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Neutron HiFi DAC V1 Review

Rate this portable DAC & HP Amp:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 10 5.7%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 67 38.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 98 56.0%

  • Total voters
    175

amirm

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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 portable DAC and headphone amplifier with signal processing (e.g. EQ). It was sent to me by the company and costs US $180.
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC Equalization Parametric Review.jpg


I didn't think it was possible to give a feeling of luxury and style to a dongle like this but Neutron manages to do so. The display is very small but high resolution, allowing you to see the current settings. I wish that it would display the volume rather than sampling rate by default. It is highly configurable though the config utility but I didn't see an option to do so. Speaking of the app, it allows more capabilities than just about any DAC I have seen let alone portable ones. For example, it comes with EQ profile for hundreds of headphones and IEMs (more on this later). Importantly, you have access to parametric EQ so you can correct for headphone deficiencies and listening preference.

I was impressed by the transparency of the signal processing. When you turn it on or off it will stop playing for a few seconds. But after that, changes are made quickly and with no audible glitch at all. This lets you optimize things faster and perform AB tests.

The unit runs a bit warm. Idle consumption was around 0.3 watt but was variable. When driving my headphones, it went up to 0.6 watt and mostly hovered around half a watt.

Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Measurements
Due to nature of these devices, I can't run my full suite of tests. But there is enough to get a good feel of its performance. Let's start with the dashboard:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC Measurement.png


That is impressive performance for any DAC let alone a portable one:
best portable dac headphone amp review.png


I turned on the DSP/GEQ but let the frequency response as flat. Performance did not change:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC DSP Parametric EQ On Measurement.png


Noise performance is excellent at full volume and nearly so at 50 mv output:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC DNR Measurement.png


Portable devices tend to suffer in jitter tests but the DAC V1 performs well:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC Jitter Measurement.png


Courtesy of 2 volt output, we have good amount of power for high impedance devices such as 300 ohm:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC Power 300 Measurement.png

Most powerful headphone adapter dongle 300 ohm review.png


Likewise at 32 ohm:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC Power 32 Measurement.png

Most powerful headphone adapter dongle 32 ohm review.png


Sweeping impedances shows essentially zero output impedance:
Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Portable DSP DAC Power vs impedance Measurement.png


Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1 Listening Tests
I tested the DAC V1 with Sennheiser HD650. It performed excellently with comfortable level at around 60% volume. There was plenty of bass and of course detail and overall fidelity. I then switched to Hifiman HE400i. Similar performance was had, making me want to sit there and listen. Instead, I decided to pull up the frequency response corrections from different sources. Not the fault of DAC V1 but I thought all of them were poor. Not only was tonality wrong, but level of distortion increased due to lack of headroom. This might work better for high impedance headphones where the DAC V1 doesn't clip.

For kicks, I also tried to drive my everyday headphone, the Dan Clark E3. As measurements would predict, I could only get to modest volumes before audible distortion set it. At max volume there was both clicking and distortion. Usable at 50 to 60% volume but really not a good fit for this low impedance and difficult to drive headphone.

Of course, driving Tanchjim One IEM was a walk in the park with superb fidelity and plenty of volume headroom.

As I said in the intro, adjusting DSP settings was instant, inviting one to play and play with settings! :)

Conclusions
When developer of Neutron audio player told me he was working on a hardware DAC, I just about told him he was out of his mind! Boy did he prove me wrong. His software skills shows in incredibly powerful and useful software abilities of the DAC V1. It renders almost any other DAC as "dumb." What's more, the hardware platform is highly capable, achieving full transparency as far as noise and distortion. The only thing I would wish for is balanced/differential output of 4 volts in a future device. Yes, $180 is a lot for a dongle but for that, you get a device that lets you squeeze the bester performance out of your headphone and IEM. And good looks as well.

I am happy to recommend the Neutron HiFi™ DAC V1. It is a model of innovation and performance in a portable audio product.

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

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costs US $180
It renders almost any other DAC as "dumb." What's more, the hardware platform is highly capable
A few years ago, I paid for Neutron Music Player at expensive price but later did not use it because the interface was too old, the disaster color scheme, too many settings hidden behind the confused menu and did not support Bit Perfect. Then I continued to pay for USB Audio Player Pro and was happy with it. For Neutron, this manufacturer is valuing its products too high. With $180 and simple hardware capabilities, there are too many other dongles that can blow its ability. I'm sorry for not having the same opinion as you.
 
20 band PEQ. This is how you make a DAC.
Agree and this alone makes it worth the extra in comparison to others. This can even be used as a pre-amp putting out 2V on 3.5mm to RCA.

I believe this uses the ES9219Q DAC.

Nice one @dmitrykos and @amirm for your testing. :)

32 Ohm600 Ohm100 kOhm
Max Measured Level1.257 / 1.262 Vrms2.03 Vrms2.033 Vrms
THD+N (see Note)0.000462% / -106.7 dB0.00028% / -111 dB0.00028% / -111 dB
DNR116 dBA120 dBA120 dBA
SNR115.9 dBA119 dBA119.5 dBA
Noise Floor 2.574 / 2.592 μVrms2.727/2.693 μVrms2.695 / 2.700 μVrms
Frequency Response/Flatness±0.02 dB @ 20-20 kHz±0.018 dB @ 20-20 kHz±0.018 dB @ 20-20 kHz
Crosstalk69 dB93.6 dB117 dB



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JSmith
 
Hi
Thanks for reviewing this interesting device.

Did you try pushing your own corrections in the PEQ ?
Does the EQ allow overall volume correction, to prevent overloads?

(By the way, the Tanchjim Space is still not in your chart.)
 
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Seems a little underpowered to me. I have a Hidizs S9 Pro Plus (Martha) which outputs at 32 ohms 138 Mw with the single ended 3.5 and 183 Mw with 4.4 balanced. It only costs $90 on Ali. Doesn't have the PEQ, but I get that from USB Audio Player Pro (costs around $15) on my Android phone.

So if you're willing to roll your own a little bit, you can, I think, do better than the Neutron for cheaper.
 
Crossfeed looks interesting, I've quite long hoped this would be implemented into desktop DACs with headphone amps
 
This does look cool. I could add it to my iFi Zen Stream (USB out) to get REW determined room correction for a second system or something.
 
How cynical that one of the first hifi DAC's with EQ capabilities is a dongle. How many discussions did I see about how difficult and expensive it would be to provide this feature?
 
How cynical that one of the first hifi DAC's with EQ capabilities is a dongle. How many discussions did I see about how difficult and expensive it would be to provide this feature?
It's not the first, by far. There is RME's ADI-2 DAC series (targetted to hifi, not pro), the Topping D50 III and the Qudelix 5k.
 
Thanks for another excellent review, @amirm , much appreciated. Onwards and upwards!
 
They were able to trademark the word 'HiFi' ?
Darn ... now to avoid using that word written that way, from now on I must write it as Hi-Fi or HighFi or something to avoid a claim.

@amirm
Integrated DSP is great, is it a 1-time set and then always applied (so no smart devices needed afterwards ?)
Can one easily set different presets (when using different headphones with it) without having to use smart gear ?
No filter response plots this time ?
 
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