This is a review and detailed measurements of the now discontinued, Oppo Sonica USB balanced DAC and network streamer. It is on kind loan from a member. When it was on sale, the Sonica costs US $799 from Oppo direct. I think the member bought it used so they are available and hence this review.
The Sonic has a solid build:
I did not play much with the functionality though. Selected the input as USB, used XLR as the output and set the volume control to fixed. All was easy enough without reading the manual.
Nice and near rear panel:
As you may be able to tell, it was manufactured back in 2016. It used the top of the line ESS ES9038Pro. Will we see the dreaded IMD hump there? Let's find out how it does there and in other areas relative to more recent DACs.
DAC Audio Measurements
As usual, we start with our 1 kHz pure tone as represented in our dashboard:
This is very good and places the Sonica in top band of our tested DACs:
Dynamic range is near top of the class as well:
Here is the IMD versus level:
Please ignore the little glitches. Once in a while I run into a DAC where the AP software struggles to keep up with it and causes momentary errors. You may be able to see the slightest hint of "ESS IMD Hump" but it surely is addressed well.
Jitter and noise is nailed as well:
Linearity? This thing has it:
32-tone test:
Finally, THD+N versus frequency:
Conclusion
What a shame Oppo got out of consumer audio and video. The Sonica is one great DAC and despite its age, it is able to beat many modern DACs in performance. If you can get a used one for a good price, it would make a good choice. But keep in mind that it is a complex beast with fancy graphical display and such and support may be expensive.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Running on empty getting reviews out as some of these members have been waiting a long time for them. I hope you feel sorry for me and try to cheer me up by donating using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The Sonic has a solid build:
I did not play much with the functionality though. Selected the input as USB, used XLR as the output and set the volume control to fixed. All was easy enough without reading the manual.
Nice and near rear panel:
DAC Audio Measurements
As usual, we start with our 1 kHz pure tone as represented in our dashboard:
This is very good and places the Sonica in top band of our tested DACs:
Dynamic range is near top of the class as well:
Here is the IMD versus level:
Please ignore the little glitches. Once in a while I run into a DAC where the AP software struggles to keep up with it and causes momentary errors. You may be able to see the slightest hint of "ESS IMD Hump" but it surely is addressed well.
Jitter and noise is nailed as well:
Linearity? This thing has it:
32-tone test:
Finally, THD+N versus frequency:
Conclusion
What a shame Oppo got out of consumer audio and video. The Sonica is one great DAC and despite its age, it is able to beat many modern DACs in performance. If you can get a used one for a good price, it would make a good choice. But keep in mind that it is a complex beast with fancy graphical display and such and support may be expensive.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Running on empty getting reviews out as some of these members have been waiting a long time for them. I hope you feel sorry for me and try to cheer me up by donating using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
