SONCOZ SGD1 Audio DAC Review

[Sophia Ann]

I left a similar post like this at Amir's review of QXD1 so forgive me for cloning it but...

Is there a Brian who lives in York, Ontario, Canada who recently bought a silver QXD1? I think your DAC just arrived at my door and mine, a black one, will arrive at yours this Friday.

Please send me a PM so we can sort this out without having to send the DACs back to Ann.

Thanks so much for your help. There are always unexpected things in life. The courier in Canada who was responsible for delivering the items mixed them. Sorry for the trouble.

 

[jtwrace]

Sorry for late reply. I have replied you.

I replied again too

 

[giordy]

I don't know if the topic has been covered.....
How does SGD1 behave with the dsd 256/512 signals?
Are internal filters bypassed ?
is the internal modulator baypassed?
in short, can it be a dac nos?
or does the chip not allow all this?
thank you.

 

[slowpork]

hello,
which interface is the best to feed this unit among AES, USB, Coaxial, Optical?

 

[Veri]

hello,
which interface is the best to feed this unit among AES, USB, Coaxial, Optical?

Due to the excellent design, it really doesn't matter.

 

[nspp]

hello,
which interface is the best to feed this unit among AES, USB, Coaxial, Optical?

This device is working really great with all inputs even BT.
So the question you should ask yourself is which one is the most convenient for me !
This is part of the design to be a ready to go device from almost any sources..
For my usage, i use usb C from small devices (Rpi), USB from dedicated nuc and coax from a cd transport. But if you want to use fancy interface you can even use AES.

 

[pauldavidthomas]

Well, I've ordered my from Keith at Purité Audio Ltd. He was very prompt and polite in replying at some ungodly hour of the evening and it should arrive with me in the New Forest tomorrow via UPS, he's forwarded me the tracking details.

 

[slowpork]

Due to the excellent design, it really doesn't matter.

Yes I'd love to agree, but if those interfaces are created using different standard, how can it be same?

Eg.

Audio Engineer Society (AES3) has higher voltage eg. to 7v peak, using 110 ohm twisted pair, and about handling jitter
http://www.jitter.de/pdfextern/jitter92.pdf
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/12142221-jitter-and-its-effects

Sony/Phillips Digital Interface (SPDIF) has lower voltage , 75 ohm coaxial cable , and Optical has to be converted from light to electric signal.

AES vs SPDIF hearing test

 

[Veri]

Yes I'd love to agree, but if those interfaces are created using different standard, how can it be same?

Erm, these standards are all just a means to transfer the digital data. The SGD extracts and reclocks this digital data, if you think it takes it in 1=1 fashion as in clean in clean out // garbage in garbage out, no. Even a "noisy" or impedance mismatched input can be locked on and cleaned up.
See here for proof: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...oncoz-sgd1-audio-dac-review.10295/post-282841 squeaky clean.

AES vs SPDIF hearing test

For the love of god, no youtube recordings to prove a point please. This stuff is ridiculous.

 

[pauldavidthomas]

Before I can give my full feedback, can someone point me in the correct direction to update the firmware on a SGD1 I have just received.

I suppose the first question would be, which of the three EspTouch utilities does I download ? Perhaps an icon that matches the icon of the app I am supposed to download ?

I'm a Mac user with an iPhone.

A detailed firmware upgrade process, with pictures ?

I followed ( #724 )

What I did do was ignore any apps. Then change one of my WiFi routers to have a name of ANIG and a password of 12345678.

Turn off, turn on. Lights stayed on, then after a while the system rebooted. I have no idea if it downloaded anything and if it did, what it downloaded or if it worked.

I think this area needs to be updated to make it clearer and replicated on the companies web site. I can see ( http://www.soncoz.com/uploads/1/2/7/2/127246176/sgd1-sgd1-upgrade-0423.pdf ) but this does not make any real sense to me and I say that as a ex-programmer.

 

[Ben1987]

Our latest update is May 28th. If you bought SGD1 after this date, you don't need to update the firmware. The units we ship are the latest firmware.

 

[bmacdona72]

Amazon Seller youyeetoo tech sent me the SGD1 unit in the following condition as per the photos - the unit looks fairly beat up. As I've seen Soncoz reps Ben and Ann, I thought you should know. Any suggestions aside from returning and trying them again? Thank you!

 

[Ben1987]

As I've seen Soncoz reps Ben and Ann, I thought you should know. Any suggestions aside from returning and trying them again? Thank you!

You need to tear off the outer protective film.

 

[EMMA]

Amazon Seller youyeetoo tech sent me the SGD1 unit in the following condition as per the photos - the unit looks fairly beat up. As I've seen Soncoz reps Ben and Ann, I thought you should know. Any suggestions aside from returning and trying them again? Thank you!View attachment 71549View attachment 71550

The protective film on the front can be torn off and the traces on the back can be easily wiped off.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

Definitely true... and I suppose if you only listen to albums rated "very good" on the @maty scale... the level might hit there fairly regularly. Nothing I listen to has much DR at all... so the only time the level is -20dB or more is during intros and outros. (Yes that's a bit of an exaggeration... but closer than not actually). Removed for clarity - @pos and @LTig are correct.

All the good stuff isn't heard until it's "turned to eleven" anyway. LOL!

Eat this! My amp goes to 40!

 

[DapperDanMan]

Forgive me if this topic has been covered already: I purchased my SGD1 today, but almost did not because of the IMD issue highlighted in the review. Thankfully I happened across a reddit thread indicating that the issue has been resolved in subsequent batches of the device and linking back to a different thread on this forum. It seems like it would be worth adding a disclaimer to the original post indicating that a fix has been made, even if it hasn't been thoroughly tested by @amirm , it would have saved me a bit of hand-wringing over making a purchase

 

[jtwrace]

Agreed

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-hump-on-sgd1-and-la-qxd1.10502/#post-289953

 

[Ben1987]

I should have said this a little bit earlier, but now the hump problem is solved.

 

[amirm]

It seems like it would be worth adding a disclaimer to the original post indicating that a fix has been made, even if it hasn't been thoroughly tested by @amirm , it would have saved me a bit of hand-wringing over making a purchase

Good suggestion. Just added a note to it.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Great news, this DAC will now become my present to myself at my upcoming 60th birthday!!