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Review and Measurements of E1DA 9038S BAL Portable DAC & Amp

uga

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Apr 16, 2020
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Jimbob54, it seems newer androids have stronger USB power, in fact(ok, as I know), no one modern android requires Y-splitter for 9038S work.

Has anyone tried how 9038S behaves (in terms of power drain) with Tempotec V1 ?
Considering V1's own power consumption is "very low", and assuming 9038S needs 90mA max, I would expect 9h maybe even 10h playtime.
But a test would be in order... :)
 

MalinYamato

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100.0% agree, normal engineering. Nothing special, just I made it as for myself, that's it. In most cases poor design could be explained not only ignorant "engineers" were involved but "economy" if not say greediness. I remember I was shocked when I saw the DAC+HPA with 100 pounds retail with nickel-plated 3,5mm jack! The difference vs gold-plated is a couple of cents, and in case 100mlns pcs/year it is worth to go but this is the same useless DAC like cobalt and other junk(my snapdragon855 based android has comparable power, and a lot better THD+N, SNR!), no way to sell more than 10000/year. So what is that, /year is economy? Some buddy asked me:
- why you care about the gold-plated PCB in your DACs if nobody can see that?
Ha-ha, I can see that, and it is enough ;)

PS: about MQA, it is lossy compressed format like mp3, aac, aptx and so on, I don't understand how marketing-guys did explain that it so nice and even "improves" original uncompressed tracks. I tend to think about that like about the mp3 rebranding, if finally, users pay for that, marketing won.
Are you Ivan, the guy behind 9030? In that case, what you say here implies no future MQA version of this stick -- a pity, but I understand your priorities. I have very little knowledge in EE and some discussions among you excellent engineers and contributors here are hard for me to follow. I see no data about how much power your stick draw but I assume it draws quite a lot. If thats the case I better connect the stick using a Y connector to a mobile battery, which is kinda messy n' bulky. Therefore, as a consumer it would be nice to have a battery charged unit that does not drain the phone such as my lovely HA-2SE connected with a USB cable where power lines are disabled (cables> CL06 and Shanling L2). Theoretically having those lines off, eliminates any possible noise/distortion caused by and transmitted by the power lines of the USB. I love my oppo and I haven't found a better more beautifully engineered and more convenient economical mobile audio solution so far. It sounds pretty fine, however, according to some reviewers, to Amirs measurements and opinion, there are better alternatives wrt SQ. Your stick is praised for its power and SQ and I would love an Oppo with your stuff init plus BT functionality. BT is not critical yet nice to have.
 
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MalinYamato

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I see -- a signal analyser. Is this an attempt to implement FFT in hardware to adjust the input according to the output spectrum or I am confused here? Is FFT fast enough? I work with numeral analysis and get gray hairs not getting things fast enough. Thank you for the info. I will carry on firing my questions on that thread, keeping this one On Topic.
 
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holicst

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May 29, 2020
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milan-prog, I made quite powerful DACs >500mW, for sensitive IEMs like yours they are useless. My DACs are inexpensive but anyway no reason to spend money for nothing, your IEM was designed to use with tiny powers. The high sensitivity of IEMs anyway sacrifices the sound quality, it is an unavoidable drawback. I recommend you to buy Meizu HiFi DAC for $20 and 30mW output, that DAC has a crazy performance/cost ratio, or simply stay with Android's 3.5mm jack. I measured my $300 Redmi K20 Pro 3.5mm jack output and there is very close power and THD as Meizu HiFi DAC does i.e. 50 times lower distortions than DF Cobalt DAC $300(or 10x times less vs Soundkey DAC for $100) as an example. In many cases, a modern Android's 3.5mm jack output is better than external DACs, and the different engineering level makes there a difference. Go to buy my DACs when you'll have decent open-back HP, better if planars, in that case, I guaranty the new audio-reality to you ;)
May I ask if this will be true for the upcoming single ended version too, or will it be suitable for sensitive IEMs?
 

staticV3

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May I ask if this will be true for the upcoming single ended version too, or will it be suitable for sensitive IEMs?
the 9038D will probably have the same noise floor as the S G3. I start to notice it with the 107dB/mw, 17 Ohm Se215. Most of my other IEMs are silent. You could probably mitigate that with the ifi IEMatch, but there are some reports about sonic changes, so it's not a perfect solution.
If you're sensitive to hiss and your favorite IEMs are really sensitive, then E1DA doesn't have a good product for you (yet).
 

holicst

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the 9038D will probably have the same noise floor as the S G3. I start to notice it with the 107dB/mw, 17 Ohm Se215. Most of my other IEMs are silent. You could probably mitigate that with the ifi IEMatch, but there are some reports about sonic changes, so it's not a perfect solution.
If you're sensitive to hiss and your favorite IEMs are really sensitive, then E1DA doesn't have a good product for you (yet).
Thanks you for the explanation.
 
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3.5mm? Count me in as unit ordered please
 

Cat Music

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If the future version 3.5 of the e1da gen3 is just as powerful, then I will want it
 

Benaudio

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Hi All,
Just registered, I have received my Ten 3 9038S, working on my android phone with the included cable, but unusable on my 2020 MacBook Pro with the same cable and others that I have tried: stutters horribly, 1 cut off each second or 2.
Anyone else having this issue? Faulty unit?
On my android (Samsung S10 and UAPP, I have a short cut off sometimes after 2 minutes...
Have tried also usb c to a cable and apple dongle back to usb c without success
Working great on my work windows laptop (HP)
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

Benaudio

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Jul 7, 2020
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Is the 9038s protocol usb2.0 or usb3? Ive been reading that some usb 2.0 have issues with macbook pros equipped with T2 chips
 

Benaudio

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Thanks for taking the time to check and come back to answer.
That's just great. The latest piece of tech, not cheap From Apple and you get this.

Hope they so something about it

So on your side there is nothing to do?
 
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