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Soncoz LA-QXD1 Balanced DAC Review

MechEngVic

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How do I go about getting help troubleshooting my unit? My left channel spontaneously died (no output out of Left RCA or Left XLR, Right RCA & XLR still work. Was working fine before; restarted LA-QXD1 and PC, no go. Using an Aukey 5V 2.4A charger (dual port, but only the unit is plugged into it), USB C Cable that was supplied with the unit. I tried sending an email to [email protected] earlier this week, no response. Is that the same as @Sophia Ann ?

I purchased this more than 30 days ago. I do NOT want to deal with the person I bought it on Amazon(.com); I am in Canada, was not available in Canada directly and they charged me for customs and brokerage, and that I was forced to pay again from the shipper and they just refused to answer me or refund me.
They are the same person. Sorry to hear of your trouble. I think it's about time Ben respond to some of the many reliability claims here...
 

Purité Audio

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Ben and Ann have been on holiday for the last ten days, they are back now though.
Keith
 

MattG

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It looks like the firmware upgrade tool is a Windows program. Is there any way to change the firmware on other platforms? In particular, is there a way to change the firmware under Linux?
 

somebodyelse

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It looks like the firmware upgrade tool is a Windows program. Is there any way to change the firmware on other platforms? In particular, is there a way to change the firmware under Linux?
It's mentioned in the other thread - so long as you don't find compiling the updater too scary.
 

Sophia Ann

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How do I go about getting help troubleshooting my unit? My left channel spontaneously died (no output out of Left RCA or Left XLR, Right RCA & XLR still work. Was working fine before; restarted LA-QXD1 and PC, no go. Using an Aukey 5V 2.4A charger (dual port, but only the unit is plugged into it), USB C Cable that was supplied with the unit. I tried sending an email to [email protected] earlier this week, no response. Is that the same as @Sophia Ann ?

I purchased this more than 30 days ago. I do NOT want to deal with the person I bought it on Amazon(.com); I am in Canada, was not available in Canada directly and they charged me for customs and brokerage, and that I was forced to pay again from the shipper and they just refused to answer me or refund me.
Hi dear customer,

Sorry for the trouble. We analyzed the situation you mentioned, probably the power problems. Please return the defective item to Amazon seller and exchange a new one. Thanks for your support. BTW, [email protected] and @Sophia Ann are both my contact information.
 

occip

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Hi i've done more scary! I have compiled my own firmware for the DAC. I managed to fine tune the thd compensation and to switch automatically between usb and coax.
Jtag connector can be soldered inside if something goes wrong.
Occip
 

Insanity

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Hi dear customer,

Sorry for the trouble. We analyzed the situation you mentioned, probably the power problems. Please return the defective item to Amazon seller and exchange a new one. Thanks for your support. BTW, [email protected] and @Sophia Ann are both my contact information.

I purchased this more than 30 days ago. I do NOT want to deal with the person I bought it on Amazon(.com); I am in Canada, was not available in Canada directly and they charged me for customs and brokerage, and that I was forced to pay again from the shipper and they just refused to answer me or refund me.

As mentioned before, I had a lot of problems with the person I dealt with. I DO NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH THEM. Is there a Canadian representative? The person I bought it from pocketed (read: STOLE) the money I paid for duties/customs/etc. and never responded when I asked for my money back.
 

porotikos

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why dont you contact amazon itself? they may not be liable for what the resellers do, but they may add as a niddle man or as a ref to ensure that you get what you deserve (customs back and make sure the seller fulfills his responsibilities)
 

Mr. BubbaHyde

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As mentioned before, I had a lot of problems with the person I dealt with. I DO NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH THEM. Is there a Canadian representative? The person I bought it from pocketed (read: STOLE) the money I paid for duties/customs/etc. and never responded when I asked for my money back.

Seems like that's something Amazon would want to know! I highly suggest you contact them thru chat as well. I have only had a few issues over the years with products from Amazon sellers, but each time they made sure their customer was happy.
 

Sophia Ann

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As mentioned before, I had a lot of problems with the person I dealt with. I DO NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH THEM. Is there a Canadian representative? The person I bought it from pocketed (read: STOLE) the money I paid for duties/customs/etc. and never responded when I asked for my money back.
First, you purchased directly SONCOZ DAC from Amazon Shop, so you can ask Amazon customer service to help you return the item or your money. It's the best and effective way. SONCOZ itself, as the factory has replied every customer's questions on our products. Though some customers bought them not from SONCOZ directly. About defective items, we suggest contacting the seller you purchased from. Thanks
 

MattG

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I just received my LA-QXD1. Unfortunately, the coax input is really flaky - when in use, the sound cuts out randomly, but fairly frequently (at least once every five or so seconds, often many cut-outs in a short amount of time). USB input works just fine.

Power is from an iFi iPower 5v/2.5a supply. Input is from a Raspberry Pi with a pi-hat coax adapter. This adapter works perfectly fine with my Topping DX3Pro. Source audio is FLAC files ripped from CD (i.e. 2 channel, 44.1khz/16 bit).

I checked, it was received with the current latest firmware (4.01).

Anything I should try before I contact the seller for a replacement?

Thanks!
 

MechEngVic

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Hi i've done more scary! I have compiled my own firmware for the DAC. I managed to fine tune the thd compensation and to switch automatically between usb and coax.
Jtag connector can be soldered inside if something goes wrong.
Occip
DO TELL DO TELL !!
 

MechEngVic

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I just received my LA-QXD1. Unfortunately, the coax input is really flaky - when in use, the sound cuts out randomly, but fairly frequently (at least once every five or so seconds, often many cut-outs in a short amount of time). USB input works just fine.

Power is from an iFi iPower 5v/2.5a supply. Input is from a Raspberry Pi with a pi-hat coax adapter. This adapter works perfectly fine with my Topping DX3Pro. Source audio is FLAC files ripped from CD (i.e. 2 channel, 44.1khz/16 bit).

I checked, it was received with the current latest firmware (4.01).

Anything I should try before I contact the seller for a replacement?

Thanks!
Is the coax connector on the back of the DAC loose when you wiggle it?
 

kukocz

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Today I switched on my gear and noticed that my LA-QXD1 is generating constant buzz/hum from left channel (no matter what input was chosen).
I re-flashed it and it's working fine so far. In addition I noticed that if I disconnect power supply and connect again too quickly, then only power led will be on and device is frozen.
Now I'm not sure about reliability of this DAC although I was really happy so far.
 

somebodyelse

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MattG

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Is the coax connector on the back of the DAC loose when you wiggle it?

No. But the way the sound randomly cuts in and out, it reminds me of a cable that is not properly seated. Thinking a loose cable may have be the source of the problem, with my hand I firmly held the cable in place on the DAC, yet the random cut-outs persisted.

My hunch - and this is just a guess - is that there is a bad solder joint between the RCA receptacle and PCB.
 

obwohl

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Did anybody manage to play a DSD-stream through the Soncoz?
I tried a SACD -iso and foobar says: "DSD 64 / 5645 kbps / 2822400 Hz"
but the soncoz driver says: " 176400Hz" (i am running through asio-driver) or I am upsampling it to 352800 Hz - depending on the setting in the "SACD-PCM - Samplerate"
The Soncoz is in "PCM-Mode" and I cant change it. When I change the setting in foobar from "DSD+PCM" to "DSD" I hear nothing.
So DSD is not working.

I tried again, exactly as written here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uixNcUj0gPMVujBn-ujWuSJSgDTX5HMc/view

No success.
 
Last edited:

MechEngVic

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Did anybody manage to play a DSD-stream through the Soncoz?
I tried a SACD -iso and foobar says: "DSD 64 / 5645 kbps / 2822400 Hz"
but the soncoz driver says: " 176400Hz" (i am running through asio-driver) or I am upsampling it to 352800 Hz - depending on the setting in the "SACD-PCM - Samplerate"
The Soncoz is in "PCM-Mode" and I cant change it. When I change the setting in foobar from "DSD+PCM" to "DSD" I hear nothing.
So DSD is not working.

I tried again, exactly as written here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uixNcUj0gPMVujBn-ujWuSJSgDTX5HMc/view

No success.
It worked for me after installing the dsd "reader /codec" for Foobar.
 
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