Review and Measurements of E1DA 9038S BAL Portable DAC & Amp

[IVX]

Chipless
sorry, I got mad when again hearing about any kinda adapters now, just tired to reply the same 500 times.

 

[IVX]

mkawa
it is easier and faster than paypal but if you want, I'll give you email for paypal details.

 

[Holyred1992]

@IVX I have some questions:
- When will 9038D be released exactly ?
- Is there any differencies in sound quality between 9038D and 9038s ?
- What is the price of 9038D ?

thanks in advance

 

[IVX]

can not say exactly, sorry.

 

[Holyred1992]

can not say exactly, sorry.

You mean that you are not sure about audio quality also ?

 

[Veri]

You mean that you are not sure about audio quality also ?

He means, it is still in prototype phase. You will need to wait for finalised version for any meaningful answers .

 

[Bixet]

And I think you can also refer to his previous post, i guess it would also apply for "when will the 9038d be available" :
"just tired to reply the same 500 times. "

 

[snip3r77]

snip3r77 are you sure talking about the efficiency?

Apologies if it's a bit confusing.

I'm not sure how it will help but I guess there is too much power which is a good thing to power power hungry headphones but if one were to use for IEMS, it might be overpowered and I'm just wondering if reducing the headamp power will be able to reduce the battery required from the cell phone as most of us using it for in a portable manner. Of course if it's connected to a notebook there will be no issues.

Just wondering if it helps on power consumption. I'm not a techie so my question might be naive.

 

[IVX]

snip3r77, did you see my post about Meizu HiFi DAC $20? An ideal solution for you:
1) power the same as cobalt, smls idea and so on but 4g weight. Idle current few times less.
2) THD 30 times less vs cobalt, less noise
3) 15 times cheaper vs cobalt
My DAC about 20 times more powerful, has a bit less noise and better THD, so I can advertise Meizu DAC no problem Actually, it is not about Meizu but Cirrus Logic, because there are only 2 tiny IC and pretty much nothing more, so almost no way to get bad result with such technology.

 

[Holyred1992]

I received my Audiosense T800 a week ago, listening to it directly from my Oneplus 5t is such a a pain in the ass, I want E1DA 9038D so badly

Counting day by day for it to release

Thank you very much and hope you finish your work soon, @IVX

 

[bobbooo]

snip3r77, did you see my post about Meizu HiFi DAC $20? An ideal solution for you:
1) power the same as cobalt, smls idea and so on but 4g weight. Idle current few times less.
2) THD 30 times less vs cobalt, less noise
3) 15 times cheaper vs cobalt
My DAC about 20 times more powerful, has a bit less noise and better THD, so I can advertise Meizu DAC no problem Actually, it is not about Meizu but Cirrus Logic, because there are only 2 tiny IC and pretty much nothing more, so almost no way to get bad result with such technology.

Unfortunately it seems like the Meizu HiFi produces pops and clicks during playback, see here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../first-impressions-of-meizu-hifi-dongle.8263/

That would rule it out completely for me.

 

[Veri]

My custom 2.5mm to balanced XLR cable from Ghent audio arrived today. Wiring as described by @solderdude

2.5mm balanced TRRS -> 2x XLR 3-pin
Tip -> pin-3 Right channel (R- signal or RN)
Ring (next to tip) -> pin-2 Right channel (R+ signal or RP)
Ring (next to sleeve) -> pin-2 Left channel (L+ signal or LP)
Sleeve -> pin-3 Right channel (L- signal or LN)
pin 1 and screen are left open on both XLR connectors

Ghent proposed two solutions:
Solution-1: one single Canare L-4E6S with 10-15cm splitting, 1m length, price is $30/pc;
Solution-2: two silver-plate wires with full-range shielding, 1m length, price is $55/pc;

I went with cheapest $30 option and the cable works perfectly as an interconnect as expected. Pretty happy.

 

[headwhacker]

@IVX, if I connect my 9038S G2 to my Macbook Pro USB-C port, does it require external power source to get the 9038S maximum power output?

Or can Macbook Pro sufficiently supply the required voltage/current to achieve the maximum power output?

 

[mmicko]

@IVX, if I connect my 9038S G2 to my Macbook Pro USB-C port, does it require external power source to get the 9038S maximum power output?

Or can Macbook Pro sufficiently supply the required voltage/current to achieve the maximum power output?

There is no power limitation based on capability of you power source = if will be your MBP able to power 9038S then you will get full power output.

 

[IVX]

mmicko, thank you for your assistance! Yes, I have data from a field about USB overloaded and Off under to high power only with iOS(weakest case) and Androids(only some of them). No data if power interrupted with PC/Mac/Linux.

 

[Herbert]

Just wondering as this DAC measures extremely well but can be "only" be powered and operated by a PC:
Are there any solutions out there that this DAC could be used as a standalone device?. Not much needed,
no volume control nor selectable filter characteristics. Just something that receives SPDIF and spits out USB...

 

[Veri]

Just wondering as this DAC measures extremely well but can be "only" be powered and operated by a PC:
Are there any solutions out there that this DAC could be used as a standalone device?. Not much needed,
no volume control nor selectable filter characteristics. Just something that receives SPDIF and spits out USB...

What...? It can be used with phones etc. Receives SPDIF and spits out USB?? I'm not following.

 

[Herbert]

In other words to use it as a standalone device - like a classical DAC

 

[somebodyelse]

In other words to use it as a standalone device - like a classical DAC

Raspberry Pi + HifiBerry Digi+ I/O could do that. It might need to resample it, or have a big buffer, since it can't control the precise data rate of either the SPDIF source or the USB device. You'd probably be better off with a DAC that's designed with an SPDIF input.

 

[IVX]

somebodyelse
recently I found that Raspberry Pi almost unique way to get spdif into USB, especially for 24/192. I need that for my old AP analyzer, which has spdif/aes the only option for digital output. Without such SPDIF/USB such digital feature 99% useless today. On another hand, if I'll buy Raspberry Pi I'll not able to resist and will design an inexpensive(because no housing, no assembling) DAC board with performance similar to 9038S/D.