Articles, Reviews and Measurements of Audio Products

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Luxsin X9 stereo "smart" balanced DAC, preamplifier and headphone amp. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $1099.

Luxsin is a new brand for the Zidoo/Eversolo company and focused on higher-end audio products. In this instance, we have a gorgeous 1080p touchscreen display that lets us navigate through rich set of features and visualizations including that nice VU meter. Further, due to inclusion of Wifi, you can control the unit using an app or with web interface.

Balanced headphone output is provided including the ability to automatically enable filters to adapt your headphone to that of Harman curve. Failing that, you can program your PEQ. Alas, I started with an older version of the firmware where these features didn't seem functional.

I am starting to call DACs with such value added features, "smart."

Back panel shows other cool features such as HDMI and analog inputs:
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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the AsciLab F6B stand mount speaker. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $835 for a pair (shipping included).

In black, the F6B seems formal with a very clean design. It feels solid with sense of precision. Compared to its F6Bs sibling which I just reviewed, we now have a passive radiator in the back which should extend the low frequency response:

Let's measure it with our Klippel Near-field Scanner and see what we get (company measurements correlate with mine).

AsciLab F6B Speaker Measurement
As usual, we start with our anechoic frequency response graph:

This is a type of result that puts a smile on this reviewer. On-axis response is a good studio monitor flat but with a slight...

This is a review, detailed measurements, EQ and listening test of AsciLab F6Bs bookshelf/surround speaker. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $575 [now $725 with shipping included] for a pair.

This is an absolutely gorgeous design! It feels that way as well with a solid cabinet that is neither too light, nor too heavy. I didn't know if the grill over the woofer came off so left it alone. Back side shows that it is a sealed speaker:


Company uses Klippel Near-field scanner for testing which as you all know, is the same system I use. I reviewed my measurements with them and they concur with those results.

AsciLab F6Bs Speaker Measurements
As usual, we start with our anechoic frequency response measurements:

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL VMV A1 Pro GaNFET Class D stereo amplifier (bridgeable into mono). It was sent to me by their distributor, Aoshida audio, and costs US $495.

I like the inclusion of volume control and display (there is also a metal remote). Back panel shows the inclusion of power supply which is very nice:


I wish trigger input was available. Bridge mode requires changing modes in the menu. When I did that, the amplifier would not produce any output and some red LEDs would be blinking through the back terminals. I tried a few things and eventually gave up. Also, and maybe related, the positive speaker terminal for the right channel was loose.

In use, the amplifier ran very...

As the title says, the index is back online!!!

I will have to update it with latest reviews but the code is running.

Much appreciate everyone's patience!

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Dasaita 13.3" Android Automotive OS stereo head unit. I purchased this from Amazon for $558 (has a coupon for $40 now).


As you see from stock image, this is a "double din" unit with a "floating" (adjustable) display. The advantage of this type of unit is that the display doesn't have to fit in the dash as it will sit in front of it. There are various sizes and you need to choose one that doesn't impede your dash controls, vents, etc. Even though this is their top of the line unit, it only comes with 64 Gigabytes of storage whereas the norm is 128 Gigabytes. There is USB input though so expanding storage is no big deal. Likewise RAM is 6 Gigabytes instead of 8. Supply chain disruptions have limited availability of different options as others have very long lead times.

The launcher is the default, boring, low resolution one which is in dire need of more customizations. The right bottom...

This is a review and measurements of the MacBook Air 2024 headphone output. It was prompted by a request from @DrSpan, as the little Mac has a very strong reputation as a headphone source. Here it is, measuring itself:



Since 2021 Apple has supported impedance detection on the headphone outputs of its laptops, meaning low impedance headphones get more current, while high impedance headphones get more voltage. When you plug in the headphones the MacBook checks the impedance, and sets the output voltage to 1.25V if it's less than 150ohms or 3V if it's up to 1kOhms/. Above that it assumes you're using it as line interface and sets the voltage to 1V. It only does this check when you physically...

This is a review and detailed measurements of Joying Double DIN 11.6 inch Rotating 1080p Display car stereo Android 12 Car Operating System. I purchased it on Amazon for US $609.

The display is impressively bright (indoor anyway) and high contrast. As noted, with a touch of the panel it will rotate nicely to portrait mode:


The mechanism is smooth as silk and gives a sexy feeling to the unit. As noted, the advertised version of Android is 12 but I was hoping that it would ship with 13 as this is the norm for high-end of the market (8 gigabyte/128 Gig storage). Alas, it not only came with version 12, it has no OTA upgrade capability. I checked on the company site and there is a patch update but no...

This is a review and measurements of the PurePower 3000 AC Regenerator and Battery Back up. It was kindly drop shipped to me from the company in Canada. I am not sure of its cost. Old price lists show it at US $5000.

The display seems old school but it works and is informative in showing the input/output voltage and battery capacity. The buttons are not intuitive to use but you can figure it out.

Member who purchased this lives in EU so ordered this unit for 240 volt operation:

This presented a lot of challenges in testing it in America with 120 volt. One I anticipated which was how to feed it 240. I purchased a transformer to step up our voltage to 240. What I didn't anticipate was how to load it up with 240. Turns out I didn't have to go that far. See the measurements below.

I should note the unit is rather light (relative to its size) which to me, indicated it might have switching power supplies...

This is a review and detailed measurements of the MekedeTech DUDU7 (also called DUDU-auto) Android Car Operating System head unit. I purchased the 9.5 inch version for US $499.

There is an explosion of these tablet like devices running Android OS with hardware that resembles what you get in a car stereo head unit. Prices start below $100 for very low-end offerings and go up to about $600. You likely have not heard of any of them but they are getting very popular among enthusiasts. With advent of Android Audio and Apple CarPlay, and elimination of CD drive and navigation, traditional head units from likes of Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. have become expensive, low resolution devices with little functionality. The Sony ES series I was looking at costs almost $1000.

You might think that projecting your phone in the phone on a dash unit using Android...