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Soncoz LA-QXD1 Balanced DAC Review

theoblue80

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Is it my impression that a significant amount of these devices are proven defective?
 

Jimbob54

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Is it my impression that a significant amount of these devices are proven defective?

There is always a danger that the ones you hear about the most are the ones with faults- but I would say there does seem to be a bit of chatter to that effect. I think the omission of a charging plug is perhaps causing more issues than envisaged , as is driver/ firmware . The DoA ones are concerning
 

Mr. BubbaHyde

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There is always a danger that the ones you hear about the most are the ones with faults- but I would say there does seem to be a bit of chatter to that effect. I think the omission of a charging plug is perhaps causing more issues than envisaged , as is driver/ firmware . The DoA ones are concerning
1st time in all honesty that I received a defective out of the box product, at least that I can remember. Ben did answer me basically send it back to Amazon, so I'm not sure how to feel about that overall. For the record I was using the spot on spec power that was requested for the unit.

Hoping the new one is good to go, will be here tomorrow.
 

Mr. BubbaHyde

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Happy to report I now have a working Soncoz in my possession. Although I must admit I was really scared at first, after I plugged it in there was nothing!! took a minute or so for the lights to come on, I was terrified I got another DOA.

Time for some listening... Thanks all!
 

Jimbob54

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Happy to report I now have a working Soncoz in my possession. Although I must admit I was really scared at first, after I plugged it in there was nothing!! took a minute or so for the lights to come on, I was terrified I got another DOA.

Time for some listening... Thanks all!
Good result!
 

Sherwood

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Sorry to report, I have another temperamental unit. I'm powering it from a 5v-2a phone charger. I managed to get the driver and dfu before booting the unit up, despite their site being down as of my writing this, but I'm still seeing poor performance.

I did get it to recognize high bitrate PCM and DSD, but no matter the source material it restarts every ~30 seconds and defaults to lowest volume. Flashing the "full volume" firmware helped with the volume issue, but did not address the frequent dropouts and restarts.

Is the 2A supply to blame for this?
 

Jimbob54

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Sorry to report, I have another temperamental unit. I'm powering it from a 5v-2a phone charger. I managed to get the driver and dfu before booting the unit up, despite their site being down as of my writing this, but I'm still seeing poor performance.

I did get it to recognize high bitrate PCM and DSD, but no matter the source material it restarts every ~30 seconds and defaults to lowest volume. Flashing the "full volume" firmware helped with the volume issue, but did not address the frequent dropouts and restarts.

Is the 2A supply to blame for this?

I would definitely try a different cable and charger plug!
 

Mr. BubbaHyde

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Well, bad news...

After thinking I had a perfectly functioning unit, sadly I do not. I figured I'd give it a day or so to see if it settled down. If you read my prior post it said I was a little scared when at first it wouldn't power on, but then it did.

After 2 days I am going to return the unit, I'm sorry but this is just not ready for prime time yet. I have over the last day or so lost count of how many times it just briefly glitches out power wise, just enough to stop Audirvana, and cause you to have to get up and restore the volume to its level before it glitched.

I will say I love the look and form, and I did enjoy the sound of it. I have never had a unit that just does what it wants when it wants, lol
I know people who leave their DAC's on 24/7 this is not one of those.

So Sherwood FYI, I was told and I think Ben said somewhere in here Amps didn't matter but Volts were critical. Feel free to go out and buy 10 different, "Phone" charging blocks I don't think it's going to help. It might be a problem with the USB C port, tell me it didn't feel different when plugging in the cable, because both of mine felt odd.

Sorry but in my eyes, it seems silly for a DAC at this price point to not include a sufficient power supply of its own.

Sorry Soncoz, but I will try you again somewhere in time.
 

Sherwood

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I would definitely try a different cable and charger plug!

I tried my only other USB A to C cable and a few other power warts, same story with every combination.
I love the price point and the pedigree, but it seems like this unit is not behaving properly.
 

Jimbob54

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I tried my only other USB A to C cable and a few other power warts, same story with every combination.
I love the price point and the pedigree, but it seems like this unit is not behaving properly.
Can't argue with that.
 

FreaK

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I had a problem with this DAC today. In the middle of a YT video, the sound went missing. I checked everything (amp, windows, cables etc) , then i pulled the power cable from the DAC than put it back, that solved the issue. I remember i had something like this once before.

Any suggestions how to avoid that? I'm running the first FW that maxed the output level, and i'm powering the DAC with a old phone charger.
 

MechEngVic

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I had a problem with this DAC today. In the middle of a YT video, the sound went missing. I checked everything (amp, windows, cables etc) , then i pulled the power cable from the DAC than put it back, that solved the issue. I remember i had something like this once before.

Any suggestions how to avoid that? I'm running the first FW that maxed the output level, and i'm powering the DAC with a old phone charger.
It hasn't happened to me and I have two of them. Since you mention an old phone charger, make sure it has more than 1 amp output. If it's less, it might cut out during demanding passages.
 

jtwrace

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1st time in all honesty that I received a defective out of the box product, at least that I can remember. Ben did answer me basically send it back to Amazon, so I'm not sure how to feel about that overall. For the record I was using the spot on spec power that was requested for the unit.

Hoping the new one is good to go, will be here tomorrow.
I had a defective unit too...just get the Topping D90 and all issues will be solved.
 

porotikos

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right now i wonder what percentage of people had issues. mine is perfect. i love it and it puzzles me reading such problems. i hope i wont face them in the future. but right now it is working 24/7, perfectly

edit.
what kind of problems did people face? could it perhaps be to using bad power adapter? (more volts thna the appropriate?)
i am obviously not related to soncoz, i am not trying to defend them or anything, i do myself want to see it there are possible issues and if there is a pattern to the problems. as a laqxd owner myself, i feel worried reading about issues
 

Mr. BubbaHyde

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right now i wonder what percentage of people had issues. mine is perfect. i love it and it puzzles me reading such problems. i hope i wont face them in the future. but right now it is working 24/7, perfectly

edit.
what kind of problems did people face? could it perhaps be to using bad power adapter? (more volts thna the appropriate?)
i am obviously not related to soncoz, i am not trying to defend them or anything, i do myself want to see it there are possible issues and if there is a pattern to the problems. as a laqxd owner myself, i feel worried reading about issues

The only thing I can say is I honestly believe looking back on it, That the issue was power as Ben said to me. But power in the sense that I think there might be a bad lot out there in terms of the USB C port. To me (I had two units) both ports did not feel right to me, not one bit.
I have had plenty of USB C devices and never felt anything like that. I best the best way I can describe it is after the second failure I decided to just get a Khadas Tone board for that DAC situation. I'm sure we are all familiar with the ties there.

The Tone board has worked for me with Zero issues, sound quality is the same as what I heard from the Soncoz. The USB C port on that board plugs in solid with no play. I did not have that on the Soncoz.

Although I must admit as a newcomer to the forum I didn't wanna step on any toes, but I can't understand why Ben hasn't chimed in here with any info.

Again Happy for all those without issues!
 

porotikos

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i can only talk about my soncoz. my usb port was a snug fit which i liked very much. no wobbling or whatever. i used the correct power adapter from start (i remember people using 12v adapters!!!) and everything works fine (to my knowledge).
So, if you had wobbly usb port, there must be some manufacturing issue? perhaps a bad batch? i also do hope ben shows up and talks a bit about issues. (if any). We do love honesty, and manufacturing errors can happen to any company no matter how good or bad. it is the wrespect you show your customers that matters (at least in my eyes).
Bottomline for me is that i love both my laqxd1 and toneboard. will never part with them. But i am concerned about issues mentioned. and would definitely like to know if there is some issue here, that is being taken care off
 

Purité Audio

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One failure out of what 40-50 units sold so far, I have experienced much higher rates with other far more expensive products.
Anne ( Soncoz) suggested using a ‘power bank’ for the QX, that works without issue here.
Keith
 

porotikos

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well these kind of statistics is what people need to hear. A word from ben about the subject would also be comforting as well. i understand that people tend to talk about problems more, and thats why we customers would love to have a better view on the subject. thank you for your input
 

FreaK

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It hasn't happened to me and I have two of them. Since you mention an old phone charger, make sure it has more than 1 amp output. If it's less, it might cut out during demanding passages.

The phone charger has 5v/2A output, Ben said its totally ok. It happened again, this time pulling the power cable out didn't helped at the first try, i did twice, and also the data cable. I'm afraid this unit will die soon...
 

Insanity

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How do I go about getting help troubleshooting my unit? My left channel spontaneously died (no output out of Left RCA or Left XLR, Right RCA & XLR still work. Was working fine before; restarted LA-QXD1 and PC, no go. Using an Aukey 5V 2.4A charger (dual port, but only the unit is plugged into it), USB C Cable that was supplied with the unit. I tried sending an email to [email protected] earlier this week, no response. Is that the same as @Sophia Ann ?

I purchased this more than 30 days ago. I do NOT want to deal with the person I bought it on Amazon(.com); I am in Canada, was not available in Canada directly and they charged me for customs and brokerage, and that I was forced to pay again from the shipper and they just refused to answer me or refund me.
 
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