LEAF Dac Dual 9038Q2M VS Gustard X16 ! Pictures inside )

[artifier]

Hello everyone. Another newbie here. What a great device the LEAF Dac Dual 9038Q2M seems to be, especially for its price. Thank you very much @daniboun (and everybody else) for your great posts. Very helpful!

I’m searching for an affordable DAC with balanced XLR (for my Genelec 8030C) and it seems that the Dual 9038Q2M is just perfect.

Two questions:

• The plan is to use the DAC with a raspberry Pi 3 running piCorePlayer. Is anyone running this DAC with a raspberry and if yes, how stable/good does it work?
• Is there a sleep/standby modus with auto on as soon as there is an audio signal? Or do I have to power on/off the unit manually?

Thanks and cheers from Switzerland
Reto

 

[maxxevv]

Hello everyone. Another newbie here. What a great device the LEAF Dac Dual 9038Q2M seems to be, especially for its price. Thank you very much @daniboun (and everybody else) for your great posts. Very helpful!

I’m searching for an affordable DAC with balanced XLR (for my Genelec 8030C) and it seems that the Dual 9038Q2M is just perfect.

Two questions:

• The plan is to use the DAC with a raspberry Pi 3 running piCorePlayer. Is anyone running this DAC with a raspberry and if yes, how stable/good does it work?
• Is there a sleep/standby modus with auto on as soon as there is an audio signal? Or do I have to power on/off the unit manually?

Thanks and cheers from Switzerland
Reto

Depends a lot on the features that you need out of the DAC. If you just need USB input and/or Optical input,
a very well measuring, balanced DAC would be the Soncoz LA-QXD1 and also the Schitt Modius. Both are not much more in terms of costs comparatively but measure really well.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/soncoz-la-qxd1-balanced-dac-review.13459/

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/schiit-modius-balanced-dac-review.13769/

 

[cestmoi]

.

Were the scarring power issues fixed for the LA-QXD1?

 

[ModDIY]

Hi, I just received my DAC Leaf.

The model with the remote control, very basic but does the right thing. I will come back to you with my listening impressions with the stock OPs. By the way the JRC4580 are good OPs, I have a few, for the price it's very good.

There is no box for the DAC, on the other hand the packaging for the delivery is 10/10, very well protected and included USB cable and remote control. If this company wants to persist and take it up a notch with buyers, it would be in their interest to provide a nice box, even if it means selling a little more expensive. For the moment considering the price, I am not complaining

 

[bud947]

Is there finally a consensus on what each of the 7 op-amps is for?

From what I see on the circuitry, the two first on the base are I/V (I currently use OPA1612 but will try ADA4896), the middle ones are LPF (I use OPA1612), the single one is the line buffer/output. The op-amps on the module are the balanced buffer/output stage.

I tried OPA1622, OPA627 and OPA1612 at I/V stage and OPA1612 is clearly the best to my ears. You retrieve so much details and trebble extension but could be a bit fatiguing. OPA627 is really bass forward but you lose details, clarity and energy. I'm waiting for OPA1656 and ADA4896 to try at I/V stage.

PS: I have a sennheiser HD560S (very neutral sounding headphone) and was listening from USB (wasapi/asio made a big difference).

 

[Veri]

(wasapi/asio made a big difference).

Why would they

 

[bud947]

Why would they

I was listening with Amazon HD (flac files) and without exclusive wasapi the sound was missing clarity (non bit perfect ? or preprocessed by the internal realtek chip ?)

 

[Veri]

I was listening with Amazon HD (flac files) and without exclusive wasapi the sound was missing clarity (non bit perfect ? or preprocessed by the internal realtek chip ?)

Ah, if you are trying to bypass any and all processing then that is a fair point, yes.

 

[ModDIY]

Hi,

I changed the OP1612 on the I / V, this is what I did on my other DAC ES9038. On the buffer (one OP) output to RCA, I change to the OPA1692, like on my other DAC. The combination is perfect. For the moment I left the 2 JRC5532 which feeds the 2 XLRs because in my case it is connected to my studio sub.

In addition I do not change the 2 OPs which are on the top card, because they have the XLR output for the earphone, which I do not use.

As against the sound with the stock OP is very good. If you don't plan to change them, it's still a good DAC. But you have the option to change them which is a must.

 

[ModDIY]

Hi, this is the role of the POs, I based myself on the tracks.

Pay attention to the OP for the RCA output (OPA1692 for me), it is reversed compared to the others, so follow position 1.

Top card.

 

[bud947]

Hi, this is the role of the POs, I based myself on the tracks.

Pay attention to the OP for the RCA output (OPA1692 for me), it is reversed compared to the others, so follow position 1.

The middle ones (XLR outputs) are also reversed

 

[cestmoi]

@ModDIY

Salut!

I do appreciate your effort on sharing all that info!
I will try it as soon as I receive my DAC.

Is there any known set of amps capable of generating a good linear frequency response for this DAC?

By the way, are you going to pair your dac directly with any heaphone?



Merci.

 

[ModDIY]

The middle ones (XLR outputs) are also reversed

Yes I noticed after posting. Those I haven't changed.

@ModDIY

Salut!

I do appreciate your effort on sharing all that info!
I will try it as soon as I receive my DAC.

Is there any known set of amps capable of generating a good linear frequency response for this DAC?

By the way, are you going to pair your dac directly with any heaphone?



Merci.

An amplifier for loudspeakers ???

I don't use a headphone.

 

[cestmoi]

Yes I noticed after posting. Those I haven't changed.
An amplifier for loudspeakers ???

Sorry, I mean op amps to use with the DAC so I could get a neutral(flat) frequency response.

 

[ModDIY]

Sorry, I mean op amps to use with the DAC so I could get a neutral(flat) frequency response.

OPA1612 et OPA1692...and many others !!!

 

[bud947]

View attachment 135804

Top card.

View attachment 135806

@ModDIY after a careful look at the circuitry I can confirm two things :
- Single OP Amp Buffer goes to RCA (this is were you put OPA1692)
- The two first OP Amps are I/V stage for all other OP Amps (OPA1612 works well there)

I do think that OP Amps on the top card are used for both balanced ouputs (headphone and line XLR) but I can't confirm yet. If you look on the back of the board there are links between the top card and the balanced output XLR. Therefore you may have :
- balanced : I/V (first) -> Filter (middle) -> Output (top card) -> either XLR line or headphone
- unbalanced : I/V (first) -> Filter (middle) -> Output (single OP Amp) -> RCA line

 

[ModDIY]

@bud947

1 - The OP Amps on the top card are used for just balanced ouputs headphone , not line XLR.

2 - Filters are in Sabre ES9038Q2M DAC chips

I followed the lines on the PCB.

I correct :
Therefore you may have :
- balanced XLR line : I/V (first) -> middle Output -> XLR line

- balanced XLR headphone : I/V (first) -> OP Top Card Output -> XLR headphone

- unbalanced : I/V (first) -> Output (single OP Amp) -> RCA line

 

[bud947]

@ModDIY Did you look at the lines on the PCB back ?? If you could make a picture, it's pretty clear that these lines goes from the middle OP to the top card.
By filters I mean low pass filter like in this picture

 

[zanny]

I have read this thread with interest as was looking to upgrade Topping D10S (which itself is only a few week old, I bought it used).

Comparing all DACs from the price of this Leaf, all the way to X26 Pro - I ended up getting a used Topping D70 (non S). There are quite a few on the various used audio forums and price is not as cheap as this DAC, but a lot more affordable than the X16. Mine cost me US$300 delivered, used in Australia. I guess average global price used is about US$350.

Quite a few commentators on this thread pointed out quite rightly that there is a huge risk with these less well known brands. Besides the threads on here, google can't even find the main purchase page.

If you don't need MQA or Bluetooth (which I don't), here is a comparison. I also like the specs (AKM velvet sound) better. Note, I think weight is important to show quality, here you have 750g vs 2kg. I want to use it as a pre-amp to power speakers, so voltage of XLR at only 2V RMS on the Leaf is disappointing:

Leaf DAC Dual 9038Q2M SPEC :

2x 9038Q2M
Weight 750 grams
Audio input: Bluetooth / USB / LVDS / Optical / Coaxial
Audio output: Stereo RCA / XLR / Balanced headphone jack
BT CSR8675 supports ACC/SBC/APTX/APTX-LL/APTX-HD/LDAC
USB XMOS XU208
RCA inputs 2V RMS
XLR inputs 2V RMS
Headphone amp output power: 1.5W/32Ω, 200mW/300Ω
Matched headphone impedance: 16-300Ω

Topping D70 SPEC:

2x AK4497
Weight 2kg
Audio Input: USB / AES / COAX / Optical / IIS
Audio Output: Stereo RCA / Balanced XLR
USB XMOS XU208
AS509 series Accusilicon clocks
Nichion capacitors
RCA inputs 2V RMS
XLR inputs 4V RMS

I'm going back through the 58 page thread about the original D70 here and it just sounds like the best way to dip your toe into dual mono without spending heaps, which is the original aim of this Leaf being mentioned.

 

[bud947]

@zanny As several people stated before it's down to how much you're willing to pay and the outputs you need.
When the $9 apple usb to 3,5mm does 99db sinad it's pretty clear that DAC these days are unlikely to be the bottleneck of an audiophile system.

This DAC brings several features you see only on higher pricepoint which is why I bought one (I needed a headphone input and at least 2 outputs). You have dual mono DAC, balanced XLR outputs and 4-pin headphone XLR input -> this is unmatched at this price ($150).

Regarding AKM velvet sound, it's unlikely as DAC are supposed to be colorless. You'll rather get a true sound signature from OP Amps "distortions" (eg. OPA627 sound very different to OPA1612) and speakers.

PS: for the weight, it's less important on a DAC as the main weight difference will come from enclosure (steel vs aluminium) but I understand your voltage issue.