Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

[PuX]

does it require any drivers? can't see any downloads on their website. also, does it support ASIO?

I'm only asking because the format support is so impressive, usually generic drivers don't go beyond 24 bit 96 khz:
PCM: Up to 768KHz @ 32bit
DSD: Up to DSD256 @ 1bit

 

[Nango]

Here you will find under "download" the driver for windows. They also sell internationally direct from their shop (free-shipping)!!

If I wanted to run this with an USB-Powerbank which delivers 1.8A, will this be enough amperage pls?

 

[bunkbail]

Here you will find under "download" the driver for windows. They also sell internationally direct from their shop (free-shipping)!!

If I wanted to run this with an USB-Powerbank which delivers 1.8A, will this be enough amperage pls?

They only need 0.5 A, so yeah.

 

[gvl]

Why use a USB power-bank? Is the expectation that a battery is inherently cleaner than a switcher?

 

[Nango]

Not that reason, it is simply due to higher flexibilty, I might listen in different rooms or far away from the wall socket. The power bank has two 5V outputs, usually one drives the DAP and one drives the Allo Digione that feeds into the DAP by coax.

I just bought one of those Khadas Boards due to the good meassurements here and will test it against an Allo Boss and a Teac P90 I normally use.

What I did not found on their webshop is the headphone and iem they also promote on the web. And I hope they dont come up in a couple of weeks the new version like Allo.com did with its Digione.

 

[amirm]

Posting THD+N versus frequency using 90 kHz bandwidth instead of 22.5 used in the dashboard (it better includes harmonic and noise response of higher frequencies):

As I noted this is of course without a case. A metal case may improve things a bit if the noise sources are external.

 

[miero]

Posting THD+N versus frequency using 90 kHz bandwidth instead of 22.5 used in the dashboard (it better includes harmonic and noise response of higher frequencies).

I miss some important information:
1) USB or SPDIF?
2) at 0dBFS volume?

 

[restorer-john]

Posting THD+N versus frequency using 90 kHz bandwidth instead of 22.5 used in the dashboard (it better includes harmonic and noise response of higher frequencies):

The AP is defaulting to very coarse frequency steps again with 5/6 steps only between 6.5KHz and 20KHz. What's the deal with that?

 

[amirm]

The AP is defaulting to very coarse frequency steps again with 5/6 steps only between 6.5KHz and 20KHz. What's the deal with that?

It is a log sweep so runs out of steps toward the end. I can make it linear, add more steps, etc. Unless we are investigating something there, I opt for the faster sweep.

 

[PuX]

I wonder why there is no case for it.

it should fit in a box like the one used for Grace SDAC or JDSLabs OL DAC or O2 amp. they'd have to find a way to mount it inside and create a custom back panel for the inputs/outputs.

I bet they could sell a finished version in much greater volumes than a board. only a very specific group of people buys boards.

 

[Veri]

Their main market was another (pi-like) product. The tone board is plug and play as standalone or add-on, but a case for it alone is being worked on (was not their highest priority). I guess you could say it was an unexpected home-run better performance in smaller pcb space than the Topping D50, very nice indeed.

I agree we need a case though, not to mention amir saying performance could actually be better when shielded from outside interference.

 

[snip3r77]

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

I think he's an employee there

 

[Dominique-T]

I have bought one, just to check if I can hear a difference with my Yamaha CD-S2100 (ESS9016).

I will let you know...

 

[rajapruk]

Posting THD+N versus frequency using 90 kHz bandwidth instead of 22.5 used in the dashboard (it better includes harmonic and noise response of higher frequencies):

View attachment 16463

As I noted this is of course without a case. A metal case may improve things a bit if the noise sources are external.

How is Topping D50 in this regard?

 

[amirm]

How is Topping D50 in this regard?

It is in the review thread of D50:

Scales are in dB so here is the previous graph with the same dB scale:

The bandwidth are different so don't compare > 10 Khz spectrum.

 

[amirm]

Actually the bandwidth difference likely impacts the whole graph....

 

[rajapruk]

Thanks Amir. D50 is more well-behaved in high frequencies than Khadas Tone Board (without enclosure) is my interpretation, even if graphs are not comparable, right?

 

[Nango]

Is

Thanks Amir. D50 is more well-behaved in high frequencies than Khadas Tone Board (without enclosure) is my interpretation.

Is such a difference (boxed vs non-boxed) of these kind of HAT and similar audible or not really??

 

[Nango]

It seems they are the same board, the generic version doesn't have the VIM headers soldered on but they can be added later if needed. If you plan to run it standalone just get the generic version.

The VIM has possibility of setting the spdif to output, the generic is only input, no output, according to their https://www.khadas.com/tone-specs.

 

[Jos]

Stack & Sync: this DAC seems to be the ideal candidate to stack & sync for multichannel usage. I could not find any details on this possibility yet.
Since I have a lot of ripped SACD MCH (5.1) music, I was thinking of building a mch DAC with Network access to my NAS and with Analog mch outputs as well as HDMI output.... It seems almost impossible to find such a device that is comparable with the OPPO 205 feature set.