 192kbps CBR MP3s until a few years back when I shifted to 192kbps VBR for the improvement in dynamic range and detail. My MP3 music collection always sounded a bit flat and the loss from the original CDs was very obvious when listening on my system. Now using the Trends UD-10.1 I am able to say that my music collection sounds so good that I no longer consider the difference between the original CD and the 192kbps VBR MP3s to be that great. My computer has finally become a true audiophile grade component. Hey it only took about 10 years!

I also listen to streaming audio, and am a fan of Radio Paradise. The 128kb AAC stream of RP now sounds fabulous with dynamic range and detail that were simply never there before. Soundtracks from movies that I stream via Hulu are also dramatically improved.

I am using the Trends UD-10.1 on a Windows 7 machine and there was no setup. I simply plugged the unit in and it worked. Windows has automatically recognized soundcards as does Mac. So setup is not a problem, though I have not tried this unit on my Mac just yet.

For me the UD-10.1 brought out details in the MP3s that I never knew were there. The slide of a hand on the guitar, the breath of a vocalist before or after singing. All of these subtle nuances were preserved in MP3 format but the low quality soundboards within my computer simply couldn't reproduce them. That was my biggest surprise. I had always thought that much of what I was losing when I converted to MP3 was due to loss in the encoding process, it turns out that about 80-90% of this loss was due to poor audio coming from my computer. So don't fret, more of your music is there than you originally thought! This was especially welcome for my earliest recorded MP3s where the quality was clearly not as good as today even at 192kbps.

I would give this product top marks for improvement of sound quality relative to price. I am delighted with my purchase and the improvement in sound quality is nothing short of a miracle. So there was a Big Surprise in this Little Box.

System: HP DM3 Laptop, Blaudio Monitor speakers, Trends TA 10.2 Integrated Amplifier.