Articles, Reviews and Measurements of Audio Products

This is a review and detailed Measurements of Melokin DA9.1 ES9038PRO DAC and Headphone Amp. I purchased this for a discount after contacting the manufacturer to get such. I have gotten quite a few requests for measuring it due to it sporting the high-end ES9038Pro DAC chip.

Unboxing is pleasant with the unit being double boxed and inside, covert with nice plastic bag. Once removed, you are greeted with above average machining and construction:



You can see the Topping D50 on top of it which I used as a reference for measurements which uses the lower end ES9038Q2M version of the same DAC chip from ESS. The topping retails for $249 but is frequently on sale for $199. The retail price of Melokin DA9.1 is $360 (plus $80 for USB input) but it includes a headphone amplifier which the D50 does not have.

Purchasing was a pain as I had to pay in advance to the manufacture using paypal and then wait 2-3 weeks (?) for delivery. Definitely not in the same...

This is a detailed review and measurements of Schiit Yggdrasil with upgraded "Gen 5 USB" interface and "Analog 2" DAC+analog board. I see this informally called Yggdrasil V2 even though there is no such model name on Schiit website. The retail price as of this writing is USD $2,399 plus shipping. I think it is the most expensive product Schiit makes (?). It is by far the most expensive DAC they make. In the world of high-end, this is actually "cheap." In the world of personal audio, it is of course quite expensive.

Yes, I know, I already reviewed the Schiit Yggdrasil DAC with same upgrades. As with its lower cost brother, the Schiit BiFrost Multibit DAC, it too did poorly compared to not only high-end DACs but also much cheaper...

In part 1 evaluation of Lynx Hilo I measured its DAC performance. In this part, I will be showing the performance of its analog to digital (ADC) subsystem. For comparison, I selected my RME AD-2 Pro (not "FS") version.

I won't review the operational aspect as they remain the same. So let's get into measurements and see how they compare.

Measurements
For this test I only measured the performance of balanced inputs (which is all the jacks they have anyway). To simplify the insane matrix of different configurations, I limited my testing to +24 dBU max input level. Both units have programmable input range which allows one to optimize the input for different devices feeding it at varying output voltages.

Let's start with our dashboard view:



Here, my APx555 Audio Precision analyzer is the source analog device whose...

This is a review and detailed measurements and comparison of Lynx Hilo professional DAC and ADC. The unit is on kind loan from member DallasJustice who uses it as an 8-channel DAC to drive his active JBL M2 speakers (together with Benchmark DAC3). In this review, I will be evaluating its DAC performance and comparing it to Benchmark DAC3. In Part 2, I will be measuring its ADC performance and comparing it to RME ADI-2 Pro.

The Lynx Hilo is a few years and today it retails for $2,300 from US major supplier of pro products, sweetwater. The Benchmark DAC3 despite being the same price, is DAC only. The Lynx Hilo has a large (though a bit grainy and low contrast) color touchscreen. That makes navigation far easier than competing devices. Its companion host control panel allows easy control just the same. So if you want a pro soundcard that is not a nightmare to navigate, this is it.

The unit is quite chunky but still desktop sized. Here you see it compared to Benchmark DAC3...

This is a review and detailed measurements of Benchmark DAC3 and headphone amplifier. The unit is on kind loan from member Dallasjustice and is highly anticipated evaluation by myself and I am sure many of you. As of this writing the DAC3 retails for USD $2195 from Benchmark site. Others discount it to $2,000 plus shipping. So not cheap by budget standards. But a huge bargain compared to high-end DAC which start at $10K and go up.

For way of comparison, I am also measuring the RME ADI-2 Pro using my Audio Precision APx555 analyzer. As you see below, the two units are pretty much the same width and height.



Depth-wise though, the Benchmark is almost twice as deep. Still, both comfortably fit on the desk.

From user interface point of view, the DAC3 has clear LEDs which i like but it still doesn't hold a candle to RME's nice displays with full spectrum view and such as you see in the picture. This is very helpful in measurement because it is a...

This is a detailed review and measurements of the Topping NX4 DSD portable headphone amplifier and DAC. It is on a kind loan from a forum member and highly anticipated review. Retail price (shipped from China) on Amazon with free shipping is USD $160 as of this writing. The unit has internal battery so truly portable.

Aesthetically from box design and the DAC itself, it oozes quality and nice industrial design. Nothing cheap feeling. The packaging alone would make you think you are buying a luxury product yet the price says otherwise. I have no idea how Chinese companies like Topping pull this off:



You want to know why I never, ever want to get in the business of making audio products? This is the proof.

Feature wise, this is a rich product with great format support with PCM up to 768 kHz and DSD512. There are two gains: high and low. A bass boost switch. And a jack for that is for both line in and out (!). I did not test this but the...

We'll start with the 12 khz Jtest in a 32k FFT. And what a graph it is. Yes, the horrid looking result is over coax connection. The peak jitter spikes are at – 65 dbFS. There are lots of them not much lower than that, and a wide area is raised by random jitter noise too. The spacing on the spikes is 600 hz. Thinking it might be some 60 hz harmonic I looked at the 0-300hz range and this unit is very good there. Highest is -124 dbFS and a bit lower. No hum here. If you notch out the 12 khz tone what is left is -63 dbFS over that 24 khz band. YIKES!!!!!


The better looking result is over HDMI. It isn't a great result. The base has considerable widening and several tones close in, but much better than the coax. The close in spikes are spaced exactly at 101 hz. The highest level is the closest in at -80 dbFS. They fall below the noise floor about 1 khz each side of the main tone.

Well is...

This is a detailed review and measurements of Sabaj Da3 DAC and portable headphone amplifier. For comparison, I selected the Dragonfly USB stick DAC and headphone amplifier. I purchased both units myself. As of this writing, the Da3 retails for USD $120 from Amazon including prime shipping. The Dragonfly black is a bit cheaper at USD $100 with Prime shipping.

From functionality and usability point of view the Sabaj Da3 leaves the dragonfly in the dust. Its OLED display while small, shows sample rate, output connection type and volume level. Volume level is achieved with up/down controls on the unit. The Dragonfly has only an LED which changes colors. Decoding what it means requires the enigma code book of the world war one. The Da3 also has "balanced" and unbalanced headphone outputs. For this review I only tested the latter.

Physically the Sabaj Da3 is larger as you can see from a picture of both connected to my laptop:



The Da3 is clearly...

Pre request in my review of Hifiman EF2A and kind permission from its owner, this is the teardown review of the unit.

Let's start with the main board's top view:



The heart of the unit is the now quite obsolete TI/Bur-Brown PCM2702 DAC chip. It came out circa year 2000 and only supports 16 bit audio at 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz.

The unit has analog input which I think goes through the OPA264 op-amps.



Surprising to see is the Philips TDA1308 headphone amplifier.



It is being used apparently to then drive the tubes. In other words, half-way through the signal flow we already have our headphone output but then we choose to mess with it with later stages. The headphone amp likely has nice gain and hence the reason it over-drove and clipped the input stage...

This is a review, comparison and detailed measurements of Review and Measurements of u-turn Pluto and ART DJPRE II Phono Preamplifiers. Both fall in the category of budget products with the Pluto retailing for USD $99 and the DJPRE II for just $49 (both include Prime shipping). Of the two, the DJPRE II has more bells and whistles:



As you see, the DJPRE II has "low cut" filter switch together with input capacitance selector (100 or 200 pf). It also has a clipping indicator and variable gain switch.

The u-turn pluto on the other hand, is fixed function. No switches, indicators, or anything else other than the power LED.

Between the two, I like the look of the Pluto better. The DJPRE II screams hobby project box. And that bright blue LED is deadly. Needs some black tape to cover it for sure. It is a sturdy box though so it is just a visual preference.

Both units have external transformers. Pluto has its own branded unit that has 9 volt AC...