Review and Measurements of Speaka USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier

[Zilfallion]

Huh, that does pretty darn well for such a cheap DAC/Amp. That's the type of thing if it were more available I'd recommend some people just to get an improvement over poor onboard if they were having problems with it.

 

[Jimster480]

But who would consider AQ a serious audio company (serious as in science, research and facts driven)?

idk,
But it does seem like this is the second "name brand" that is making crap that falls short of their chinese competitors.
I think if he tests the DF red that it will be much better, this gives people the sense of "upgrading" when they buy the better model.
But AQ is a shady company selling "usb cleaners".... as soon as you go down that road I question your actual goals.

 

[dat yeti]

Same?

https://www.amazon.com/XtremPro-Portable-USB-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B01FQHBDI4

Definitely looks similar. Hope someone can chime in as the link you provided seems amazing for the price in general for small portable dac/amp.

 

[amirm]

Similar enclosure for sure. The only thing is that it advertises 192 kHz and Speaka stops at 96 kHz.

I went ahead and purchased it and will measure after it arrives.

 

[Palladium]

Unsurprising results considering just how much serious EE "engineering" is done these days aka outsourcing everything but the brand itself to the lowest bidder in China.

 

[mindbomb]

I'm curious to see if the higher voltage output of the speaka come at some cost in terms of distortion, relative to the audioquest.

But I am impressed that something that costs so little isn't outright horrible. I'm also surprised it didn't have modi 2-like jitter. I thought that would pop up again at this price point.

 

[Jimster480]

Unsurprising results considering just how much serious EE "engineering" is done these days aka outsourcing everything but the brand itself to the lowest bidder in China.

That's the problem too, company don't care about quality products... they care about making money and everything is about the lowest bidder.

 

[bunkbail]

idk,
But it does seem like this is the second "name brand" that is making crap that falls short of their chinese competitors.
I think if he tests the DF red that it will be much better, this gives people the sense of "upgrading" when they buy the better model.
But AQ is a shady company selling "usb cleaners".... as soon as you go down that road I question your actual goals.

You haven't seen their cables yet. Many people I know bought their overpriced Diamond series cables (USB, coax cables etc.) but the most baffling ones is this $1000 1m HDMI cable.

 

[Jimster480]

You haven't seen their cables yet. Many people I know bought their overpriced Diamond series cables (USB, coax cables etc.) but the most baffling ones is this $1000 1m HDMI cable.

Never knew they made those LOL
The reviews are glorious!

 

[sssn]

The only Audioquest item I like are their Nighthawk headphones. They're very competently designed. Especially distortions are low.
Alas, the designer gave it a very muffled, overly warm sound signature by choice. But fortunately, it can be remedied with a pad swap. I put Shure SRH1540 pads on the Hawks and now they're amazing.

 

[PurpaSmart]

Wow that's pretty good for under $20.

 

[Jimster480]

Wow that's pretty good for under $20.

Its amazing for under $20, I'll almost bet $20 that it will probably beat the FiiO K1 at $40

 

[tili]

What a coincidence! My pilot friend just landed 9 hours ago in Düsseldorf. However the DAC is sold out in Düsseldorf stores and the web store...

 

[duo8]

It's too bad I haven't had any luck finding the same board on chinese sites. That could solve the supply issue.

 

[Sal1950]

You haven't seen their cables yet. Many people I know bought their overpriced Diamond series cables (USB, coax cables etc.) but the most baffling ones is this $1000 1m HDMI cable.

Complete audiophoolery and snake-oil rip off at that. Everyone who's ever had issues with HDMI when it came to handshakes, etc with high speed 4k UHD signals, etc on AVS forum, etc; has had them completely cured with $4 a meter Monoprice premium cables. As good as ever needed at the current HDMI specs.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024021&p_id=15427&seq=1&format=2

 

[amirm]

What a coincidence! My pilot friend just landed 9 hours ago in Düsseldorf. However the DAC is sold out in Düsseldorf stores and the web store...

Maybe I created a run on them after my review!

Let's hope the Amazon one performs the same. It should be here soon.

Meanwhile, I will hold an auction for the one I have with a reserve of $200.

 

[danadam]

A guy says here that is has 1020B usb interface, ES9023 dac and TI 6130 amp. There are also some board pictures.

 

[duo8]

A guy says here that is has 1020B usb interface, ES9023 dac and TI 6130 amp. There are also some board pictures.

Looks identical to the one from monoprice.

 

[amirm]

Same?

https://www.amazon.com/XtremPro-Portable-USB-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B01FQHBDI4

So far yes! Mine arrived this afternoon and I did some quick tests. So far the two are identical! Even the box is the same size, shape and color. The back has writing in (British) English, German and Italian so cleary targeted toward the European market as with Speaka. I will do more testing later but for now, I say we have found its twin! Thanks for searching for it.

 

[bunkbail]

I found a similar product on Taobao that costs about USD 20.

EDIT: This one has different DAC chip and is cheaper at USD 14.