E1DA 9038D Review (portable DAC & Amp)

[Matias]

Matias, why do you think it is needed to read about that easy to try?

Wow this is so cool. Congrats!

 

[staticV3]

@IVX you have the meizu dongles too right? Any approximation of how much more power the E1DA needs to draw compared to a meizu dongle? Been wondering about that. Not that power is an issue but I suppose the 9038d will need to draw more than apple/meizu dongle

here's the comparison:


The 9038S/D's power consumption is closely related to the MCLK that you set in the App.
Here's how they're configured out of the box:

 

[IVX]

staticV3 BTW, I never saw if Meizu worked with DSD256, only 128.

 

[staticV3]

Yes, I should have clarified. At the moment, playing DSD on the Meizu dongles on Android behaves like this:

• UAPP:
  • DoP: DSD64-256 -> no error message, but no sound
    Native: DSD64-256 -> "Failed to find interface for native DSD Playback!"
• Hiby:
  • DoP: 64&128 -> no error message, sound only on the right side. 256 -> "File format not supported!"
  • Native: 64&128 -> plays properly. 256 -> "File format not supported!"

I remember being able to play at least 64 and 128 on UAPP a while ago, but that seems to have changed since then. When it was still possible, I used DSD2PCM on UAPP to play 256 content on the Meizu dongles.

In comparison, the 9038S G3 and 9038D play 64-256 content natively using UAPP, Hiby, and foobar2000 on Windows.

 

[NM156]

A quick note on this channel differential:

I was chasing a different problem and grabbed this dongle randomly. I was surprised to see one channel's noise shoot way up at lower levels. This had nothing to do with balanced or unbalanced measurements. But rather, was trigged by using of the "high performance" mode in my APx555. This feature uses dual ADCs, one for the signal itself and the other for the rest of the spectrum. The result is that the analyzer distortion is essentially removed from the equation. Due to historical reasons, I had NOT used this mode for the above graph. But recently went ahead and enabled it due to so many devices doing well in this graph.

This is the snapshot with the High performance mode on:

View attachment 122508

As you see, one channel in blue has gone crazy, raising the noise level. It causes SINAD to drop by 15 dB or so as a result. And the fact that balanced input is used (under Input Configuration).

See what happens when I turn OFF the high performance mode:

View attachment 122509

The problem goes away. I sent a bug report to AP but just got a standard message of checking if the hardware is good. The hardware is. I will either have to turn this mode off like I used to have it or watch for it. Have not decided which.

Note that this doesn't impact the dashboard where this mode is always on as the levels are high.

Anyway, the "good channel" is the trustworthy measurement here for E1DA.

@amirm With about 8.9 mV and 300 Ohm the power is about 0.26 µW and (according to your original power vs. distortion graph above) the "good" channel should have about 65 dB THD+N. But your new measurement now says it's actually much better at 72 dB (just as good as the reference Topping DX3Pro Low).

In additon, I see "200 kohm" in "Termination" under "Input configuration".

This begs my question: is this new measurement for 300 Ohm load?

 

[amirm]

In additon, I see "200 kohm" in "Termination" under "Input configuration".

This begs my question: is this new measurement for 300 Ohm load?

It is a different measurement (load) system for headphone amps. I will do an article on it soon....

 

[NM156]

amirm and the dynamic range in your latest screenshot is near 122db unweighted, hence A-weighted(typically +2-3db) will match with my specs 125db. Good to see you didn't take my comments wrong and use balanced input now, please keep it up. I'm not against of somebody but I'm always on the side of the truth aka proved fact(a science as is).
Regarding AP, it is a kind of legacy issue, they did BW limitation ONLY after preamp and attenuator even in SYS1. Probably at the end of 80th it wasn't a big deal but today any dirty USB or smartphone with LTE On could seriously affect the precision of the test. I would add BW limit in the very first preamp stage to guaranty that my BW is truly limited and any HF noise content will be ignored.

@IVX I'm very interested in the ultrasonic noise of the SMPS and how it affects the I/V stage.
You say the noise is at 1.5 MHz with a level of about 3mV.
Since you have an AP, could you make a high bandwidth measurement just to see the actual impact (if any) on the output?

 

[IVX]

NM156, no way, even 1MHz is out of BW for my grandma AP SYS2522.

 

[capslock]

Got my D and SG3 yesterday but haven't played with them yet. The D has DR and distortion calibration settings printed on its case, the S has nothing. Does the SG3 get calibrated but not printed or do you not use the compensation settings at all?

 

[IVX]

capslock, no, the only D calibrated. 9038S uses averaged THD compensation, which is editable with Tweak9038 Android app, the same as 9038D.
PS: so you got the ugly one 9038D?

 

[capslock]

Yes I did And strangely, there was a spare PCB in the box of the SG3.

 

[Jimbob54]

Just a suggestion to @IVX. I own the s and d. I'd look to have greater physical difference between the devices. On my desk ready to pick up to go out, both look identical unless I look at either the jack carefully or the small engraving.

I've had to use black marker to fill in some of the large logo on the D. Different colour shell or logo perhaps?

 

[Veri]

Yes I did And strangely, there was a spare PCB in the box of the SG3.

Yeah it's just added as a freebie novelty item

 

[IVX]

Jimbob54, 9038D isn't my idea at all, it was asked by our discord society like that: please give us the same 9038S DAC but 3.5mm unbalanced. So I did as requested

 

[Jimbob54]

Jimbob54, 9038D isn't my idea at all, it was asked by our discord society like that: please give us the same 9038S DAC but 3.5mm unbalanced. So I did as requested

Hahaha- nobody can say you didnt give them what they wanted. I will just curse you if I ever manage to go for a weekend away again and take the wrong headphone/ dac combo with me (or just carry a 2.5-3.5mm adapter with me at all times ;-)

 

[IVX]

capslock, regarding the gift-PCB, it is the old version of 9038S which we ordered more than we needed, and I can not throw it out because nice looking and gold-plated, so I pushed Sunny to put one in the giftbox.

 

[Veri]

(or just carry a 2.5-3.5mm adapter with me at all times ;-)

2.5mm>3.5mm headphone adapter, right? To use balanced cable with 9038d? Just to avoid unfortunate conclusions
cursed "adapter" wording haha

 

[Jimbob54]

2.5mm>3.5mm headphone adapter, right? To use balanced cable with 9038d? Just to avoid unfortunate conclusions
cursed "adapter" wording haha

Correct- to use balanced 2.5mm headphones with 3.5mm amp- not the other way round

 

[capslock]

capslock, regarding the gift-PCB, it is the old version of 9038S which we ordered more than we needed, and I can not throw it out because nice looking and gold-plated, so I pushed Sunny to put one in the giftbox.

Nice touch, except it has me itching to solder one of my own - but the parts are hard to source.

 

[Easternlethal]

As a side thing, people keep thinking that my tests are "simple" sine wave and that music waveforms are more complex. Here is the time domain (i.e. what the samples look like) of the multitone signal:
View attachment 119203

Sounds like a potential youtube topic