Tempotec Sonata HD Pro Review (headphone Adapter)

[norcalscott]

@Axel Foley yeah, these little gadgets are great until you run into an issue with them. I try to purchase these kinds of things form Amazon and even though it costs a few dollars more than buying direct, it is easier to handle returns. Sounds like you got a defective unit, I hope they will replace it for you quickly. It will be worth the effort if you can get a good one - this is one of the best values out there for DAC/Amp dongles in my opinion.

 

[L5730]

Sorry, nothing useful to add just . . .
Oops. I just popped the back off of mine!

I had it blu-tack'd to the top of the PC tower case. I wanted to move it, and the blu tack was rather strong and pulled the back plate off.
It seems they used the tiniest bit of glue on 6 points, the corners and two long sides. It was perfectly adequate as the backplate is flush with the casing and wouldn't have likely came off without a strong pull from something on the plate.

Anyway, I popped the backplate back into place, plugged in headphones and USB and it still works, even after taking a little tumble to the floor.

 

[Axel Foley]

Guys I have grown absolutely fed up with Tempotec. We have been messaging back and forth for days now. They asked me a video and I recorded it for them. Then they suggested I should update the firmware and I followed every step in the help document and that also didn't yield any results Now they say it's the ASIO driver that needs to be installed to Windows and I had already tried that way before I messaged them initially. It seems these guys are hellbent on not accepting and admitting that this device that they sent me may be defective. I told them I have run out of patience and that I already tried everything they suggested and that I either want a refund or a new HD Pro. I already suggested this earlier but they ignored it and kept asking me other stuff to try. This has tired me out and frankly soured me on my experience with this company and their device.

 

[Matias]

Guys I have grown absolutely fed up with Tempotec. We have been messaging back and forth for days now. They asked me a video and I recorded it for them. Then they suggested I should update the firmware and I followed every step in the help document and that also didn't yield any results Now they say it's the ASIO driver that needs to be installed to Windows and I had already tried that way before I messaged them initially. It seems these guys are hellbent on not accepting and admitting that this device that they sent me may be defective. I told them I have run out of patience and that I already tried everything they suggested and that I either want a refund or a new HD Pro. I already suggested this earlier but they ignored it and kept asking me other stuff to try. This has tired me out and frankly soured me on my experience with this company and their device.

Did you try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers? Worked for me when I got the E44.

 

[Torus]

I've been using these with the firmware it came with for more than a year now(3.0). I see on their website that they have a new firmware for Sonata HD&Sonata HD PRO&Sonata BHD USB2.0 Audio Driver v.3.3.136.1. I downloaded it. One of the setup programs installs the SONATA-HD Audio CPL. I then clicked on the other folder inside the driver files called WindowsInstaller3.1, something like that. I clicked on it, but it said "Not enough memory resources are available to process this command". Has anyone else gotten it? I don't know what could be the problem, so I wouldn't know the solution to it. Is it recommended to pull the drivers from the Hidizs S8 instead?

 

[Axel Foley]

Did you try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers? Worked for me when I got the E44.

I don't know if you read my previous posts but nothing I tried worked. I can't uninstall or reinstall anything if the pc doesn't even detect the device.

 

[Zek]

I can't uninstall or reinstall anything if the pc doesn't even detect the device.

Uninstalling and reinstalling drivers has nothing with device connected.

 

[Axel Foley]

What drivers are you talking about then?

This one?

http://www.tempotec.com.cn/download/SONATA_HD_DRIVER.zip

 

[raistlin65]

Did anyone happen to figure out the gain difference between low and high gain on the Sonata HD Pro/HIDISZ S8?

 

[Axel Foley]

Tempotec wants me to return the product to them, they say they will refund the shipping costs. They asked me what the shipping costs were, I told them it was 11 euros, then two messages later when they ask me again to return the product they say 'declare the value is 9 dollars'. Sigh, communication is troublesome. I also asked them several times if they couldn't just send me another HD Pro without me returning the broken product to save all the hassle. They completely ignored it both times I brought it up and commented on other parts of my message.

So now they want me to ship it back to them, then they say they will refund the shipping costs and send me a new dac. What is the recommended procedure for this, should I open a 'Dispute' on Aliexpress or not?

 

[Torus]

Tempotec wants me to return the product to them, they say they will refund the shipping costs. They asked me what the shipping costs were, I told them it was 11 euros, then two messages later when they ask me again to return the product they say 'declare the value is 9 dollars'. Sigh, communication is troublesome. I also asked them several times if they couldn't just send me another HD Pro without me returning the broken product to save all the hassle. They completely ignored it both times I brought it up and commented on other parts of my message.

Yeah, they don't speak English very well. I sent a chat message to them asking about how to update the firmware of my Sonata HD Pro from 3.0 to 3.3.136.1 and explained my problem I mentioned above, and they took a week to get back to me and all the lady said was
"can your product working ?
why do you need to update the firmware ?"

I responded back 3 days ago, but yeah, it is kind of frustrating.

 

[Saidera]

Ah! This is why great products like SHDP must be released by major players like Meizu (yes but Hifi dongle ain't the same quality), Xiaomi (retracted), Huawei (nothing new since CS43130), I've said it heaps of times. These big players can easily sell dongles globally. No need to deal with small businesses in China. But unfortunately it's cheaper to get it direct despite the hassle and the risk of defective products.

 

[ZolaIII]

Ah! This is why great products like SHDP must be released by major players like Meizu (yes but Hifi dongle ain't the same quality), Xiaomi (retracted), Huawei (nothing new since CS43130), I've said it heaps of times. These big players can easily sell dongles globally. No need to deal with small businesses in China. But unfortunately it's cheaper to get it direct despite the hassle and the risk of defective products.

You mean bunch of dongles which are discontinued and you didn't had any support and when they were not. From those only Huawei had a real distribution network, Meitu is supposedly "making" one, really is it never had support for any of their products just community and Meizu which never ever had one and almost disappeared completely because QC dispute. Yes this is a small business that's why they are OEM manufacturers. Ali is a sponsored (you pay for kiosk rating) platform and settle disputes in the buyer's behalf even when they aren't right. It does it (re founds) as a platform from their own money and degrade kiosk search rating. I had a small seller's literally beginning me not to do it. They will (seller's) literally all offer you a PayPal refund immediately just not to begin the Ali dispute process. Any half deacent manufacturer has obligation to demand return of product that doesn't work properly in order to examine it and resolve similar issues in the future. Regarding me TempoTec has a clean record regarding suport and drivers which cannot be said for Meizu or TempoTec main client so far Hidizs.

 

[Axel Foley]

You mean bunch of dongles which are discontinued and you didn't had any support and when they were not. From those only Huawei had a real distribution network, Meitu is supposedly "making" one, really is it never had support for any of their products just community and Meizu which never ever had one and almost disappeared completely because QC dispute. Yes this is a small business that's why they are OEM manufacturers. Ali is a sponsored (you pay for kiosk rating) platform and settle disputes in the buyer's behalf even when they aren't right. It does it (re founds) as a platform from their own money and degrade kiosk search rating. I had a small seller's literally beginning me not to do it. They will (seller's) literally all offer you a PayPal refund immediately just not to begin the Ali dispute process. Any half deacent manufacturer has obligation to demand return of product that doesn't work properly in order to examine it and resolve similar issues in the future. Regarding me TempoTec has a clean record regarding suport and drivers which cannot be said for Meizu or TempoTec main client so far Hidizs.

Do you recommend me to open a dispute in my case? They ask me to return the product and that they will re-send the product. They also offered me to pay for the shipping costs but I told them I had no Pay-Pal and I haven't got a reply yet. Does opening a dispute make the seller take the customer and the case more seriously or something?

 

[ZolaIII]

Do you recommend me to open a dispute in my case? They ask me to return the product and that they will re-send the product. They also offered me to pay for the shipping costs but I told them I had no Pay-Pal and I haven't got a reply yet. Does opening a dispute make the seller take the customer more seriously or something?

PayPal is a problem or better say lack of it and that they probably don't have other way of sending you money. I won't tell you what to do! When you open dispute the Ali (after having insight into your conversation) will transfer the money back to your account (as it usually goes) and degrade the store when you search something (not really a big problem in case of TempoTec).

 

[Rottmannash]

Guys I have grown absolutely fed up with Tempotec. We have been messaging back and forth for days now. They asked me a video and I recorded it for them. Then they suggested I should update the firmware and I followed every step in the help document and that also didn't yield any results Now they say it's the ASIO driver that needs to be installed to Windows and I had already tried that way before I messaged them initially. It seems these guys are hellbent on not accepting and admitting that this device that they sent me may be defective. I told them I have run out of patience and that I already tried everything they suggested and that I either want a refund or a new HD Pro. I already suggested this earlier but they ignored it and kept asking me other stuff to try. This has tired me out and frankly soured me on my experience with this company and their device.

Sorry you're having trouble. I have the 9038D and it works flawlessly- around $100.

 

[Axel Foley]

PayPal is a problem or better say lack of it and that they probably don't have other way of sending you money. I won't tell you what to do! When you open dispute the Ali (after having insight into your conversation) will transfer the money back to your account (as it usually goes) and degrade the store when you search something (not really a big problem in case of TempoTec).

Yeah I am just wondering if there are any benefits/pros to open a dispute in my favor. Tempotec wants to handle this issue, but because I have no experience with Aliexpress I was wondering whether people always opened a dispute whenever they encountered a trouble no matter what so that the site could follow the procedure through it's course. I don't think I can open a dispute if my case gets dragged out a few more weeks right? So I would have nothing to fall back to, I hope I'm getting my point across here.

 

[ZolaIII]

Yeah I am just wondering if there are any benefits/pros to open a dispute in my favor. Tempotec wants to handle this issue, but because I have no experience with Aliexpress I was wondering whether people always opened a dispute whenever they encountered a trouble no matter what so that the site could follow the procedure through it's course. I don't think I can open a dispute if my case gets dragged out a few more weeks right? So I would have nothing to fall back to, I hope I'm getting my point across here.

Don't really remember how much time they give you to open a dispute but it whose plenty. Well if you can not settle it up other way then you open a dispute. I had a lazy guy for some gloves (KTM/MTB) so after 5 months not getting them and him not answering I opened dispute. Got money back from Ali and the guy whose very depressed about it. I whose sory about it. Two months later they arrived and I paid him ordering them again with a explanation message. Other time I ordered some IEM's, neckband and accessories. All bat carry case arrived, the guy whose plesent and did know English so communication whose OK. Turned out airport security scanned empty box and thought it whose suspicious as they couldn't find anything inside the box so they sent it back. He tried to sell me additional cable for IEM's telling me how it's great and how he used it with his Blons showing it to me. I said no thanks and showed him my short LRX AKG one's explaining how I don't like stif ones. Anyway he put some foam ear tips in the box and send it again.
Worst case with TempoTec is that it could be hard for them to actually pay you for shipping back if they don't have way, they will offer you something else for the price, store credit or discount or something like that and of course it takes time.

 

[poppy]

Holy $hit this works with my Sony Android TV (x90j). I use powered speakers and I can either plug straight into TV's 3.5mm (doesn't sound great), or use my optical DAC (sounds great but need to use separate remote).

I tried this via USB on a whim and plugged in my powered speakers in the 3.5mm and it works. Noticeably better sounding that the TV's jack. Will have to test more and buy a second unit for my TV.

 

[L5730]

I just thought I'd give it a quick test with an Amazon Fire 7 2019. I've installed foobar2000 on it and it sounds pretty decent. I am not sure if it's playing 24/96 as I don't have a display or way to inspect the data. However, engaging the 44100 resampler makes things sound a little different, which I appreciate maybe utterly visual bias but could also be a slightly off resampler on this android version of the program.

I'm pretty sure Foobar2000 on this same tablet worked with the Topping D10 DAC and showed the correct sample rate.

Battery life is terrible on this little tablet, which will be the main downer, but useable for a good quality sound few hours at least!