Amazon Basics Optical Coax DAC Review

[nagster]

Thank you amirm.
I was expecting but disappointed with AmazonBasics...

 

[DSJR]

I bought an earlier one for a fiver (UK currency) on eBay back in 2012. It's rather more complex inside but from memory, also uses a Cirrus chip (can't remember which one). Compared to my regular CD players, I thought the sound 'might' be ever so slightly rougher in the far background (imagination I'm sure). The chap I was doing some work for, suggested I make up (cheaper than buying) a regulated 5V 'OTT' supply on eBay for it and I convinced myself it 'cleaned it up' a little more (now that I've convincingly fooled myself in AB comparisons I've done in more recent times, I don't 'trust my ears' at all any more).

Bottom line, it's a CHEAP almost throwaway little thing (packet of cigarettes price if you smoke) and mine is currently set up via a longer optical cable to our telly. I seriously don't need a posher low cost dac for that purpose as the visuals take over completely in an 'AV' context (I suspect why many AV receivers are so poor as it doesn't matter when there's a picture to concentrate on...).

Sh*t pics, but may tell you a tiny bit -

Lots more on the other side too, but pic is disgustingly bad - far worse than the one above.

 

[Jimbob54]

Stick it in an SMSL vmv d3 box and see if anyone can tell the difference

 

[PeteL]

It says... Vietnam on the device.
I use the same one (not Amazon) so I can easily extract the audio from a Samsung TV which only has optical audio out to run it to some cheap active desktop speakers to get decent sound.
Once I had to unplug the power when one channel stops giving sound.
Other than that hey work fine otherwise and do their job. I don't think anyone will be using this as a serious DAC though.
Thanks for testing.

Multitone not measured ?

I think Amir's multitone measurment pipeline require a 192kHz signal, not sure exactly why. This device don't do 192kHz, as most spdif interfaces really not sure where the state of the art on that but it's been the norm for a long time. I think I heard of 192kHz SPDIF but it's not so common if it works well.

 

[Lambda]

Interesting how it gets 85dB in the Dashboard but only 45dB in the THD+N test.
I assume this is (only) because of the higher bandwidth the THD+N test?

Since it it is ~ 40dB better at 96Khz i wonder to what SINAD value this would translate on the Dashboard. (if used with 96khz but 22khz filter)
I can only speculate but i assume this thing wourd get an "ASR standard SINAD" of over 95dB if used with 96khz?

 

[sarumbear]

In this site, my goal is to find best in class product and sadly, the Amazon Basics DAC is not it. As such, I cannot recommend it.

As one expects the product named as basic was not the best in class...

 

[beagleman]

As expected the product named as basic was not best in class...

At least it's price matches it's name!

If this was very expensive, I would say POOR for sure, but gave it a "Not Terrible" as for what it costs, who would expect more.

 

[mhardy6647]

The Commission was also aware of fraudulent misuse of the mark on products that did not comply with the standards, but that this is a separate issue."

ahem. On topic These sorts of products bring out the (deeply) hidden economist in me. Is there real value in really inexpensive products of nominal assembly/technicnical quality (and performance)? I often read comments about products like this to the effect of "$14 dollars is so cheap, I figure there's nothing to lose in trying one". Sometimes, when I am feeling grouchy enough, I'll respond with some witty response along the lines of "Would you just as happily burn fourteen crisp one dollar bills, just for fun?"

I love cheap stuff, and I love to look for diamonds in the rough... and they do, sometimes, even exist. But I think there's a baseline, or lower boundary, or maybe event horizon below which purchasing a product (in whatever given product category) just becomes... urinating away money. My threshold is probably a couple of dollars (maybe because I am old). I am the kind of person who shakes my head at folks who spend, what, four dollars, on a cup of coffee from Starbucks every day. Don't get me wrong -- I like Starbucks' coffee (Dunkies', too which I realize is a metaphysical conundrum). I just ain't springin' for one every day. I guess I am just too cognizant of that ol' future value of a present sum calculation to accept that as a good idea.

I guess my other "issue" (one from which I suffer!) is the ill-advised tendency to end up spending a lot of money on junk, but a little at a time. It would be better to exercise a little fiscal restraint, wait and invest carefully in the 'best' value per buck product. I am writing this paragraph mostly to myself. I am sure I wouldn't have,e.g., the pair of ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 loudspeakers I bought when they were on sale some years back at ca. $180 the pair! Every time I see the JBL 530, 580, or 590 loudspeakers on sale at a big reduction -- I try to ignore the temptation!

I'm not really in that bad of a mood -- and I'm not even really that grumpy of an old man. I just felt an urge to share those thoughts.

 

[mhardy6647]

As expected the product named as basic was not best in class...

If I worked at Amazon, I'd pitch a product line called Amazon Acidic to my management.

 

[Spkrdctr]

I don't want to get off topic. OK you guys stop laughing! I really will try not to get off topic. Amazon like Walmart and many other businesses in America has a soft underbelly of corruption and unethical practices. Some are even illegal, but I will leave that for another day. Amazon will take any product they want that is selling and have it made themselves and compete against their own Amazon business sellers. It is amazingly unethical and has been written about for years. I imagine they did it with this. Take a cheap product from China and have it made in Vietnam and voila! you have an Amazon Basics item that will now kill the other private business that was selling the Chinese version.

But I would say in this case it is so cheap no one cares. Even I have bought something on Amazon before because it was cheap. Such as Amazon Basics speaker wire. I know I AM cheap.! Moths fly out of my wallet when I open it.........

 

[Limopard]

"Not terrible" considering the price.

 

[respice finem]

If I worked at Amazon, I'd pitch a product line called Amazon Acidic to my management.

Acidic, sounds better than simply a lemon

 

[respice finem]

I don't want to get off topic. OK you guys stop laughing! I really will try not to get off topic. Amazon like Walmart and many other businesses in America has a soft underbelly of corruption and unethical practices. Some are even illegal, but I will leave that for another day. Amazon will take any product they want that is selling and have it made them selves and compete against their own Amazon business sellers. It is amazingly unethical and has been written about for years. I imagine they did it with this. Take a cheap product from China and have it made in Vietnam and voila! you have an Amazon Basics item that will now kill the other private business that was selling the Chinese version.

But I would say in this case it is so cheap no one cares. Even I have bought something on Amazon before because it was cheap. Such as Amazon Basics speaker wire. I know I AM cheap.! Moths fly out of my wallet when I open it.........

Well... yes. And hard to tell "hen or egg" - did they get into these practices because of their size, or did these allow them to get this big in the first place?

 

[DonR]

I would classify this as "fit for purpose". I have a similar one that does 192khz for my PC whose analog output is polluted with noise. I doubt I could tell the difference between this DAC and any other one priced higher but my hearing isn't the best.

 

[NoteMakoti]

I used to use one of these in a very ghetto chain involving a PS4 and a crappy old monitor. It was garbage, but it did the job on the cheap.

 

[SKBubba]

Now do this one? I have one on a secondary setup to convert usb to toslink. Sounds ok to me...

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Sound-SPDIF-Digital-Stereo/dp/B00F7120TQ

 

[voodooless]

It oversamples so is not NOS (is a DS DAC) but does not have any digital filtering.

How does that work? If you add samples, you’ll need to give them some value. The digital filter does exactly that. So how can one upsample without filtering? Even simple linear interpolation is in effect a filter, just not a good one.

You could get more out of this if upsampling to the highest rate in software. This will shift the crappy stopband attenuation further up.

 

[solderdude]

It obviously has no steep filter (see measurements from Amir) so there will be lots of garbage along with the intended signal as evidenced in the other measurements.

This is what Cirrus states:
The CS4344 family of stereo audio DACs operate from a single +3.3 V or +5 V power supply and require minimal support circuitry. This family features a linear analog low-pass filter and auto-speed mode detection using both sample rate and main clock ratio as a method of auto-selecting sampling rates between 2 kHz and 200 kHz.

 

[voodooless]

It obviously has no steep filter (see measurements from Amir) so there will be lots of garbage along with the intended signal as evidenced in the other measurements.

This is what Cirrus states:
The CS4344 family of stereo audio DACs operate from a single +3.3 V or +5 V power supply and require minimal support circuitry. This family features a linear analog low-pass filter and auto-speed mode detection using both sample rate and main clock ratio as a method of auto-selecting sampling rates between 2 kHz and 200 kHz.

Strange enough the data sheet does show some steep-ish filters:

To

Neither of these fit the measurements (nor does the one that I did not show)

 

[solderdude]

I have no idea in what mode it works. Looks like the CS4344 is in there. No idea in what mode it operates and why. In any case the attenuation at 30kHz is just about -12dB (so as Amir mentioned basically filterless)