Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

[ngs428]

Sure, you can buy it in pre-orders on the khadas.com's shop section ... https://www.khadas.com/product-page/tone-board

Thanks. I followed the link to buy they provided and it went to Amazon.com. I will try the khadas website.

 

[ngs428]

Is there a preferred case/enclosure for this?

 

[BYRTT]

Curious; has this effect been measured? Any relation to the Khadas drawing power from USB? Amir's measurements on page 1 were done with USB, not S/PDIF, correct?

I'd love to know if anyone can reproduce this result in a blind AB test. The measurements at the beginning of this thread were done using USB and it performed very well.

Please also consider that USB from my PC is subject to many different variables of noise. One purpose was to offload the data onto the D10 so that it could do its thing, then output spdif.

Guess there is some pointers Tone Board numbers will improve a bit housed in a metal box and maybe also feeding it power from a external supply rather than from PC.

What i mean is into post 59 @amirm show some grass about 10kHz area clear up for TB measured over SPDIF and post 72 show jitter is also cleaner for SPDIF plus post 79 show some DR improvement too. Compare those three SPDIF posts numbers to post 1 USB numbers and count in PSU is external other than PC, but about PSU in case of running USB one can also feed board power from a external PSU looking up Khadas Tone Board documents.

Now look up post 1 and 2 review below for a metal box housed Tone Board (MARCH audio dac1) review and see grass/jitter/DR numbers improve to SPDIF level as above even running power from PC.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ew-and-measurements-of-march-audio-dac1.5755/

 

[bequietjk]

I would love to have a metal enclosure for my TB. Someone make one, take my money!

On another note... What would be a good, quality external psu able to apply usb power to the TB?

 

[maxxevv]

In the process of making one but still waiting for the KTB to arrive for some final detail checks before I get my vendor to cut the metal.

But I highly doubt anyone would want to spend the kind of money it would probably cost for the KTB, considering the board itself only costs US$99/-.

 

[bequietjk]

I'm prepared to spend 100 if it is nice and heavy. Imagine a stiff BJC cable hooking down the tiny KTB. That's what my TB looks like right now. If it had wheels it would be doing a wheelie xD

 

[vitalii427]

I liked the outcome of that chain but the sound felt compressed. Its almost as if the music is being choked up and being forced through a screen door. You get all of the music, right. But it feels noisy.

Amir talked about having an Audiophilleo in his chain of listening as a device that would properly/effectively transport digital media to the DAC, from the computer, and that the 'best digital tweak is a proper usb to spdif converter'.

Originally my plan was to utilize the spdif coax for my ENOG2 as opposed to the optical toslink ive been uaing for everything. The Topping D10 allows this USB conversion to spdif to happen so i bought one.

The sound change was tremendous with the d10 feeding into the enog2 and im smiling ear to ear. I pushed my tone board aside, right? Because just using it as a dac without the D10 wasn't complete for me. Then i found out you can use the spdif as input on the TB, hooked the D10 to the TB and out to my amplifier and achieved an even more polished and clear sound. Mind = blown.

This sound that I have finally come to can be achieved using different equipment of course, but the synergy of the D10 sending digital signal to the tone board dac seems to be creating this amazing path of audio that allows the amp to give your headphones the clarity you have set out for.

When I hear “mind blown” usually it means hardcore placebo effect which should be checked blind.

 

[maxxevv]

I'm prepared to spend 100 if it is nice and heavy. Imagine a stiff BJC cable hooking down the tiny KTB. That's what my TB looks like right now. If it had wheels it would be doing a wheelie xD

It would be around that ballpark without significant quantity as far as my own prior experience with my vendor suggests.
On the CAD software, it estimates a 220g weight without including the KTB.

Anyway, it will only be certain once its cut and coated.

 

[Rojaran]

The Khadas Tone Board was selling at $99 right? Is it still available at that price?

Just watch out for scammers https://www.ozzgeek.com/ !!!

 

[maxxevv]

Just watch out for scammers https://www.ozzgeek.com/ !!!

So this is a scam site ?

The official Khadas store on Aliexpress has no stock though.

 

[Rojaran]

So this is a scam site ?

The official Khadas store on Aliexpress has no stock though.

In my case, it was just a waste of time and nerves. I have never received the commodity. The case finally went to PayPal and I got my money back.
The order concerned the Khadas Tone Board DAC.

 

[hege]

Same here, fuhgeddaboudit: https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/ozzgeek.com

 

[maxxevv]

If a site doesn't even have a working address, email, phone number. Stay away.

And even that, if there is, do double check with review sites and if possible people of that country. Some seemingly correct addresses can be completely bogus.

 

[graz_lag]

Almost each manufacturer offers nowadays the direct purchasing option, Khadas among them, why losing time taking risks as well in purchasing somewhere else ... OK for Amazon, Shenzhen Audio, or shops on AliExpress, but from others ... no thank you !

 

[bequietjk]

When I hear “mind blown” usually it means hardcore placebo effect which should be checked blind.

In my experience and to share accurately with the community, the difference for me was equivalent to going from HDD to SSD. Now, I'm just a desktop user and consumer who loves his audio with a tight budget and i do think the higher end dacs can achieve the same thing as the D10+KTB synergy. Its all in implementation.

This is only the beginning of my journey into the audio cosmos

 

[vitalii427]

In my experience and to share accurately with the community, the difference for me was equivalent to going from HDD to SSD. Now, I'm just a desktop user and consumer who loves his audio with a tight budget and i do think the higher end dacs can achieve the same thing as the D10+KTB synergy. Its all in implementation.

This is only the beginning of my journey into the audio cosmos

I believe that you feel like this. But this forum is more about audio science and something objectively verifiable i.e. measurements or blind tests if you know what is this. So I really interested if you can at least statistically reliably distinguish D10+KTB from USB+KTB in DBT.

 

[vitalii427]

This is only the beginning of my journey into the audio cosmos

I actually want to help you not to end your journey somewhere there: (quote from head-fi)

Here is my current USB chain:
Just the data chain:
PC>PPA V2 USB card (TeraDak X1 - Nichicon HW caps)>LH Labs 2G Split USB cable>Startech LEX>BJC CAT6 UTP 550Mhz>Startech REX (with one Jitterbug - Breeze 24VDC LPS+DC iPurifer)>LH Labs 2G split USB cable (data only leg)>W4S Recovery(TeraDak LPS DC-30W+Cerious Graphene PC+ DC iPurifier)>Curious 200mm USB Link>iPur 2>F-1>Audio Sen Silver Statement SPDIF 1.5M RCA>APL DAC


Here would be my current ratings and rankings (the numbers are just a relative number - they are not percentages). The Breeze Audio (Talema) DU-U8 = 100

Obviously these are my subjective ratings YMMV - and yes I have owned (had a loaner) all these for an extended period of time:

REDNET 3/Cerious Graphene/Mutec 3+ USB(SPDIF)/Antelope OCX (RN wClock) 270
REDNET 3/Cerious/Mutec 3+ USB/Audience au24 se digital cable 250
REDNET 3/Cerious/Mutec 3+ USB (SPDIF reclocker)/AS Sliver Statement dig cable 240
REDNET 3/Cerious Power Cord 220
Singxer F-1 DC30W/Cerious/Recovery/DCiPur/ iPur2/Startech GB LAN Iso USB 170
Mutec 3+ Smart Clock USB/Cerious Power Cord 155
Singxer F-1 DC30W/Cerious/Recovery/DCiPur/ iPur2 145
PUC2 Lite TeraDak DC30W/Cerious/Regen 135
Singxer F-1 DC30W/Cerious 135
DXIO Silver/TeraDak DC-30W/Cerious 130
Singxer X-1 DC30W/Cerious/Recovery/DCiPur/iPur2 125
PUC2 Lite - USBpower 110
Singxer F-1 Stock feed 110
Breeze/Cerious Graph/WBT RCANexgen 109
Breeze DU-U8 with Cerious Graphene 108
Breeze DU-U8 (Talema version) 100
Breeze DU-U8 (BingZi version) 95
Hydra Z with LPS 92
Melodious MX-U8 (upgraded caps) 85
Melodious MX-U8 (stock) 81
Gustard U12 (upgraded caps) 76
Gustard U12 stock 72
iDAC DAC2 (used as a DDC) 65
Musiland USB3.0 US Dragon 65
M2Tech EVO with LPS 60
Audiophileo 2 USB Power 50
M2Tech Hiface 40

Note the two major leaps - one by adding the ICRON/Startech GB LAN Iso Audio USB Extender into the chain. Then the bigger leap away from USBcompletely to the REDNET3 Dante AES67 AOIP. The Mutec 3+ did not help as an ext Word Clock to the RD3 - but after the RD3 as a SPDIF reclocker - excellent.

 

[Roen]

I got a tracking number from Khadas yesterday.

 

[Roen]

I believe that you feel like this. But this forum is more about audio science and something objectively verifiable i.e. measurements or blind tests if you know what is this. So I really interested if you can at least statistically reliably distinguish D10+KTB from USB+KTB in DBT.

Probably not.

 

[Roen]

Same here, fuhgeddaboudit: https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/ozzgeek.com

Yup same. Worth a shot though. Not too much hassle.

I'm kinda annoyed I didn't take advanage of the Gearbest offer during black friday but oh well.