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Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

bunkbail

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Damn. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this $99 DAC is performing this good and yet the designer provides the schematics on the net, FOR FREE?! When was the last time something like this happened in audio industry? The ol' ODAC days?
 

Veri

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Damn. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this $99 DAC is performing this good and yet the designer provides the schematics on the net, FOR FREE?! When was the last time something like this happened in audio industry? The ol' ODAC days?

I guess we finally know what nvawguy ended up doing :D :D
Spoiler: he's not amir
 

bunkbail

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I guess we finally know what nvawguy ended up doing :D:D
Spoiler: he's not amir
LOL.

But seriously though, how do they recoup the money for R&D (assuming that they own the APx555 unit) and still provide the schematics while selling well-engineered products for very little money in this niche market? o_O
 

derp1n

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willow

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willow, is this DAC completely pop-free on turnon/turnoff and spdif sync/unsync ?
when using alone Tone Board, it can be SPDIF in to ESS DAC
when using the Tone board with VIMs, it can be SPDIF in to VIMs or VIMs SPDIF out to ESS DAC.
check the below picture:
Khadas Tone Board.png
 

bunkbail

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bunkbail

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sure, we have two versions of Tone board, it can be used alone or used along with SBC.
but when using alone, it can't support SPDIF out.
No I mean can the DIY case be used with Tone board alone?
 

pos

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when using alone Tone Board, it can be SPDIF in to ESS DAC
when using the Tone board with VIMs, it can be SPDIF in to VIMs or VIMs SPDIF out to ESS DAC.
My question was about pops/noises/clicks/thumps that can occur on the analog outputs when a DAC is turned on or off, or when it get or looses spdif synchronization (sampling frequency change, etc.).
Does your DAC emit such clicks or is it completely silent in all those instances?
 

Red_Red

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Hello,

As others have asked, could you please also test the SPDIF entry (in entry mode)?

Too bad they do not seem to have planned direct link USB to SPDIF (in output mode) in stand alone use...

And as I am new to this forum, I greet everyone sympathetically.
 

Krunok

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Hello,

As others have asked, could you please also test the SPDIF entry (in entry mode)?

Too bad they do not seem to have planned direct link USB to SPDIF (in output mode) in stand alone use...

And as I am new to this forum, I greet everyone sympathetically.

If you're looking for a cheap but good USB to SPDIF converter (called also a "USB bridge") take a look at Topping D10.
 

Red_Red

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If you're looking for a cheap but good USB to SPDIF converter (called also a "USB bridge") take a look at Topping D10.
Thank you even I had already thought about the Topping D10.
That said, the test conducted by our host, was not particularly extensive if not compare the influence of the D10 on the response of the RME ADI-2 DAC or shiit modi 2 ... I would have preferred a direct signal analysis at the Topping D10 SPDIF output.
 

TimW

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amirm

amirm

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Here is the S/PDIF input performance. You activate it by just hooking up a USB power supply to USB port. I used the little switcher Wesion sent me.

Khadas Tone Board DAC SPDIF Dashboard Measurement.png


With USB input, Channel 2 had some spikes around 10 kHz which are now gone, resulting in nearly 2 dB improvement.
 
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