A Thread Dedicated to Cirrus Logic CS43131

[ikonomov]

...I've noticed is that the dongle with the CS43131 gets slightly warmer than the ESS ES9280AC one which leads me to believe that the CS43131 might be slightly less power efficient.

I need to clarify myself after some further testing. The JM20PRO (CS43131) does get slightly warmer but it also has higher output both when it's in the low impedance and high impedance modes compared to the JM80E (ESS ES9280AC). It is able to comfortably drive (quite unbelievable actually) my AKG K702 headphones, which have low impedance (62 Ω) but require a lot of power to drive properly. Both JM20PRO (CS43131) and JM80E (ESS ES9280AC) have a two mode operation depending on the headphone impedance. So if more power is need by the output device then JM20PRO (CS43131) is the clear choice, but for small earphones that don't require a lot of power the JM80E (ESS ES9280AC) might be better because it'll consume less power at low output levels which can be beneficial for a mobile device. Of course this comparison assumes that there is actually a difference in their power efficiency at the same low output levels and that they perform similarly, a difference of 10dB between SNR of -105dB and -115dB would be practically undetectable.

 

[CedarX]

Not sure if these were mentioned in this thread:

• FiiO BTR13 (QCC5125 > dual-CS43131) - Targets the Qudelix 5K. The QCC5125 is used for BT, USB input, and DSP (10x PEQ, multiple filter types).
• FiiO KA15 (SPV5048Pro > dual CS43198 > dual-SGM8262) - An interesting element of this dongle is the (new?) SPV5048 MCU from SpaceTouch. It appears to be a quite powerful chip: USB bridge (up to 768kHz/32bits, UAC 1.0/2.0 modes), DSP (10x PEQ, multiple filter types, 64-bit maths), mic ADC, display support with a cool cassette animation, and some fairly advanced power management modes, including Class A/B or H modes.

FiiO being FiiO, the FW/App support is not perfect yet (ever?).
I am curious about these 64 bit maths for DSP, and wonder if it could address the type of PEQ implementation issues seen, for example on the Topping D50-III (see @Rja4000 measurements here: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...ng-d50-iii-dac-review-and-measurements.53749/).

 

[Pictus]

The cheaper i can think at the moment is Moondrop Dawn Pro using a Comtrue CT7601 usb bridge.

IF the click exists in the Moondrop Dawn Pro, I can't hear it, but this happens

TANCHJIM Space Portable Headphone Adapter Review

1. Download the .zip 2. Unzip the .zip 3. Double-click the unzipped .exe 4. Done No, that's really not how easy it is. You have to unzip, then install several drivers and then do the update. I have had big issues updating mine and in the end I found out it doesn't work from a (windows)...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The cutting will not manifest if there is already something playing in the background, like VLC even at volume zero playing some MP3.

 

[Tommy-Geenexus]

FiiO being FiiO, the FW/App support is not perfect yet (ever?).

As a KA15 owner, software seems to be the bane of FiiO.
The control app is insulting, the initial KA15 firmware had its quirks.

If they dedicate to giving the KA15 some further improvements, i can definitly see it becoming the go-to usb dongle, simply for its price/features.

 

[mc.god]

Not sure if these were mentioned in this thread:

• FiiO BTR13 (QCC5125 > dual-CS43131) - Targets the Qudelix 5K. The QCC5125 is used for BT, USB input, and DSP (10x PEQ, multiple filter types).
• FiiO KA15 (SPV5048Pro > dual CS43198 > dual-SGM8262) - An interesting element of this dongle is the (new?) SPV5048 MCU from SpaceTouch. It appears to be a quite powerful chip: USB bridge (up to 768kHz/32bits, UAC 1.0/2.0 modes), DSP (10x PEQ, multiple filter types, 64-bit maths), mic ADC, display support with a cool cassette animation, and some fairly advanced power management modes, including Class A/B or H modes.

FiiO being FiiO, the FW/App support is not perfect yet (ever?).
I am curious about these 64 bit maths for DSP, and wonder if it could address the type of PEQ implementation issues seen, for example on the Topping D50-III (see @Rja4000 measurements here: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...ng-d50-iii-dac-review-and-measurements.53749/).

At least they effectively used it here, not like Sonata BHD Pro that mounts the similar Airoha AB1565 unit without implementing any of its advanced functions (at least afaik).

@Jeromeof reviewed the KA15 here:
https://www.pragmaticaudio.com/reviews/2024/10/fiio-ka15/

 

[CedarX]

not like Sonata BHD Pro that mounts the similar Airoha AB1565

BTW, the Airoha 1565 is also used by HiBy on their upcoming Xeno USB-C IEM. They only use it as USB bridge—no BT, no display to manage—but they did implement a 10-band PEQ and active 2-way filters: the Xeno has a CS43131 driving the DD (so I’m not completely off-topic. !!) and a ES9018C2M + “Aptos” amp to drive the xMEMS. Not sure what this Aptos amp is…

I know you “dismissed it with no regret” in another thread, but with PEQ features, I’m not sure the “meh” measurements are that important…

 

[CedarX]

As a KA15 owner, software seems to be the bane of FiiO.

I have to agree here. I think FiiO is either too ambitious, or SW is an afterthought and they launch half-baked products—see their BT11 USB-BT audio transmitter built around a very cool QCC5181 chip…
Technical potential is great… the execution (FW, App), not so much.

 

[mc.god]

BTW, the Airoha 1565 is also used by HiBy on their upcoming Xeno USB-C IEM. They only use it as USB bridge—no BT, no displayto manage—but they did implement a 10-band PEQ and the DSP and active 2-way filters: the Xeno has a CS43131 driving the DD (so I’m not completely off-topic. !!) and a ES9018C2M + “Aptos” amp to drive the xMEMS. Not sure what this Aptos amp is…

I know you “dismissed it with no regret” in another thread, but with PEQ features, I’m not sure the “meh” measurements are that important…

Ah, I forgot about them indeed, I had to search that other thread to remember what you were talking about They surely are a peculiar project with that driver combination and completely different dacs for each way, the stock FR is pretty bad and I agree that with native PEQ it is less important but to correctly using PEQ Hiby presumes that you have accurate measurements of them, something that a company can't give for granted imho.
Anyway I just found out that Aptos is an amp circuit also from xMEMS: https://store.xmems.com/collections/aptos but nothing more.

 

[mc.god]

Here I am again, just ordered my 4th CS43131 dongle, the Kuang Pai Player 3. Grabbed it at limited promo for €27 -> €24.5 due to a coupon, too cheap not to try this peculiar pairing with ESS output driver chips, even though i absolutely don't need it.
We will see...

 

[tccalvin]

I’m thinking of taking a gamble on the SMSL DS100. Some reports seem to suggest it can be buggy. Price, features and SMSL’s own measurements seem pretty nice. Mainly eyeing it for the optical input. What do you guys think?

 

[staticV3]

I’m thinking of taking a gamble on the SMSL DS100. Some reports seem to suggest it can be buggy. Price, features and SMSL’s own measurements seem pretty nice. Mainly eyeing it for the optical input. What do you guys think?

If you don't need the headphone output, then I'd rather choose the SU-1 or PS200.

 

[mc.god]

I’m thinking of taking a gamble on the SMSL DS100. Some reports seem to suggest it can be buggy. Price, features and SMSL’s own measurements seem pretty nice. Mainly eyeing it for the optical input. What do you guys think?

Don't know about bugs, if you need a combo unit with optical input and headphone out still usb powered you don't have many alternatives, come to mind SMSL M300 (same CS 43131 but dual dac for balanced output and more features) and Fosi SK02 (different dac, more power due to dedicated output opamps, pretty ok but some measurements a bit lackluster), Fosi K5 Pro (don't know much about it, old generation chips and probably not outstanding measurements).

 

[tccalvin]

Thank you @staticV3 and @mc.god for your feedback.

I decided to take the gamble and order a DS100. It's the cheapest device that ticks all the boxes I need. On paper it should work.

More info and impressions coming soon (and maybe some amateur measurements later if they're worth anything with my budget interface).

 

[mc.god]

Here I am again, just ordered my 4th CS43131 dongle, the Kuang Pai Player 3. Grabbed it at limited promo for €27 -> €24.5 due to a coupon, too cheap not to try this peculiar pairing with ESS output driver chips, even though i absolutely don't need it.
We will see...

The Kuang Pai Player 3 is here, brief impressions (and comparisons with Sonata BHD):

- very small body but hefty feeling, very well built all metal, heavier than Sonata (19 grams vs 16 grams) resulting in a sturdier feeling. The bundled short usb-c cable also feel more resistant than the one from Sonata.
- volume buttons have good feeling - and are nicely separated, no error chance, they work well when pressed together for changing gain setting or reconstruction filter. with 122 levels volume regulation is very fine, much more than the Sonata (20-25 levels), moreover it let you change also he OS system volume, while with Sonata it stay fixed at max, allowing you only to set volume vie the hardware buttons. The overall volume management is much better than sonata BHD. Gain and hardware volume setting are remembered when disconnecting and reconnecting the dingle.
- The led is very small and on one side, so difficult to see in desktop usage. It defaults as blue and changes color with sample rates and formats, moreover it gives you other information I discovered with use:

• changing gain it blinks red, 1 blink for low gain, 2 blinks for high gain
• changing filter it blinks green, 1 blink each change until you reach again filter one then it blinks 2 times (at least if I understood well).

- on the tech side, it uses the Savitech usb bridge, showing the same behavior of Sonata BHD (and Fosi DS2), going in "powersave" after 3-4 seconds from stopping playback and loosing the very first audio samples when resuming playback from that state, with faint panning effect. No dropouts (at least for the brief listening session i made). In Windows 10 it is recognized by the very same Bravo HD driver as Sonata BHD and JM20, giving you Asio functionality. In Foobar it played everything at source sample rate till 384 KHhz in both Asio and wasapi exclusive, except DSD256 that plays ok with Asio but gives "unsupported format" in wasapi exclusive (just for testing). Here are the hardware info in Linux:

us 001 Device 016: ID 262a:0001 SAVITECH Corp. CS43131+

KPai CS43131+ at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.1, high speed : USB Audio
--------------------------------------------------------------
Playback:
Status: Stop
Interface 2
Altset 1
Format: S16_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 0x03 (3 OUT) (ASYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 16
Channel map: FL FR
Sync Endpoint: 0x84 (4 IN)
Sync EP Interface: 2
Sync EP Altset: 1
Implicit Feedback Mode: No
Interface 2
Altset 2
Format: S24_3LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 0x03 (3 OUT) (ASYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 24
Channel map: FL FR
Sync Endpoint: 0x84 (4 IN)
Sync EP Interface: 2
Sync EP Altset: 2
Implicit Feedback Mode: No
Interface 2
Altset 3
Format: S32_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 0x03 (3 OUT) (ASYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 32
Channel map: FL FR
Sync Endpoint: 0x84 (4 IN)
Sync EP Interface: 2
Sync EP Altset: 3
Implicit Feedback Mode: No
Interface 2
Altset 4
Format: SPECIAL
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 0x03 (3 OUT) (ASYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 32
DSD raw: DOP=0, bitrev=0
Channel map: FL FR
Sync Endpoint: 0x84 (4 IN)
Sync EP Interface: 2
Sync EP Altset: 4
Implicit Feedback Mode: No

- measured output levels with a multimeter playing a 0 dbFS sine wave file are as expected:

• SE Low Gain : 1 V
• SE High gain: 2 V
• BAL Low gain: 2 V
• BAL High gain: 4 V

- can't say anything about the ESS opamps output stage, I don't have any difficult to drive headphone to test with, and soundwise I can't hear a difference with Sonata and all my other dongles.

I paid it €25 with promo and coupon, €13 less than the Sonata BHD, and given it behaves the same, if not better (volume management), that it should be much more powerful if needed and that i'm not bothered from the Savitch "powersave issue", at the moment it appears as my best bargain ever, even though I didn't need it a bit.

 

[tccalvin]

The DS100 has arrived!

First impressions are mostly very positive.

Compatibility:

I’ve tried it with most devices I own. Works fine on all of them, both with USB and optical. So far I’ve only listened to it through the SE headphones out.
Software volume is available on Android, but not on MacOS and iOS. Weirdly enough, iOS support isn’t stated on the manual, but it definitely works with my iPad.

Potential issues:

The only minor gripe I have so far is that the DAC goes to sleep a little too eagerly (whenever it wakes up there is a gradual fade in which is kind of annoying). I found the issue most noticeable on Android and iOS. I couldn’t really notice it on MacOS. Seems like a common issue with Chinese DACs. In this regard, the Apple Dongle (the only other pure DAC I own) is somehow flawless at a fraction of the price. It doesn’t look like the optical input exhibits this behavior.
Besides this, I just heard a couple of little clicks and pops here and there, nothing major. Very rare occurrence. Again, nothing like that on the Apple Dongle.

Sound:

It sounds good.
Nothing audibly broken. Headphone power is also way beyond what I need for my AKG K371s.

I was interested in knowing whether or not the DAC’s digital volume was placed before the oversampling stage so I plugged the DS100’s line out into the preamps of my UA Volt 2. The output of the SMSL was set to 24bit/44.1kHz while the input of the Volt was set to 24bit/192kHz. The preamps were boosted as far as I could get them without clipping. The test file I used was provided by @danadam in the thread dedicated to ISO measuring.

The first recorded track was with the DAC at 100% volume. The second recorded track was with the DAC at about 50% volume. The spectrum only shows values down to -96dB. The reported SINAD value of the DS100 (~115dB) should exceed the value of the ADC in the Volt 2 (~114dB), so there’s really no point in going lower. I thought the noise floor threshold of CDs would be good enough.

Here are the results:

So yes, lowering the volume increases the headroom of the interpolator. That’s good news. It means you will benefit from a cleaner signal if you use the DAC’s digital volume instead of an analog one further down the chain. I don’t know if that’s the case for every CS43131 DAC out there, but if I had to guess I would say it’s probably a feature of the chip and not one of the DAC (I doubt SMSL implemented a custom solution for an 80€ product).

While I was at it I also tested the DS100 with a 0dBFS 1kHz sine wave just to check if anything was obviously broken.

Test conditions are the same, volume is at 100%:

Nope. Nothing broken. Glad to confirm they actually put a high performance DAC chip in there.
(Probably should have used a logarithmic scale on this one to make harmonics easier to see but it looks fine regardless)

As of now, I’d say the gamble paid off.

 

[mc.god]

The DS100 has arrived!

First impressions are mostly very positive.

Compatibility:

I’ve tried it with most devices I own. Works fine on all of them, both with USB and optical. So far I’ve only listened to it through the SE headphones out.
Software volume is available on Android, but not on MacOS and iOS. Weirdly enough, iOS support isn’t stated on the manual, but it definitely works with my iPad.

Potential issues:

The only minor gripe I have so far is that the DAC goes to sleep a little too eagerly (whenever it wakes up there is a gradual fade in which is kind of annoying). I found the issue most noticeable on Android and iOS. I couldn’t really notice it on MacOS. Seems like a common issue with Chinese DACs. In this regard, the Apple Dongle (the only other pure DAC I own) is somehow flawless at a fraction of the price. It doesn’t look like the optical input exhibits this behavior.
Besides this, I just heard a couple of little clicks and pops here and there, nothing major. Very rare occurrence. Again, nothing like that on the Apple Dongle.

Sound:

It sounds good.
Nothing audibly broken. Headphone power is also way beyond what I need for my AKG K371s.

I was interested in knowing whether or not the DAC’s digital volume was placed before the oversampling stage so I plugged the DS100’s line out into the preamps of my UA Volt 2. The output of the SMSL was set to 24bit/44.1kHz while the input of the Volt was set to 24bit/192kHz. The preamps were boosted as far as I could get them without clipping. The test file I used was provided by @danadam in the thread dedicated to ISO measuring.

The first recorded track was with the DAC at 100% volume. The second recorded track was with the DAC at about 50% volume. The spectrum only shows values down to -96dB. The reported SINAD value of the DS100 (~115dB) should exceed the value of the ADC in the Volt 2 (~114dB), so there’s really no point in going lower. I thought the noise floor threshold of CDs would be good enough.

Here are the results:

View attachment 407081

So yes, lowering the volume increases the headroom of the interpolator. That’s good news. It means you will benefit from a cleaner signal if you use the DAC’s digital volume instead of an analog one further down the chain. I don’t know if that’s the case for every CS43131 DAC out there, but if I had to guess I would say it’s probably a feature of the chip and not one of the DAC (I doubt SMSL implemented a custom solution for an 80€ product).

While I was at it I also tested the DS100 with a 0dBFS 1kHz sine wave just to check if anything was obviously broken.

Test conditions are the same, volume is at 100%:

View attachment 407082

Nope. Nothing broken. Glad to confirm they actually put a high performance DAC chip in there.
(Probably should have used a logarithmic scale on this one to make harmonics easier to see but it looks fine regardless)

As of now, I’d say the gamble paid off.

Thank you for these tests!
As for the "wake up" lag issue, yes it is similar to what happens with many others usb powered dacs. Since the DS100 uses an Xmos bridge probably it can be fixed with this tweak:
Thread 'XMOS driver settings for no cutoff/delay' https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/xmos-driver-settings-for-no-cutoff-delay.25838/
But unfortunately it only works on Windows and you don't seem to use it.

 

[tccalvin]

Thank you for these tests!
As for the "wake up" lag issue, yes it is similar to what happens with many others usb powered dacs. Since the DS100 uses an Xmos bridge probably it can be fixed with this tweak:
Thread 'XMOS driver settings for no cutoff/delay' https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/xmos-driver-settings-for-no-cutoff-delay.25838/
But unfortunately it only works on Windows and you don't seem to use it.

Actually, it'll mostly be used with an optical connection and through USB with a Windows PC (which is broken right now so I couldn't test it)! So it's totally fine for me. But I can see how this sleepy behavior might be a deal-breaker to some.

Also, thank you for the link. I was already aware of the driver fix and I definitely plan to use it.

 

[mc.god]

The Kuang Pai Player 3 is here, brief impressions (and comparisons with Sonata BHD):

- very small body but hefty feeling, very well built all metal, heavier than Sonata (19 grams vs 16 grams) resulting in a sturdier feeling. The bundled short usb-c cable also feel more resistant than the one from Sonata.
- volume buttons have good feeling - and are nicely separated, no error chance, they work well when pressed together for changing gain setting or reconstruction filter. with 122 levels volume regulation is very fine, much more than the Sonata (20-25 levels), moreover it let you change also he OS system volume, while with Sonata it stay fixed at max, allowing you only to set volume vie the hardware buttons. The overall volume management is much better than sonata BHD. Gain and hardware volume setting are remembered when disconnecting and reconnecting the dingle.
- The led is very small and on one side, so difficult to see in desktop usage. It defaults as blue and changes color with sample rates and formats, moreover it gives you other information I discovered with use:

• changing gain it blinks red, 1 blink for low gain, 2 blinks for high gain
• changing filter it blinks green, 1 blink each change until you reach again filter one then it blinks 2 times (at least if I understood well).

- on the tech side, it uses the Savitech usb bridge, showing the same behavior of Sonata BHD (and Fosi DS2), going in "powersave" after 3-4 seconds from stopping playback and loosing the very first audio samples when resuming playback from that state, with faint panning effect. No dropouts (at least for the brief listening session i made). In Windows 10 it is recognized by the very same Bravo HD driver as Sonata BHD and JM20, giving you Asio functionality. In Foobar it played everything at source sample rate till 384 KHhz in both Asio and wasapi exclusive, except DSD256 that plays ok with Asio but gives "unsupported format" in wasapi exclusive (just for testing). Here are the hardware info in Linux:





- measured output levels with a multimeter playing a 0 dbFS sine wave file are as expected:

• SE Low Gain : 1 V
• SE High gain: 2 V
• BAL Low gain: 2 V
• BAL High gain: 4 V

- can't say anything about the ESS opamps output stage, I don't have any difficult to drive headphone to test with, and soundwise I can't hear a difference with Sonata and all my other dongles.

I paid it €25 with promo and coupon, €13 less than the Sonata BHD, and given it behaves the same, if not better (volume management), that it should be much more powerful if needed and that i'm not bothered from the Savitch "powersave issue", at the moment it appears as my best bargain ever, even though I didn't need it a bit.

I managed to translate the little manual in the box, confirming my usage experience:

Product introduction

Introduction to functions and RGB indicators

*Short press the volume up and down keys for less than 1 second to switch filter mode
Mode 1 (default at startup) Low latency fast rolling filter
Mode 2 Phase compensated fast rolling filter
Mode 3 Low latency slow rolling water filter
Mode 4 Phase Compensated Slow Rolling Filter
Mode 5 Non-oversampling filter (NOS) mode

When switching to mode 1-4 Green light flashes 1 time
When switching to mode 5 Green light flashes 2 times


*Press and hold the volume up and down buttons for more than 1 second to switch between high and low gain modes
Standard output mode - Red light flashes 1 time
Full fire output mode - Red light flashes 2 times


*Sampling rate indication definition
44.1khz-96khz - blue
176.4khz-192khz - green
352.8khz-384khz - red
DSD64 - purple
DSD128 - yellow
DSD256 - cyan

 

[tccalvin]

I managed to translate the little manual in the box, confirming my usage experience:
View attachment 407400

Product introduction

Introduction to functions and RGB indicators

*Short press the volume up and down keys for less than 1 second to switch filter mode
Mode 1 (default at startup) Low latency fast rolling filter
Mode 2 Phase compensated fast rolling filter
Mode 3 Low latency slow rolling water filter
Mode 4 Phase Compensated Slow Rolling Filter
Mode 5 Non-oversampling filter (NOS) mode

When switching to mode 1-4 Green light flashes 1 time
When switching to mode 5 Green light flashes 2 times


*Press and hold the volume up and down buttons for more than 1 second to switch between high and low gain modes
Standard output mode - Red light flashes 1 time
Full fire output mode - Red light flashes 2 times


*Sampling rate indication definition
44.1khz-96khz - blue
176.4khz-192khz - green
352.8khz-384khz - red
DSD64 - purple
DSD128 - yellow
DSD256 - cyan

I don't know which tool you used, but I've found that ChatGPT is kind of amazing at translating from pictures. I wouldn't bet that it will get it right every time, but it's been very helpful to me.

 

[mc.god]

I don't know which tool you used, but I've found that ChatGPT is kind of amazing at translating from pictures. I wouldn't bet that it will get it right every time, but it's been very helpful to me.

I'm an old fart not really fond of the newest technologies but i took a shot from my smartphone and directly from camera preview used the google lens translation functionality, then copied the translation to my notebook clipboard.