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FX Audio DAC-SQ3 Review

Carlo2AC

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This is definetly not the budget killer i was expecting, hard to be surprised after Khadas a couple years ago released that DAC than you can get for less than 80 U$ .. even with the hump.
 

Lambda

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Maybe because your source may not have a remote control?
Your Source can only be a device with USB out... ie. a computer of some sort. they normally have the ability to control volume and be remote controlled

You have the choice of literally hundreds of models of DACs that offer Toslink and SPDIF inputs,
With similar or better performance under 100$?

Amirm - It would be really interesting if you could measure the digital output on the device with the volume set to:

1.= 0 db ( max )
2.= -30 dB
@amirm
I'm also interested in its "wide open" performance.
For DACs in general i would like to know if they perform the best at 0dB or if not at what Volume they perform the best.
If they have Digital volume control it would be interesting to know if lowering the volume at the DAC gives the same performance as lowering it at the source.
 
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Carlo2AC

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It has a case and a remote... for 86$. What did you actually expect?
if the case adds nothing and i don't need the remote i expect better measurements, i know you pay for convinience but i look for measurements first then the rest later friend.
 
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sarumbear

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if the case adds nothing and i don't need the remote i expect better measurements, i know you pay for convienence but i look for measurements first then the rest later friend.
And you are not happy with these measurements from a sub $100 device?
 

ceausuc

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if the case adds nothing and i don't need the remote i expect better measurements, i know you pay for convienence but i look for measurements first then the rest later friend.

I understand... but it is easier to add convenience than performance :)
And no matter how we look at this one, it is a very good mix of performance and convenience. Most people appreciate that.
 

PeteL

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Your Source can only be a device with USB out... ie. a computer of some sort. they normally have the ability to control volume and be remote controlled


With similar or better performance under 100$?
I think what I meant to say is that USB cables have limited lenghth. If you have a USB source, a computing device, playing something, you don't have to physically have it in your hand to turn up the volume. Not all DACS are used at desktop. "can be remotely controlled" Yes, not for free, not for all use cases.
Also, considering this, many DSP units don't have USB in, AV receiver with room correction don't have USB in.. It allow to plug a computer to it. You don't need that, it's OK, some do. But then a spdif receiver do add cost, so what you are really asking is to have these input for free. SPDIF output when you already have a digital audio chip is of much lower cost if any.
 
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HifMAn

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Chinese manufacturers send you devices with original parts. They are interested in making everything sound and be measured as it should. This is an investment in advertising. What a pity that we, ordinary buyers, are already buying cheaper versions of these devices with fake capacitors and simplified circuits.
 

PeteL

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Chinese manufacturers send you devices with original parts. They are interested in making everything sound and be measured as it should. This is an investment in advertising. What a pity that we, ordinary buyers, are already buying cheaper versions of these devices with fake capacitors and simplified circuits.
Can you point a cheaper version of this device that are known to use fake capacitor and simplfied circuit? Wait what is a fake capacitor? You mean falsified branding? Do you have exemples of these you are talking about?
 

phoenixsong

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And you are not happy with these measurements from a sub $100 device?
Dongles costing less perform better, and stretching a little more can get you both better connectivity/functionality and performance (see Topping DX3Pro+ and Motu M2), so there is actually value in their opinion
 

sarumbear

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Chinese manufacturers send you devices with original parts. They are interested in making everything sound and be measured as it should. This is an investment in advertising. What a pity that we, ordinary buyers, are already buying cheaper versions of these devices with fake capacitors and simplified circuits.
What do you mean?
 

Lambda

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Since the manufacturing is so decentralized in china its only a matter of time time till there will be a "cost optimized" re version of the product.
For example know for Component vendors that the have different prices for seemingly the same product depending in this use case.

If you specify 0.5% tolerance resistor for a LED the first units will be build to spec with exact resistor. but if the quantity is high enough someone will notice this and swap it for a normal cheap 5% tolerance resistor that looks the same.

It might not be the Manufacture himself making this "optimization" often its the component vendor "helping you" chose a functionally Equivalent
but cheaper part for your design.
 

Eggs Ackley

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Chinese manufacturers send you devices with original parts. They are interested in making everything sound and be measured as it should. This is an investment in advertising. What a pity that we, ordinary buyers, are already buying cheaper versions of these devices with fake capacitors and simplified circuits.
That's quite an accusation. Do you have facts to back that up?
 
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PeteL

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Since the manufacturing is so decentralized in china its only a matter of time time till there will be a "cost optimized" re version of the product.
For example know for Component vendors that the have different prices for seemingly the same product depending in this use case.

If you specify 0.5% tolerance resistor for a LED the first units will be build to spec with exact resistor. but if the quantity is high enough someone will notice this and swap it for a normal cheap 5% tolerance resistor that looks the same.

It might not be the Manufacture himself making this "optimization" often its the component vendor "helping you" chose a functionally Equivalent
but cheaper part for your design
Cost optimisation is already a process taking place in every companies, not only china ones and don't worry, in a low cost product like that, everywhere they could save one Yuan. They already did. Now, what you are refering to is not that, it's fraudulent. In the end, all the tolerence that they internally choose don't matter much, what matters is does what they sell match the specifications they advertise. If one accuse them of doing this must be able to back it up. "Only a matter of time". Well it's presomptuous. If the compagny itself don't notice, means that their Quality Control is not good, and the compagny will suffer from this. Some compagnies in China may do, but generalizing is wrong. Most compagnies that send products here, value their brand, are thinking long term and understand that fooling their customer can only hurt them in the long run.
 

renaudrenaud

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Hello, does anybody know if a pi could power one of these OR if one of those Y usb cables (power/data) would work?
If yes, this could be the "ultimate hat", for just a little bit more than a regular audio hat....
Don't know for this one but used to power with Raspberry Pi and Orange Pi some D10Balanced or Topping D30. No problems and drivers are the in the kernel.
 

Tks

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Wait, it takes the USB-IN and has the ability to pipe that data out from both the COAX and OPTICAL ports? That’s pretty cool. Can that be tested? See if the conversion is botched anywhere (it’s not a real conversion I know since it’s all digital, but if it were that simple, jitter wouldn’t always be varied between USB and SPDIF connections on DACs)
 

Ismapics

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Hello Fellow ASR Members: this is a sincere question. Why would any person need to listen to music of any sampling rate over say 44.1K or maybe 48K. Sure you may claim a different sound, but would that be rather a different master -which would sound different- or a "remaster". While us as adults lose spectrum (presbycusis) every year of life with rare adults hearing past 19-20K. Again why would anyone want a 384K file.
 

nyxnyxnyx

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This is definetly not the budget killer i was expecting, hard to be surprised after Khadas a couple years ago released that DAC than you can get for less than 80 U$ .. even with the hump.
Khadas is just a board
It performs better but hey, for $20 more you get an enclosure, a remote, more ports and still-excellent performance.
It might not truly be the budget *killer*, but in this price range I don't think ANYTHING can kill the rest anymore, simply because we have just too many competent DACs now.
 

PeteL

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Wait, it takes the USB-IN and has the ability to pipe that data out from both the COAX and OPTICAL ports? That’s pretty cool. Can that be tested? See if the conversion is botched anywhere (it’s not a real conversion I know since it’s all digital, but if it were that simple, jitter wouldn’t always be varied between USB and SPDIF connections on DACs)
I agree it should be tested, but just to note, when jitter test is performed here for different inputs, what we are measuring is not jitter, we are measuring the ability of the different interfaces to reject induced jitter from the digital source. Checking the intrinsic jitter would be complicated, because it would always be an addition of the intrinsinc and the one induced in the transport, the cable used. and then the measurment system, if you want to know, would have to not reject any jitter and that never happens in real life. Sure tough for comparison, it's interesting but I would take the obtained value itself with a grain of salt. Itself it's of no great value, until you compare to other digital outputs.
 
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