Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

[dweekie]

I actually prefer the VIMS edition as it allows you to use the coax input.

Both editions should allow spdif input. I assumed the VIMs would require an external power supply from the pins rather than the USB port since the port is listed as "NC". However, it comes with a USB cable, so I'm a little confused at the differences and if they are fully convertible between each other.

 

[Jimmy]

Vims and generic editions PCBs are the same, the headers that allow connection to the VIM computer board come soldered from the factory in the VIMs edition, and as separate components in the generic one.

They say that the VIM edition SPDIF port can be used as output because it is possible when using the VIM board as source.

 

[dweekie]

Vims and generic editions PCBs are the same, the headers that allow connection to the VIM computer board come soldered from the factory in the VIMs edition, and as separate components in the generic one.

They say that the VIM edition SPDIF port can be used as output because it is possible when using the VIM board as source.

Thanks, that's helpful.

 

[thunderchicken]

Mine arrived today and I swapped it for the OL DAC in my desktop system. It's a clear step up in SQ, with much better imaging and detail. The OL DAC has been great until today, but it may be on eBay by the end of the week

The desktop rig is a pair of Discovery 15s powered by a slightly modernized Scott 299A with some mid-forward current production tubes. The amp is fed by a MacBook Pro through a powered USB hub and whatever DAC I feel like connecting. The KTB is easily the best sounding DAC I've had connected. I'll insert it into my headphone rig tomorrow to see if I like it with a Schiit amp.

 

[willow]

I may be wrong here and there may be nothing to worry about, but people have had problems when ordering from a site called ozzgeek.com. ozzgeek.com now redirects to the eccgeek.com site that you link to. Hopefully, you will not have any such problems.

I made a stupid order from eccgeek 1 week ago and it's still "On Hold". My card was not charged also so I guess I'm OK
I suppose the site is kind of.. dead?

Just make sure you pay with CC, so that you can get a refund if they scam you.

I thought the generic edition was preferred. It is pricier on this site. I know nothing of this site though, so good luck.




Hopefully you'll be okay? You never know I guess, but keep us updated if this is a legit site.

Hello, sorry for the un-effection pricing control and we have double checked the http://eccgeek.com/ but unfortunately can't open in China.

Thank you for one of our distributor in France http://audiophonics.fr informed us immediately or I may miss this. We try to use the VPN to open the link, still not work in China side. After the double confirm from Audiophonices, he told me the webside can be open in France. So we found another way and remote the computer in Singapore's home of our colleague, check the contact details and about info of the company, found nothing execpt the contact mails. Then we download all the main links of the website and make an analyse. We found out.
http://eccgeek.com/ may be power by http://geekbuying.com/, who is the first E-business man we cooperate to sell Khadas Tone Board.

But we have stoped to apply the next order to Geekbuying since on June, 2018. But from July 2018 to now, Tone board has at least 3 times of software upgrading. It means the stocks of Tone board of ECCgeek is of old software. If users can be upgrade by himself, it is ok. But if not, there is risk. And now we are trying to contact with the Team Leader of Geekbuying to return us the stocks or we buy from them to ensure the users are having the newest firmware without any other unhappy using experience.

Thank you all the favors to Khadas Tone Board, we will do our best to maintain our Khadas Brand. Just something a little different. Nice Day.

 

[Veri]

Thank you for caring, @willow !

 

[DarrylG]

I don't know if this has been covered in these 57 pages, but I see from a YouTube video and an Amazon listing ($189!) that the Tone Board comes with a female 3.5mm to male RCA cable, allowing the connection of headphones to the DAC. How well can it drive full-sized headphones with 80- plus ohms of resistance?

 

[JohnYang1997]

I don't know if this has been covered in these 57 pages, but I see from a YouTube video and an Amazon listing ($189!) that the Tone Board comes with a female 3.5mm to male RCA cable, allowing the connection of headphones to the DAC. How well can it drive full-sized headphones with 80- plus ohms of resistance?

It should be just an adapter to connect to some amp with 3.5mm input.

 

[DarrylG]

It should be just an adapter to connect to some amp with 3.5mm input.

After posting that question, I ran across a few videos about this product. I don't know whether or not the guy in them is a Khadas representative, but in one of them, he uses that cable to connect headphones to the output jacks.

 

[Zek]

As far as I know, Khadas TB does not have a headphone amplifier on it.

 

[BYRTT]

After posting that question, I ran across a few videos about this product. I don't know whether or not the guy in them is a Khadas representative, but in one of them, he uses that cable to connect headphones to the output jacks.

As far as I know, Khadas TB does not have a headphone amplifier on it.

Could it be that some unknown head phones have a build in amp on batteries

 

[ngs428]

I don't know if this has been covered in these 57 pages, but I see from a YouTube video and an Amazon listing ($189!) that the Tone Board comes with a female 3.5mm to male RCA cable, allowing the connection of headphones to the DAC. How well can it drive full-sized headphones with 80- plus ohms of resistance?

You may be referring to the cable (3.5mm female to R/L RCA male) that they were offering for free if you ordered the tone board during the Chinese New Year break.

This would be to adapt the rca out to a 3.5mm out to an amp. It is not to power headphones.

 

[bunkbail]

Haven't seen this being posted anywhere, it's another Khadas in $200++ case: Sonore toneDAC

 

[escalibur]

Got my Khadas Board today and the sound is just amazing. However I'm having strange issue where in the middle of listening I can hear some *peep* sound which last for about second or so. The sound repeats every 1-2min. The sound reminds me of a phone's signal sound.

I'm using latest drivers downloaded from: https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/ToneBoard/ The board is connected to USB 2.0 port straight to my MB.

Is anyone else having this same issue?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Got my Khadas Board today and the sound is just amazing. However I'm having strange issue where in the middle of listening I can hear some *peep* sound which last for about second or so. The sound repeats every 1-2min. The sound reminds me of a phone's signal sound.

I'm using latest drivers downloaded from: https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/ToneBoard/

Is anyone else having this same issue?

Just delete the driver and uac2 driver provided by Windows. And use wasapi.

 

[Audiophonics]

Got my Khadas Board today and the sound is just amazing. However I'm having strange issue where in the middle of listening I can hear some *peep* sound which last for about second or so. The sound repeats every 1-2min. The sound reminds me of a phone's signal sound.

I'm using latest drivers downloaded from: https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/ToneBoard/

Is anyone else having this same issue?

Sounds like a demo driver .... "XMOS therefore provides a free Windows USB Audio driver for evaluation and ... beep tone every 5minutes after 60minutes of operation. " :

https://www.xmos.com/developer/down...2.0-Driver-for-Windows---Overview(3.34.0).pdf

 

[escalibur]

Just delete the driver and uac2 driver provided by Windows. And use wasapi.

You mean these ones?

What about XMOS DFU's driver?

Sounds like a demo driver .... "XMOS therefore provides a free Windows USB Audio driver for evaluation and ... beep tone every 5minutes after 60minutes of operation. " :

https://www.xmos.com/developer/down...2.0-Driver-for-Windows---Overview(3.34.0).pdf

Yes. This is the issue.

 

[Roen]

Haven't seen this being posted anywhere, it's another Khadas in $200++ case: Sonore toneDAC

And it only supports DSD64? Must need a firmware upgrade.

 

[milw50717]

After posting that question, I ran across a few videos about this product. I don't know whether or not the guy in them is a Khadas representative, but in one of them, he uses that cable to connect headphones to the output jacks.

The text in the shop for the cable does state "Connect your Tone Board's RCA stereo output to a 3.5mm compatible set of speakers or headphones. "

 

[somebodyelse]

What about XMOS DFU's driver?

The DFU is for firmware updates only. You'll need to install the demo driver if you ever decide to update the firmware, but can remove it again after.