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Review and Measurements of WesionTEK Khadas Tone Board DAC

Magnifico

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Better than Tone Board just connected to USB?

I have it connected to my PC directly and only and I think...DAMN is it close to my 250€ SMSL M300.
With my DT1990 I think I can hear the "hump" that is why I never wanted it to be my first device.

I´m still amazed there is pretty much power on the RCA out....enough to drive my COPP for decent volume.
Of course not LOUD but definetly enough to use it.

BTW Tone board did not come to life connected to my MiMix 2s. It even took no power.
So no DAC for Android it seems....not that it ever was advertized as such.
 

somebodyelse

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But how the average user can know this? :)
The average user doesn't even think about it ;-) And they certainly wouldn't be messing with pins on a PCB.

I've updated the earlier post with a link to the khadas forum where they discuss some details. If it's bad enough to get past the onboard regulation you'll probably be having problems with other USB devices too.
 

Magnifico

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To make money?

PLUS there are cases where a better power circuit or MORE power does help. It´s not always snake oil stuff.
I remember there was a case with SMSL sanskrit model needing MORE power than only one port was providing.

The link up there is only valid for problems you can HEAR. In that case you can hear the HDMI port of the raspberry Pi.

But If you want to burn money....go ahead. If the power supply isn´t that good it might even have a negative influence on sound.
Ultimately it is up to you....IF you hear better sound with the external power...enjoy it.
 

Veri

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Why does a arguably serious company like TOPPING sells a linear supply for the D50/A50?
$$$

Or at best, to incorporate several power supplies into one..
And it seems well made, at least.
 

Guetta

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Better than Tone Board just connected to USB?

I have it connected to my PC directly and only and I think...DAMN is it close to my 250€ SMSL M300.
With my DT1990 I think I can hear the "hump" that is why I never wanted it to be my first device.

I´m still amazed there is pretty much power on the RCA out....enough to drive my COPP for decent volume.
Of course not LOUD but definetly enough to use it.

BTW Tone board did not come to life connected to my MiMix 2s. It even took no power.
So no DAC for Android it seems....not that it ever was advertized as such.
How are you able to hear the hump because it should be inaudible. Can you describe the hump please :)
 

Magnifico

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I wrote I THINK I can hear it. DT1990 has much power in that frequency....that is why I use beyerdynamic filter from Frans for it.
Hump is in that region, so it pushes the frequency again :(

Maybe I think I hear it because I know it´s there. Once thing is sure....M300 sound better in the mids.
I´d finally know if I´d be blind tested with 3 or more ES9038 devices....so I´d know if I´m fooling myself.

But currently I belive I hear the hump with the DT1990. With COOP it can´t hear....it has much less power in that frequency range.
 

Guetta

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I wrote I THINK I can hear it. DT1990 has much power in that frequency....that is why I use beyerdynamic filter from Frans for it.
Hump is in that region, so it pushes the frequency again :(

Maybe I think I hear it because I know it´s there. Once thing is sure....M300 sound better in the mids.
I´d finally know if I´d be blind tested with 3 or more ES9038 devices....so I´d know if I´m fooling myself.

But currently I belive I hear the hump with the DT1990. With COOP it can´t hear....it has much less power in that frequency range.
Like someone before said - classic illusionary audiophile world :D
 

Magnifico

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You see I'm critical with myself... But currently I believe I can hear it.

But possibly I'm fooling myself..
 

Herbert

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@Gouwa With the new tone board think about putting the usb-connectors in line with
the rim of the pcb! (or in line with the face of the RCA-connectors that touch the inner side of the casing) Circular holes for the RCA-Jacks are easy to drill but the oval holes for USB are PITA and some users might not use USB at all. With this statement
I assume that +5V can still be drawn alternateively with the new board. A generic version without volume control would be fine for me as well...
 

Guetta

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Hello
How is it possible that I have bass distortion when I am using high gain on JDS Labs Atom at low volume, but don't have the distortion when using low gain at very high listening volume? I have Beyer DT990 Pro and Khadas Tone Board as a DAC. Distortion thing is about DAC or AMP in this case?
 

Guetta

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looks like a volume problem...exchange one part at a time to find the problematic part.
Thank you for the clarification. Do I need to reduce DAC volume through windows step by step or you meant something else?
 

Kalander

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Hello
How is it possible that I have bass distortion when I am using high gain on JDS Labs Atom at low volume, but don't have the distortion when using low gain at very high listening volume? I have Beyer DT990 Pro and Khadas Tone Board as a DAC. Distortion thing is about DAC or AMP in this case?

- If this is happening across all the music you have it means that the output level supplied by the Khadas board could be too high for the Atom set on High Gain
- If this is happening with only some of your music files it means that your music collection has been digitised by various people with varied kit and set-ups

On both instances you should try to control the volume before the feed to the Atom, that is via your favourite music player...
 

Guetta

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looks like a volume problem...exchange one part at a time to find the problematic part.
- If this is happening across all the music you have it means that the output level supplied by the Khadas board could be too high for the Atom set on High Gain
- If this is happening with only some of your music files it means that your music collection has been digitised by various people with varied kit and set-ups

On both instances you should try to control the volume before the feed to the Atom, that is via your favourite music player...
The DAC volume needs to be set at 96% and the clipping is completely gone. It's PERFECT now!
 

captain paranoia

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How is it possible that I have bass distortion when I am using high gain on JDS Labs Atom at low volume, but don't have the distortion when using low gain at very high listening volume?

Because the high output swing of the DAC is overloading the amp's input buffer when using high gain mode.

An integrated amp has input buffer stages, that bring the inputs up to a common level (the low gain setting may bypass this input buffer, as it will assume input is already at line level). Then you have volume and tone controls, and the voltage/current amplification stage (aka power amp). You can overload the input amp, but the volume control allows you to have a low output volume.
 

captain paranoia

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If this is happening with only some of your music files it means that your music collection has been digitised by various people with varied kit and set-ups

Not all CDs are produced to exploit the FSD of the 16-bit range. Plenty of CDs I rip come out well below 100% amplitude. If your playback system isn't doing volume analysis and replay gain, then you will get the original CD amplitude, which may not be enough to overload the input stage.
 
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