Khadas Tone 2

[WondrousHippo]

Anyone here took a leap with the preorder? I actually did and got a message today saying that my unit had shipped. Bit of a risk, but it shouldn't perform worse than the DragonFly Red it's going to replace, amirite?

Of course we'll want independent measurements, but at least the manufacturer measurements look good so far.

Where did you preorder from? I preordered direct from Khadas for the $30 discount, no notification quite yet.

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

I preordered from HiFiGo, because at the beginning the Khadas shop didn't have the blue variant. Used that discount too.

 

[frogmeat69]

Anyone here took a leap with the preorder? I actually did and got a message today saying that my unit had shipped. Bit of a risk, but it shouldn't perform worse than the DragonFly Red it's going to replace, amirite?

I did, haven't had any update yet as far as shipping, and I also got the 30% off.

 

[WondrousHippo]

I preordered from HiFiGo, because at the beginning the Khadas shop didn't have the blue variant. Used that discount too.

Ah, didn't know it worked on HifiGo. Oh well!

 

[Gradius]

View attachment 95756

How much for the NON-mqa version ?

LOL @ that mistake

 

[somebodyelse]

How much for the NON-mqa version ?

I've been meaning to ask that on the Khadas forum - for me it's an anti-feature.

 

[Gradius]

I've been meaning to ask that on the Khadas forum - for me it's an anti-feature.

Exactly my point.

 

[Giangi71]

Hi! The khadas tone 2 pro could be used with USB cable to an android smartphone using USB audio player pro (Huawei P30)?Could I connect the smartphone to the usb port and contemporarly connect to the other usb i2s to power the device? Thanks

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

Hi! The khadas tone 2 pro could be used with USB cable to an android smartphone using USB audio player pro (Huawei P30)?Could I connect the smartphone to the usb port and contemporarly connect to the other usb i2s to power the device? Thanks

According to the manual, yes to both:

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

Ok, so mine arrived today. Had no trouble setting it up, connected to a Win7 PC. But I'm not sure if I'll get accustomed to the double-action knob control. It says 'push' and 'rotate' in the manual, but the 'push' is actually a movement parallel to the shorter edge of the case (horizontally). So with the RCAs facing away from you, you actually pull the knob towards you with your fingertips. This makes the knob feel somewhat wobbly to me, and you need to hold the case, because otherwise you'll just pull the whole device towards you. Dunno why 'push' couldn't mean 'press' (vertically)

 

[TimW]

Ok, so mine arrived today. Had no trouble setting it up, connected to a Win7 PC. But I'm not sure if I'll get accustomed to the double-action knob control. It says 'push' and 'rotate' in the manual, but the 'push' is actually a movement parallel to the shorter edge of the case (horizontally). So with the RCAs facing away from you, you actually pull the knob towards you with your fingertips. This makes the knob feel somewhat wobbly to me, and you need to hold the case, because otherwise you'll just pull the whole device towards you. Dunno why 'push' couldn't mean 'press' (vertically)

Very strange. I was under the impression it would be the typical rotate and press style.

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

Very strange. I was under the impression it would be the typical rotate and press style.

I thought the same, but it works as shown in the manual:


And then there's the crazy color-based interface, displayed on a ring which is only partially visible from under the knob... I remember what Amir had to say about Chord's system:

If you are familiar with Chord products you know that they use colored LEDs to communicate the status of some setting. That makes the device difficult to operate due to the need to then remember the color of the button meaning different things. Here, that design has been taken to level of insanity with many settings encoded into colors.

[...]

Are they crazy? Who the heck remembers these colors? No, you don't just set it and forget it. You can touch a button by accident and have it be a different impedance and you would not know it. They give you a cheat sheet that is tiny and definite proof of user interface fail.

Can't wait to read his impressions of this one

 

[Gouwa]

Hi here is the video tutorial for the Knob operations:

Have fun!

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

Hi here is the video tutorial for the Knob operations:

Have fun!

Useful, thanks! However:

1. The play/pause and previous/next functions will only work with Windows audio, right? At least they don't work for me in Tidal exclusive mode (I installed the driver).
2. The light indicator is visible from the angle that you show in the vid, but not so much when the unit sits on a desk/table in front of you and below the line of sight. Non-black case makes this even worse as you lose the contrast between the case and the light.
3. I'm pretty confident that the movement described as 'push' and 'press' is not what most people associate with these words. It might be good to re-word it in future revisions of the manual.
4. Out of curiosity: was there a technical roadblock in giving the knob the actual press function (vertically)?

Overall, I think it was a brave design choice I'm OK with this solution for the 'set & forget' kind of options and input format indicators, but IMHO at least the input and gain selection should be left with separate, more traditional switches.

 

[TrueAudio]

Mine arrived during the weekend. I was so eager to listen to it that I just went plug and play. It worked flawlessly. Later I played with the knob. Definitely not very intuitive, however in my setup, I might not need to use it. I tried with my Shure 846 iems, Fostex 900 and my Rosson Rad-0. I was really pleased with the sound. Great soundstage, open, dynamic, detailed, but not clinical.
The knob light blinks for a couple of seconds when the signals change, however at the angle I have it, it’s really hard to figure out which color and light position you’re getting. Ultimately, the most important part for me, was the sound, so I’m a happy camper.

 

[Objectivist01]

Mine arrived during the weekend. I was so eager to listen to it that I just went plug and play. It worked flawlessly. Later I played with the knob. Definitely not very intuitive, however in my setup, I might not need to use it. I tried with my Shure 846 iems, Fostex 900 and my Rosson Rad-0. I was really pleased with the sound. Great soundstage, open, dynamic, detailed, but not clinical.
The knob light blinks for a couple of seconds when the signals change, however at the angle I have it, it’s really hard to figure out which color and light position you’re getting. Ultimately, the most important part for me, was the sound, so I’m a happy camper.
View attachment 108719

What other dacs have for a comparison? Do you hear anything audibly different from other dacs you have ?

 

[Jimbob54]

No one eh? You do know that the mini XLR is used on Harman owned AKG headphones?

It's an excellent connector. In fact I have some on my desk right now to make an extension. I love them. Compared to the horrible standard Cannon XLR, there's no contest.

View attachment 99860

View attachment 99861

View attachment 99862

But if they so desperately wanted balanced and RCAs, why bother with a new connector- just use four RCAs instead. Same.

And some of the models of that that little known German boutique headphone specialist, Beyerdynamic ;-)

 

[Gouwa]

The play/pause and previous/next functions will only work with Windows audio, right? At least they don't work for me in Tidal exclusive mode (I installed the driver).

The Knob operations works for any USB HID compatible OS including Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS etc.

The light indicator is visible from the angle that you show in the vid, but not so much when the unit sits on a desk/table in front of you and below the line of sight. Non-black case makes this even worse as you lose the contrast between the case and the light.

Yes, indeed.

We was thought for a product like DAC or headphone amp, users do not need to check the RGB right LED status quite offen, and actually the most commonly used function is just the Volume which is the default function; and even the volume sound user can also feel it via the headphones.

I'm pretty confident that the movement described as 'push' and 'press' is not what most people associate with these words. It might be good to re-word it in future revisions of the manual.

Thanks for the feedback and we will improve the user manual.

The datasheet of the encoder used on T2P attached.

 

[TrueAudio]

What other dacs have for a comparison? Do you hear anything audibly different from other dacs you have ?

I have a Zoorlo Ztella, Beam 2, iFi micro iDSD and smsl SU-9. Each one has its own sound signature. I would put the T2P much higher than than the Ztella and the Beam 2, but not of the micro iDSD and the smsl. I also had in the past a Project Pre Box S2 and I would say that I like the T2P better.

 

[buz]

I wish they used the computing power in the XMOS 216 to provide PEQ instead of the abomination that is MQA and I gather xmos even provides code for tht? I would love to get hardware eq on a platform with better SINAD than my Qudelix and lower price than an ADI 2

Any chance to get an alterntive firmware for that, @Gouwa?