Decision paralysis: Topping D50 or KHADAS TONE BOARD

[kiat]

I'll with the tone board with their potentiality where you can integrate with their VIM2 board. With this you won't need shackled yourself with a machine that's connected to the tone board via USB C.

It can even be a roon endpoint. You can see the potential of this setup.

PS: I'm still in the midst of setting this up. It does requires some hands-on skill thought.

 

[xadmin]

Go with the D50. It's a complete unit and you will enjoy that. Measurement is not everything.

 

[Roen]

Could we see an IMD graph overlaying the two? I imagine they'd be quite close.

Displays are nice too.

 

[Kingsley]

I’ve seen the tone board for significantly less than that in Europe. Not sure where exactly, but google a bit more and you should be able to knock quite a bit off that 118€.

In terms of sound quality, I strongly doubt there will be any audible difference whatsoever

I found out that the tone board is in stock on the Digi-Key Websites and its price is better than other channels, you could visit this link,

https://www.digikey.com/products/en...-expansion-boards-daughter-cards/797?k=Khadas

 

[agjell]

Audiophonics has a case for the Khadas: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/alum...minum-case-for-khadas-tone-board-p-13626.html

If you're going to use the DAC with a stationary PC you can drill four holes in the case and mount the board inside your PC. The RCA connectors have threads, so you just need nuts to affix the board.

 

[soundwave76]

I had KTB but then sold it and got the D50 for it's versatility, screen and better looks with the JDS Atom

 

[Lucaxxaa]

I had KTB but then sold it and got the D50 for it's versatility, screen and better looks with the JDS Atom

What difference at listening ?

 

[JohnYang1997]

get a smsl m3

 

[soundwave76]

What difference at listening ?

None. At least to my ears.

 

[Lucaxxaa]

I search dac/headphone amp, compatibility with software volumio.org . Khadas is compatible.

I listen in qobuz then i need dac at minimum 192/24 .

I like a good performance on rca exit.

My first choice was on project s2 digital, but i read discordant opinion about sound quality

 

[Deleted member 4360]

I had KTB but then sold it and got the D50 for it's versatility, screen and better looks with the JDS Atom

Exactly what I did. Fits perfectly on top. 6" RCA's. Ordered a Tone Board too and was trying to decide (as I already have an SMSL D10 for the basic family room system) and then thought... car! USB C out of my Pixel into the Tone Board with an RCA to 3.5" into the car and the only thing the car amp has to do with amplify (they have such crappy DACs and Bluetooth implementations)! The Tone Board will be in a 3D printed case. Rambling on...

 

[JohnYang1997]

Now i think getting a dx3pro or d30 can be very good options. I highly recommend to stay away from ess based dacs.

 

[frogmeat69]

That's funny, besides the AKM DACs in my FiiO X5iii, all I own are ESS DACs, D10, D50, SU-8, and the Shanling M0, and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

 

[JohnYang1997]

That's funny, besides the AKM DACs in my FiiO X5iii, all I own are ESS DACs, D10, D50, and SU-8, and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

Ess chips can be triggered to produce all kinds of weird modulation noises even at max volume using unconventional imd and multitone signals. If you can consistently say sdac and odac are just as good then I can agree with you. Otherwise it's double standard and you should stop it.

 

[frogmeat69]

Ess chips can be triggered to produce all kinds of weird modulation noises even at max volume using unconventional imd and multitone signals. If you can consistently say sdac and odac are just as good then I can agree with you. Otherwise it's double standard and you should stop it.

Never used an sdac or odac, but I am sure they work just fine. But what should I stop, and who are you to tell me to stop it? And what double standard? I didn't badmouth anything while praising the Sabre chips, not that I even gave them any high praise in the first place.

 

[josiah]

I am having a similar question. Can either the DX3 Pro or Khadas Tone Board be configured as 7.1 audio in windows. I like both but if they can only be configured as stereo they are out. I need at least a 7.1 option to make them do what I would like.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Never used an sdac or odac, but I am sure they work just fine. But what should I stop, and who are you to tell me to stop it? And what double standard? I didn't badmouth anything while praising the Sabre chips, not that I even gave them any high praise in the first place.

If your standard is "working fine", then I'll agree with you. They should all work just fine. But not the standard for my recommendation. I pursue performance. In this case ess chips show great results in conventional tests but very bad in unconventional ones. In my standard most ess chip dacs at least non-pro version(because I don't know) are the same level as odac and sdac which is ok performance but not faultless.

 

[JohnYang1997]

The double standard I meant is using thd+n number to praise ess based dac and ignore the bad behaviors in other unconventional tests. Since you didn't say that, I'm not accusing you to be double standard.

 

[NewbieOne]

Necro this because I'm faced with a similar choice. I already have a semi-decent budget amp in my K5 non-pro, but I'm thinking about replacing my SoundBlaster Z with preferably an external DAC or at least a soundcard with good EMI shielding. Khadas looks like it could be an affordable headphone solution, even though I'd have to keep the Z for my 4.0 speakers. More practical than adding SC808 as a second internal card (and not viable on its own for 4.0 due to the daughter board's limitations versus the Z's handling of multispeaker configs, since the 808 outputs multichannel via the C-Media and not the Wolfson chip). My alternatives would be D50s or DX3+ Pro, or, outside of Topping, used Mojo or maybe one of the various exotics first owners sometimes sell on.