Centrance DACport Pro Portable DAC & HP Amp Review

[amirm]

This is a review and measurements of the Centrance DACport Pro portable balanced DAC, monitor controller, and headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $350 (discontinued?).

The recessed dip switches require a tool to adjust so if that is something you are going to want to change a lot, will be a pain. The volume on top is very nice as are the super bright LED bar graphs and clipping indicator. Rear side sports dual full sized XLR connectors which is a nice benefit over just about any consumer portable DAC & HP Amp. Build quality is very nice and there is little to complain about.

I have abbreviated the tests in the interest of time.

Centrance DACport Pro Measurements
Max output from the XLR connectors is 5.6 volts. I adjusted that down to 4 volts and got respectable results:

EDIT: the FFT is much cleaner. I must have taken a snapshot in between captures.

Same with dynamic range:

Noise floor is a bit high and a couple of jitter components are visible:

But this is fine in this class of product. Same story with wideband noise+distortion vs frequency:

I think the unit broke all records in how *little* power it produces in low gain!

High gain does much better but has that strange constant distortion past 2 millivolts into 32 ohm. Noise floor is extremely low gain so very suitable for IEMs. Headphone better be very sensitive or they won't get loud enough.

Conclusions
The DACport Pro targets professional IEM/headphone monitoring and for that task, it seems to perform rather fine. Its DAC is with XLR output is certainly good enough. Wish there was more power from headphone output though. There is more power from a candle light than this thing in low gain mode!

I am going to recommend the Centrance DACPort Pro for its intended market.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

 

[welwynnick]

Thanks Amir

On reflection I think I'll stick with my Temoptec!

 

[JSmith]

discontinued?

It seems it's just out of stock direct from Centrance;

Store - Centrance

DACport Pro Carry your sound anywhere, with the portable DACport Pro — a studio-quality USB DAC, Headphone Amplifier and Monitor Controller. Connect your laptop to any audio system and stream to large monitors with consistent audio quality. Uses a USB-C cable and supports all...

centrance.com

Cheers for the testing and review.

Spec's;

Frequency Response
20 Hz…20 kHz ±0.2 dB
Dynamic Range
112 dB (re: +17.2 dBu, Line Level)
THD+N
0.001% (0dB FS, 1kHz, Line level)
Crosstalk
-127 dB (@ 1kHz, Line level)
Line-level Output (max)
+15 dBV / +17.2 dBu / 5.59 V rms, balanced
Mic-level Output (max)
-31.1 dBV / -28.9 dBu / 27.7mV rms, balanced
Headphone Output (max)
+8.4 dBV / +10.6 dBu / 2.63 V rms
Headphone Output Power
424 mW max total, @ 32 Ohm
Headphone Output Impedance
0.5 Ohm
Supported Headphones
16…600 Ohm
Headphone Gain Switch
20 dB range
Volume Control
Precision potentiometer with professional rotation force
LED Level Meters
-30dB, -18dB, -12dB, -6dB, -3dB, 0dB (red), VU ballistics, Calibrated to FS, Adjustable brightness
Digital Specs
Max Resolution
32-bit (also supports 16-bit and 24-bit)
Max Sample Rate
384 kHz, DSD (also supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.2 kHz, 192 kHz, 352.4 kHz)
Clocking
Two custom, mil-spec clocks, 10 ppm precision, 1 ps jitter
Compatibility
Plug and play with MacOS, Linux, Windows (10+). ASIO Driver is available (Windows 10+)
USB Input
USB-C, asynchronous, fully compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.1

I believe this uses an AKM AK4490.


JSmith

 

[GWolfman]

Looks like they had the right ideas but execution wasn’t quite there (e.g., noise floor, power). Hopefully an updated version will address the shortcomings.

Thanks Amir!

 

[Billy Budapest]

Looks like they had the right ideas but execution wasn’t quite there (e.g., noise floor, power). Hopefully an updated version will address the shortcomings.

Thanks Amir!

It’s sort of an older product with a lot of development involved, so I doubt there will be further revisions.

The DAC performance isn’t particularly impressive and not what I would expect from CEntrance, but it has a great feature set. Voted “fine.”

Also, Made in USA build is admirable, although it is my understanding that the boards are stuffed in China.

 

[phoenixsong]

So it suits neither headphones (low power) nor earphones (high distortion at lower impedances)

 

[Billy Budapest]

So it suits neither headphones (low power) nor earphones (high distortion at lower impedances)

The intended use case is for monitoring of recordings. The power output would probably be fine in that application. They would probably be used with closed back headphones. But point taken. The power/distortion specs should have been better engineered.

 

[192kbps]

Any portable multi-functional product is fascinating.

 

[dtaylo1066]

I rated it fine given its age. I have an old iFi iDSD Black Label. Got a good review here years ago. I picked it up used for a song. It is very flexible and has way more power than the Centrance. I put either one in that awkward and questionable size space between desk top and truly portable. With all the good dongles or barley larger than dongle DAC/amps out there, I think these size devices are outdated given how inexpensive a good desktop unit is. On the go, the JCally dongle on my iPhone or tablet is hard to beat given its size.

 

[Kevinfc]

Competent, if not exciting piece of equipment. Too bad, I’m just not a headphone guy.