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Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

Veri

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Roen

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$19 to ship from Oakville to Toronto? Canada shipping sucks balls.
 

g29

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$19 to ship from Oakville to Toronto? Canada shipping sucks balls.

Shipping has gone up considerably in the USA (unless you are a huge vendor). My cynical take on the shipping rates is that the little guys are paying for the urber player's massive shipping discounts. Shipping costs are less from China to the USA or out-of-state Amazon than they are for an individual to ship across town or in-state. UPS wanted @ $30 to ship a pair of XLR cables. I don't want to know what shipping would be for a 150lbs amp would be at today's prices.
 

uzapuca

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Was this Canadian dealer for the machined Khadas case mentioned before? International shipping costs seem really high like Audiophonics, but maybe the Canadians here will find this beneficial.

https://corpshadow.biz/iot/khadas/ktonecase

The site is running extremely slow for me right now, but they are on the Khadas dealer list (https://www.khadas.com/distributors).

Is there any good and affordable Canadian 3D plastic printing website that you might recommend?
 

bornstron

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Guys, will there be interference in the signal if i put my khadas tone board on jds labs atom and connect them Ghent A01 Canare L-4E6S RCA cables?
I mean will there be interference at all even if i'm not using those cables? dac and amp on top of each other. i don't have experience and knowledge to know from which angle to even explain to myself, i seek help.
 

Grattle

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Cellphones, wi-fi, etc are everywhere. Best to put it in a case that provides EMI shielding.
 

Roen

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Guys, will there be interference in the signal if i put my khadas tone board on jds labs atom and connect them Ghent A01 Canare L-4E6S RCA cables?
I mean will there be interference at all even if i'm not using those cables? dac and amp on top of each other. i don't have experience and knowledge to know from which angle to even explain to myself, i seek help.
Don't worry too much about it unless you can hear the interference (slight hum / buzz)
 

Roen

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bornstron

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Me again...
I've been reading about RCA output being subpar to other connectors. Like it wont produce the desirable results. Half of the stuff I don't even understand what I read. Is it some sort of elitist talk or there is some truth to it?
 

Veri

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I've been reading about RCA output being subpar to other connectors. Like it wont produce the desirable results. Half of the stuff I don't even understand what I read. Is it some sort of elitist talk or there is some truth to it?

RCA is not the best connector but it is fine for consumer gear. For digital s/pdif for example it generally does not meet the 75ohm impedance that is intended for optimal signal transfer. For s/pdif BNC is the better standard. For analog audio XLR has great benefits in noise reduction due to common noise rejection.

But as was said, for consumer purposes and especially with short cable runs, there is really no problem using RCA connectors. Another annoyance is that cheaper cables lock/unlock quite stiffly and one could break the rca plug over time. I personally love Rean connectors for this purpose, they attach and detach in a silky smooth way :)
 

bornstron

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RCA is not the best connector but it is fine for consumer gear. For digital s/pdif for example it generally does not meet the 75ohm impedance that is intended for optimal signal transfer. For s/pdif BNC is the better standard. For analog audio XLR has great benefits in noise reduction due to common noise rejection.

But as was said, for consumer purposes and especially with short cable runs, there is really no problem using RCA connectors. Another annoyance is that cheaper cables lock/unlock quite stiffly and one could break the rca plug over time. I personally love Rean connectors for this purpose, they attach and detach in a silky smooth way :)

Man, thanks a bunch for this. Things are clearer now. :)
 

Tom51

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Guys i am layman in audio i have purchased the Khadas and Atom because of the good reviews, what settings do you use on Khadas?



USB Streaming Mode, what does that change? should i put in minimum latency? does it affect games?

What about the Asio Buffer Size?

What sample rate should i select? i am on 24bit 44100 but Khadas support to a maximum of 32bit 192000

And Is there any way to turn the Led Off? i searched on the program but i couldn't find it



Again sorry for the stupid questions :(
 

Roen

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Guys i am layman in audio i have purchased the Khadas and Atom because of the good reviews, what settings do you use on Khadas?



USB Streaming Mode, what does that change? should i put in minimum latency? does it affect games?

What about the Asio Buffer Size?

What sample rate should i select? i am on 24bit 44100 but Khadas support to a maximum of 32bit 192000

And Is there any way to turn the Led Off? i searched on the program but i couldn't find it



Again sorry for the stupid questions :(

Default should be fine.
 

zermak

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Guys i am layman in audio i have purchased the Khadas and Atom because of the good reviews, what settings do you use on Khadas?



USB Streaming Mode, what does that change? should i put in minimum latency? does it affect games?

What about the Asio Buffer Size?

What sample rate should i select? i am on 24bit 44100 but Khadas support to a maximum of 32bit 192000

And Is there any way to turn the Led Off? i searched on the program but i couldn't find it



Again sorry for the stupid questions :(
I am using mininum latency and having no problems in games nor with music.

I don't know how much that ASIO buffer setting matters and maybe it is used only when using its own ASIO driver (TUSBaudio). I have it at the minimum, 64 samples, and no problems so far with games and music.
WASAPI and ASIO4All have their own buffers settings so if you use any of them you can try to lower them as much as you can (and it depends on your goal); in my opinion it doesn't matter much if you are just going to listen to music (I personally use WASAPI exclusive for bitstreaming and indeed low latencies are not that important).

About the rate. If you are on Windows then all the audio passes through the Windows audio system (usually DS API unsless otherwise selected and probably WASAPI shared) and it will resample any audio source to the sample rate you choice in the advanced system audio settings. So if you are going to listen to 44.1kHz use 44.1kHz and 32bit (I am not sure but probably 16bit and 24bit audio files will be just padded into 32bit without any dithering) because it has been tested that Windows DS resamper is not that good (I don't remember the source, probably by archimag's blog).
If you are going to use ASIO or WASAPI exclusive then that setting doesn't matter because the audio stream will be passed directly to the DAC (a perfect bitstreaming) and it will do its own processing.

About the led I can't help, maybe unsolder it? I have the board in a printed case and it is hidden so it doesn't bother me :p
 
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bornstron

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@Tom51 I didn't even install the drivers. I have Khadas, I managed to assemble it (if you can call it like that) and I put it in the aluminum case (felt like true engineer).
At the moment I am in the process of building a case for my JDS labs atom and Khadas. I am working with tools first time in my life and its going on for hours....
So don't worry...when I get to the drivers your post will be helpful, a lot since I have no clue what are all those terms you used but I guess its gonna be a rollercoaster :D
 

Tom51

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I am using mininum latency and having no problems in games nor with music.

I don't know how much that ASIO buffer setting matters and maybe it is used only when using its own ASIO driver (TUSBaudio). I have it at the minimum, 64 samples, and no problems so far with games and music.
WASAPI and ASIO4All have their own buffers settings so if you use any of them you can try to lower them as much as you can (and it depends on your goal); in my opinion it doesn't matter much if you are just going to listen to music (I personally use WASAPI exclusive for bitstreaming and indeed low latencies are not that important).

About the rate. If you are on Windows then all the audio passes through the Windows audio system (usually DS API unsless otherwise selected and probably WASAPI shared) and it will resample any audio source to the sample rate you choice in the advanced system audio settings. So if you are going to listen to 44.1kHz use 44.1kHz and 32bit (I am not sure but probably 16bit and 24bit audio files will be just padded into 32bit without any dithering) because it has been tested that Windows DS resamper is not that good (I don't remember the source, probably by archimag's blog).
If you are going to use ASIO or WASAPI exclusive then that setting doesn't matter because the audio stream will be passed directly to the DAC (a perfect bitstreaming) and it will do its own processing.


About the led I can't help, maybe unsolder it? I have the board in a printed case and it is hidden so it doesn't bother me :p

Dammit i have no experience with soldering, maybe the solution is to get a case :)
The led on the Atom is so dim compared to how bright the led on the Khadas is

ASIO, WASAPI..Those words fly right over my head ahahahahahahaha!
i just installed the Khadas in the USB port on the back of my PC, put the RCA cables in it and on the Amp.. and then plugged in the headphones, on low gain.

So set it to 32 bits and 44100 on Windows, put the buffer and latency on the lowest possible.. if any problem occurs increase it a bit?

i had to install the Thesycon-Stereo-USB-Audio-Driver-V224 because i wasn't getting sound on my Windows 10 @brornstron , what case are you using?


A friend linked me this on Discord and said it improved his audio quality on Foobar2000,

anything else i can install or change on Windows and common programs to get the best audio out of them?

does firefox/youtube sound goes through the Thesycon-Stereo-USB-Audio-Driver-V224 i installed or will use WASAPI because of Windows?
 

bornstron

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@Tom51
I'm using Aluminum Case.

Btw what is Buffer Settings in Khadas options:
  • USB Streaming Mode (Safe atm)
  • Asio Buffer Size (2048 atm)

What to put there? Any insights about that?
I'm still doing my 2 story wooden case to separate Khadas and JDS Atom. My jigsaw blade clamp broke last night.
 
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