Neutron HiFi DAC V1 Review

[Rednaxela]

I had a BTR5, and never used that feature.

Out of interest, did you buy it for its DSP?

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Dongles operate on external power, so they are small, simple gadgets, not needing recharging, plug'n'go devices. As such, their outputs are limited, though as balanced, they can output 200mW or so,

Yes, and at a glance not much has meaningfully changed in at least 10 years if you can't be bothered with EQ etc. My 10 year old Arcam rPac is only about to be retired because I want something smaller and lighter! (From memory it outputs ~140mW, and has a negligible output impedance.)

That's why I can't easily decide between this Neutron and the Fiio KA17. For portability etc the Neutron has it. The Fiio has more power but do I really need it (I suspect not) and it's larger and apparenty runs hot. Portability is what I'm after here, I've got an ADI-2 DAC on my desk.

Dunno. The Fiio also has the advantage of being readily available via Amazon; if I could buy the Neutron just as easily though I think I'd probably go that way.

Alex

 

[Haskil]

Let's not hurt the flies' ass
ASR readers are able to choose based on their usage criteria and published measurements.
Personally, this device would not be of much use to me, the fact remains that if we go back 10 years, we would be amazed by its performance and today we can be amazed when we saw in the past of DAC headphone amps does not do better for much more money: this is undoubtedly the reason why it has a golfing panther and why the voters of our community favor.
5% against... 95 % for this dongle

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Let's not hurt the flies' ass

5% against... 95 % for this dongle

Yeah it looks very nice. I wish it was available via Amazon though!

 

[Ken Tajalli]

Out of interest, did you buy it for its DSP?

No.
For my usage, I need no more than Neutron music player on my Android or JRiver on Windows.

 

[Brianc]

At the moment I have on loan a Questyle M15i DAC dongle. I started listening to it without knowing the price. It sounded fine and seemed to have acceptable power, but it's only feature is the inclusion of a 4.4 balanced output (and I guess the see through window that has a few indicator lights). No onboard volume, Bluetooth, or app. Then I looked at the price: $250. "Dumb" DAC indeed. But it's pretty.

 

[rlw6534]

I don't really understand the comparisons with the Q5K (primarily a bluetooth receiver but with some USB DAC capabilities) and the RME desktop DAC/Amp. These are just not the same thing to me. I love my Q5K and the excellent support that comes with it, but it's definitely not my first choice for a USB DAC.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

I don't really understand the comparisons with the Q5K (primarily a bluetooth receiver but with some USB DAC capabilities) and the RME desktop DAC/Amp. These are just not the same thing to me. I love my Q5K and the excellent support that comes with it, but it's definitely not my first choice for a USB DAC.

I agree. These dongle DACs are all about portability. If it'll never leave your desktop then there're other options.

 

[Haskil]

For example : "You" have a pair of speakers which have been tested on ASR or Erin Corner and have a spinorama : "you" enter the speaker corrections into the Neutron Dongle and after "you" measure everything under listening conditions and correct with Audyssey, Dirac, REW, etc. with AVR or m"your" computer ?

 

[Robbo99999]

The fact remains that this DAC-Headphone amp has remarkable performance which is only limited by its relatively low output power which will be sufficient in many cases.

The fact remains that it has an adjustable cross fader, essential in my opinion for listening to headphones and a 10-band parametric equalization per channel... useful for listening to headphones and as a desktop DAC, because it can also be used...

We're on ASR and I'm reading some totally inappropriate and useless shouting matches.

What I see is that used as a Dac including 10-band parametric equalization per channel, it will power a small class D or AB amp as ASR tests many with remarkable performance for a very low overall price. reasonable and impeccable quality or a pair of amplified speakers with RCA inputs and that everything that the computer to which it will be connected will read will be corrected by its parametric equalizer...

The other two models Qudelix and RME which oppose it here are more powerful for headphone use, but one of the two has weak DAC measurements on ASR and the other, the magnificent RME, only has 5 bands of equalization per channel. If there were 10, not much would exist next to it given all its other features.

As we are on ASR and subjectivist chatter is not in season, everyone will choose according to their needs and ergonomic preferences.

Personally, I prefer that equalizations be loaded into the memory of a device than into software installed on my computer and I am a user of Roon, WMP, Itunes, Jriver, and Audirvana studio...

(Neutron DAC has 20 band per channel)

 

[sushi2020]

I voted "Great". This is a portable device and powerful enough to drive IEMs and portable headphones.

The Qudelix 5K is a different beast; the ability to change settings on the iPhone via Bluetooth is a big plus.

I think both are excellent devices and it would be interesting if this was a little cheaper and competed with the price of the Qudelix 5K.
I might buy one for my IEMs if I can find a used one or a sale price.

 

[DanTheMan]

My biggest reason for wanting one is to have an Ambiosonics through my computer desktop stereo. The 2V output would be perfect. Ambiosonics with a highly capable EQ could be cool for sure. The performance is essentially a Hidizs S8 with a lot more functionality and My S8 has been driving my desktop/music production system for a couple years. The USB-C is a better connector, but I would like it for less money.... The Ambiosonics is sort of a gimmick, but it is a fun one. No one else interested in this function?

 

[dmitrykos]

Dunno. The Fiio also has the advantage of being readily available via Amazon; if I could buy the Neutron just as easily though I think I'd probably go that way.

Neutron Code store is based on Shopify and order process is the same easy. Shopify is a great platform for vendors and shoppers, while Amazon is hostile to vendors. When order is processed you get tracking details from our fulfilling warehouse to follow the delivery process. For USA/Europe it takes around 6-8 days to deliver.

the ability to change settings on the iPhone via Bluetooth is a big plus.

NConfigurator on Android is on radar, there was also a solution proposed by @LoFiAudiophile to implement communication via audio input/output on iOS devices. Will be implemented with time.

Interestingly, the discussion about NConfirgurator's support of mobile platforms (Android, iOS) misled some readers of this thread regarding DAC V1's ability to work with mobile phones (got questions by e-mail). Therefore, I would like to clarify to those and all future readers that - DAC V1 is universal USB Audio 2.0 compliant USB DAC device which can work with any USB host (mobile phone, PC, laptop, ...) which supports USB Audio. DAC V1 hardware design was optimized for low power consumption to give longer listening times on mobile devices.

NConfigurator is just a configuration app which allows to customize DAC V1's behavior. NConfigurator is currently available on PC platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux). Later it will appear inside Neutron Player and probably as a stand-alone mobile app too.

 

[caocaolatre199x]

Like what?

Fiio KA17 ($149.99), Colorfly CDA-M2 ($159), Ibasso DC06 Pro ($119), Shanling Onix XI1 ($109), TRN TE Pro ($86.99).
All of these are cheaper than the Hifi DAC V1. And they all have higher configurations with powerful 4.4 output that are becoming very popular, they also all have more eye-catching designs. They did not seem to consult the market before releasing and pricing this product? I will be surprised for this DAC V1 if this is 5 years ago.

 

[Haskil]

Fiio KA17 ($149.99), Colorfly CDA-M2 ($159), Ibasso DC06 Pro ($119), Shanling Onix XI1 ($109), TRN TE Pro ($86.99).
All of these are cheaper than the Hifi DAC V1. And they all have higher configurations with powerful 4.4 output that are becoming very popular, they also all have more eye-catching designs. They did not seem to consult the market before releasing and pricing this product? I will be surprised for this DAC V1 if this is 5 years ago.

With a DSP that provides a parametric equalizer of 20 bands per channel, a crossfeld and an ambisonic?

 

[Takura]

It would be nice if DACs with PEQ could measure the impedance of the connected headphones to identify it and automatically select the last used PEQ setting after swapping headphones - assuming that the headphones have unique impedance characteristics.

 

[caocaolatre199x]

With a DSP that provides a parametric equalizer of 20 bands per channel, a crossfeld and an ambisonic?

For me personally, those things are not much valuable. I simply plugged and heard, I never used Equalizer. If I want another sound, I will change another headphone. I think from the user perspective, no one likes complicated adjustments. It is just a dongle DAC for convenience, compact, why make it more complicated by confusing settings? It is just a donge DAC with very limited output power. It is not desktop DAC. I think they should spend money to add 4.4 outputs instead of meaningless settings. If you are a person who loves custom settings, buy an E1DA or Creative DAC. With E1DA, the customizations even operate right on your mobile app.
Moreover, the dongle DAC I suggest on there is not necessarily no custom. Fiio Ka17 uses XMOS 316 as the best and most expensive USB Receiver chip at the moment. It also consists of 10 frequency bands that can be customized. Allow the adjustment of frequency, increase and bandwidth of each PEQ band. This dongle has an extremely complex internal structure. With Desktop Mode, it has an output power of up to 649mW at 32 Ohm. All of this is only $ 150.
IBASSO also has UAC app. The UAC app now supports a 100 steps of hardware volume control, 2 options of digital filter, a 20 step L/R balance adjustment and a power saver mode thank can be turned On or OFF. For me that is more than enough, I don't even use it. The most important thing is that all the dongle on the other has the Output Power blowing away HIFI DAC V1.
All settings, custom software become meaningless if you do not have enough electricity at the output.

 

[staticV3]

It would be nice if DACs with PEQ could measure the impedance of the connected headphones to identify it and automatically select the last used PEQ setting after swapping headphones - assuming that the headphones have unique impedance characteristics.

DAC chips like the cs43131 actually have impedance sense capabilities, though AFAIK it's only been used for auto gain so far (lower impedance=less gain to avoid clipping).

 

[Haskil]

For me personally, those things are not much valuable. I simply plugged and heard, I never used Equalizer. If I want another sound, I will change another headphone. I think from the user perspective, no one likes complicated adjustments. It is just a dongle DAC for convenience, compact, why make it more complicated by confusing settings? It is just a donge DAC with very limited output power.

Why not, but Amir's response to which you were responding assessed the product in all its possibilities. This Dongle therefore has 20 parametric bands per channel, an ambisonic DSP and a crossfeld and it can power a power amplifier. Those who just want a powerful dongle-dac without corrections to power insensitive headphones don't buy it, it's as simple as anything.

 

[CedarX]

Maybe the fiio BTR15 can be added to that list ?
Allows for PEQ from app and delivered much more power...

Fiio just released a new BTR13 at $70. Looks a lot like a Q5K, but built around 2x CS43131, and with a display.

Doesn’t change anything about the V1 and its (excellent) measurements… But it makes me question the price a little more…