Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

[Jave]

..... a truck from southern France came by with a new house.

View attachment 21065

Did you have any problems? Did it fit well? (specifically the USB port)

 

[Carlo2AC]

I am a layman on audio and was directed to this forum while seaching for a nice AMP / DAC solution for my Windows 10 PC



I have set my eyes on this Khadas Tone Board and a JDS Labs Atom, is this the best solution i can get at 199-299 price range?



What version of the Khadas Tone Board should i choose, VIMs or Generic Edition? what changes between them?



Do i need anything else to make this setup work or is everything included in the packages if i buy both Khadas and JDS Atom?
Like, do i need to buy a power supply or just connecting the Khadas Tone Board on USB will work 100%?

 

[Roen]

If all you want is a DAC, get the Generic.

 

[ngs428]

I am a layman on audio and was directed to this forum while seaching for a nice AMP / DAC solution for my Windows 10 PC



I have set my eyes on this Khadas Tone Board and a JDS Labs Atom, is this the best solution i can get at 199-299 price range?



What version of the Khadas Tone Board should i choose, VIMs or Generic Edition? what changes between them?



Do i need anything else to make this setup work or is everything included in the packages if i buy both Khadas and JDS Atom?
Like, do i need to buy a power supply or just connecting the Khadas Tone Board on USB will work 100%?

Get the generic board. You will need a short RCA cable to connect the 2 devices. Also the Atom has a 1/4” headphone jack, so you may need an adapter. Both the cable and the adapter are sold on the JDS website.

No power needed if you are connecting the TB via USB. Also, the tone board does not come with a case. There are a few options for that though.

Best at this price range from what I have read. Just bought them on Monday... waiting...

 

[kprog]

Me too, waiting for you to put khadas on sale, it seems that now they are out of stock ..

 

[ngs428]

Me too, waiting for you to put khadas on sale, it seems that now they are out of stock ..

Yeah, they are on preorders now until 2/12. Chinese New Year, so nothing happening over there business wise..

 

[Carlo2AC]

If all you want is a DAC, get the Generic.

They are both at the same price, if the only difference is the soldered thing then wouldn't getting the VIMs edition be better or is there any difference driver / entrance wise?

Get the generic board. You will need a short RCA cable to connect the 2 devices. Also the Atom has a 1/4” headphone jack, so you may need an adapter. Both the cable and the adapter are sold on the JDS website.



No power needed if you are connecting the TB via USB. Also, the tone board does not come with a case. There are a few options for that though.

Best at this price range from what I have read. Just bought them on Monday... waiting...

I think the adaptor will come with the headphone, you mean 1/4" to 1/8"? or another adaptor? Will look for a RCA cable around

 

[ngs428]

They are both at the same price, if the only difference is the soldered thing then wouldn't getting the VIMs edition be better or is there any difference driver / entrance wise?





I think the adaptor will come with the headphone, you mean 1/4" to 1/8"? or another adaptor? Will look for a RCA cable around

Yeah, 1/4” to 3.5mm. May come with the headphone. I just bought the one from JDS to get a better one.

 

[BYRTT]

Did you have any problems? Did it fit well? (specifically the USB port)

Hardware wise it fits perfect so thumb up for that, finish/look wise its not perfect at end edges of the two big profiles that form the lower plus upper half of box, where one can say the front and back panel are much better and nearly a perfect finish/look, that said pictures shown on dealers site are honests and show same none perfect edges so not a big deal for me in i expected that level of finish/look.

Surprise was didn't really expect any subjective sound change, but sensed it was a really big change and ended up run it naked or with only front plate mounted as seen below to confirm there was this big difference, so will have to do some controlled research steps including measurements to see if some answers can be found why this happen, and in the end even i use it as USB interface also will try use external 5V power over pin 1/21 on the 40-Pin header (J1).

For case where TB was boxed sound change was not senced to the better, but also it had run naked for +2 weeks where i had dialed in some very gentle EQ down the road so lets see with some controlled research where it ends, for info my chain is Win7/JRiver/WASAPI or ASIO (after mood)/TB/Neurochrome HP-1/HD 650 and JRiver run a VST avarage response correction for HD650 from Sonarworks Ref 4 package.

 

[maxxevv]

Check if the USB cutout was touching the board connector.

 

[BYRTT]

Good point there but had it right from the start in that there is about 1-1,5 mm distance from PCB edge to plane of back plate, outer metal house of USB connector is touching the paint but it should be no problem in that same outer metal house is soldered to same ground on PCB as the three times screws and stands that connect PCB ground to aluminiumum house.

 

[maxxevv]

Try wrapping some insulation tape around the USB connector to break the contact and see if it makes a difference.

 

[headwhacker]

Hardware wise it fits perfect so thumb up for that, finish/look wise its not perfect at end edges of the two big profiles that form the lower plus upper half of box, where one can say the front and back panel are much better and nearly a perfect finish/look, that said pictures shown on dealers site are honests and show same none perfect edges so not a big deal for me in i expected that level of finish/look.

Surprise was didn't really expect any subjective sound change, but sensed it was a really big change and ended up run it naked or with only front plate mounted as seen below to confirm there was this big difference, so will have to do some controlled research steps including measurements to see if some answers can be found why this happen, and in the end even i use it as USB interface also will try use external 5V power over pin 1/21 on the 40-Pin header (J1).

For case where TB was boxed sound change was not senced to the better, but also it had run naked for +2 weeks where i had dialed in some very gentle EQ down the road so lets see with some controlled research where it ends, for info my chain is Win7/JRiver/WASAPI or ASIO (after mood)/TB/Neurochrome HP-1/HD 650 and JRiver run a VST avarage response correction for HD650 from Sonarworks Ref 4 package.

View attachment 21105

What is the change you perceive? Is it presence of hum? Static? I don't expect musical difference if this is due to case/grounding.

 

[BYRTT]

Try wrapping some insulation tape around the USB connector to break the contact and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks will try it out although have not high hope in as said the three PCB stands made of brass bond the same PCB ground potential to chassis.

What is the change you perceive? Is it presence of hum? Static? I don't expect musical difference if this is due to case/grounding.

Also myself didn't expect musical difference and maybe i have kind of luxury problem dialing in some very gentle EQ preference for the naked setup that raised this DAC's out of box great performance to sky high subjective levels. Few minutes ago tried box/unbox it again and its good enough that ears tell a difference so there's no way out go a more controlled research route including measurements, but don't get me wrong it sounds great also boxed with same clueless silent background, but in a head phone domain one is very close to direct sound and i wan't my constantly level of more than 8bit gooseflesh on arms back

 

[alashikata]

Does anyone get a beep sound on firmware 1226? It's kinda random. Happened 6 times during 4 hours playing. When it's beep, it keeps going every 50 -80 seconds which I had to disconnect/reconnect the USB to get it's working. I posted the probelm on Khadas forum, not sure if they see it or not. I remember someone was mentioned that before too.

Played in Window xo 64 bit with Foobar2000, seem like the problem started when I clicked on another format like between FLAC and MP3. Didn't get problem with other DACs

 

[nightfishing]

Does anyone get a beep sound on firmware 1226? It's kinda random. Happened 6 times during 4 hours playing. When it's beep, it keeps going every 50 -80 seconds which I had to disconnect/reconnect the USB to get it's working. I posted the probelm on Khadas forum, not sure if they see it or not. I remember someone was mentioned that before too.

Played in Window xo 64 bit with Foobar2000, seem like the problem started when I clicked on another format like between FLAC and MP3. Didn't get problem with other DACs

The beep has to do with eval drivers. Need to use the stable. They are built in to prevent folks from using the eval drivers for anything more than testing.

 

[alashikata]

The beep has to do with eval drivers. Need to use the stable. They are built in to prevent folks from using the eval drivers for anything more than testing.

Thanks, didn't pay attention to that. Why the heck they keep the eval on the download section.

 

[nightfishing]

Thanks, didn't pay attention to that. Why the heck they keep the eval on the download section.

If you read their forum I think there is a language barrier sometimes. Plus i believe you need to install the eval to access the firmware upgrade tool. Not sure why though but that's how it worked for me. After updating the firmware I just rolled back the drivers. As a bonus you get the spy tool

 

[alashikata]

If you read their forum I think there is a language barrier sometimes. Plus i believe you need to install the eval to access the firmware upgrade tool. Not sure why though but that's how it worked for me. After updating the firmware I just rolled back the drivers. As a bonus you get the spy tool

It may be another problem that I have encountered. Every time I changed the device driver or bitrate in Foobar2000, I have to disconnect/reconnect the TB too to get its working. Will reinstall the driver tonight to see what happen. I heard bout the virus/spy things but the laptop is offline so I am not worry much. DSD sounds pretty decent, Foobar2000 can play the ISO without problem. I couldn't get DeadBeef to play in linux even it said support DSD.

 

[nightfishing]

It may be another problem that I have encountered. Every time I changed the device driver or bitrate in Foobar2000, I have to disconnect/reconnect the TB too to get its working. Will reinstall the driver tonight to see what happen. I heard bout the virus/spy things but the laptop is offline so I am not worry much. DSD sounds pretty decent, Foobar2000 can play the ISO without problem. I couldn't get DeadBeef to play in linux even it said support DSD.

The spy tool is just an app that shows tech info. Nothing nefarious lol.