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SONCOZ SGD1 Audio DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
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dudodelmundo
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Anyway, i have to check ncmpcpp output then. i will order qxd1. thanks for quick response Ben!
Hi Everyone,
First of all I hope that everyone is safe during this exceptional Crisis.
I just received my SGD1 unit from Audiophonics (I am a long time buyer of Audiophonics, great team!).
The blutooth surprised me big time with its simplicity, the sound quality that I get streaming from iphone is incredibly great. I will try to connect it with the wifi to do a firmware update.
I chose the SGD1 because I wanted a ESS DAC with true balanced XLR outputs, without any simetrizer to cheat (I use a NFB 1AMP headphone amplifier from Audio-GD, that I use with Audeze LCD-3, and other Audio-technica, or Sony headphones), and with a Coax SPDIF out so I can output the sound to my multichannel amplifier when I want to play music as an ambiance. I also wanted a state of the art XMOS USB input, because even if Amanero USB are a bit superior in signal quality (it can be discussed), Its a pain to make it work in native DSD mode. Never had problems with XMOS entries. Yes I have a large DSD / SACD collection. DSD native playback up to DSD 256 is a must for me.
I tried a lot of DACs.
The sound from the SGD1 is exceptional, tone separation, spatialization, are above a lot of DACs i tried. it may lack pure dynamic and the presence of the 9038 pro Dacs I tried, but the implementation of the two 9038Q2M is really a success for Ben and his team. Bravo !
There is a MAJO,R problem here, to the point I am thinking of sending the DAC back...(and for the first time, it really bothers me because all the unexpected features that were good) : IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY ANY DSD FILES TO ANY USB Inputs...I can't believe it, and I am sure I am doing something wrong. Rune audio, Foobar, Volumio, nothing works.
I tried installing the latest drivers from SONCOZ website, updated foobar and the sacd decoding package, nothing worked. pure native DSD isn't picked up by the XMOS entry, which doesn't report anything on the info panel in windows. DoP is picked up to the right frequency (DSD64 encapsulated in 176kHz PCM) but nothing is played.
Too bad, with dual 9038Q2M, DSD should be its natural playground.
Please BEN help !
First of all I hope that everyone is safe during this exceptional Crisis.
I just received my SGD1 unit from Audiophonics (I am a long time buyer of Audiophonics, great team!).
The blutooth surprised me big time with its simplicity, the sound quality that I get streaming from iphone is incredibly great. I will try to connect it with the wifi to do a firmware update.
I chose the SGD1 because I wanted a ESS DAC with true balanced XLR outputs, without any simetrizer to cheat (I use a NFB 1AMP headphone amplifier from Audio-GD, that I use with Audeze LCD-3, and other Audio-technica, or Sony headphones), and with a Coax SPDIF out so I can output the sound to my multichannel amplifier when I want to play music as an ambiance. I also wanted a state of the art XMOS USB input, because even if Amanero USB are a bit superior in signal quality (it can be discussed), Its a pain to make it work in native DSD mode. Never had problems with XMOS entries. Yes I have a large DSD / SACD collection. DSD native playback up to DSD 256 is a must for me.
I tried a lot of DACs.
The sound from the SGD1 is exceptional, tone separation, spatialization, are above a lot of DACs i tried. it may lack pure dynamic and the presence of the 9038 pro Dacs I tried, but the implementation of the two 9038Q2M is really a success for Ben and his team. Bravo !
There is a MAJO,R problem here, to the point I am thinking of sending the DAC back...(and for the first time, it really bothers me because all the unexpected features that were good) : IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY ANY DSD FILES TO ANY USB Inputs...I can't believe it, and I am sure I am doing something wrong. Rune audio, Foobar, Volumio, nothing works.
I tried installing the latest drivers from SONCOZ website, updated foobar and the sacd decoding package, nothing worked. pure native DSD isn't picked up by the XMOS entry, which doesn't report anything on the info panel in windows. DoP is picked up to the right frequency (DSD64 encapsulated in 176kHz PCM) but nothing is played.
Too bad, with dual 9038Q2M, DSD should be its natural playground.
Please BEN help !
Mute for about 10 minutes and go into standby mode. In standby mode, all the lights will go out, and the digital part of the peripheral circuit will go off except for the analog power supply. Anlalog part of the power did not drop, mainly because, when out of standby mode may bring the simulation output of the impact, damage equipment.
SGD1's power consumption mainly comes from the analog part, the digital part of the power loss to reduce the power consumption is not much, about 2W, that is to say, the power will be reduced when the sleep about 2W.
This may not be the ideal result of stand by, but it protects the peripherals and it does look like it's sleeping soundly.
Same situation here, and mine was returned to Ben. What a shame for such a high perfomence DAC.
Our custom driver is on the way, it is to solve the direct play DSD problem, will soon bring out the updated custom driver.We're trying to solve this problem in the fastest way, and it just doesn't feel like it's happening fast enough.
ouch...really not the kind of answer I expected...
I hope this is something a firmware update can correct...and again I hope I did something wrong...
Ben thanks for your reply but it's half what I expected. I don't want to have a computer attached to the dac all the time, and foobar laucnhed every time I want to play DSD. I am using raspberry (volumio, Runeaudio...or anything else you want to suggest maybe), and run it from an app on my tablet or mobile. This is not streaming, my hi res music files (DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, 24 bit PCM) are stored on a NAS. So having your customized drivers on the way for windows is nice, but I would prefer you comply with standard XMOS 208 usb board drivers, that works well with DSD, and that are compliant with many raspberry distribution out there.
Two questions :
- What is the exact version of the XMOS USB board you used? I tried other XMOS drivers, including the XMOS 208...doesn"t work AT ALL.
- What would be the workaround to play dsd without having a laptop attached all the time (when your updated driver would be available) ? If the XMOS board was so customized that any existing drivers don't work, what is your recommandation for a raspberry distribution that is working with you DAC?
Thanks BEN and good luck. I'll wait a few days, and if no progress are made on this topic. I will send it back. That is a shame because the rest works very well, but for me it's mandatory
I hope this is something a firmware update can correct...and again I hope I did something wrong...
Ben thanks for your reply but it's half what I expected. I don't want to have a computer attached to the dac all the time, and foobar laucnhed every time I want to play DSD. I am using raspberry (volumio, Runeaudio...or anything else you want to suggest maybe), and run it from an app on my tablet or mobile. This is not streaming, my hi res music files (DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, 24 bit PCM) are stored on a NAS. So having your customized drivers on the way for windows is nice, but I would prefer you comply with standard XMOS 208 usb board drivers, that works well with DSD, and that are compliant with many raspberry distribution out there.
Two questions :
- What is the exact version of the XMOS USB board you used? I tried other XMOS drivers, including the XMOS 208...doesn"t work AT ALL.
- What would be the workaround to play dsd without having a laptop attached all the time (when your updated driver would be available) ? If the XMOS board was so customized that any existing drivers don't work, what is your recommandation for a raspberry distribution that is working with you DAC?
Thanks BEN and good luck. I'll wait a few days, and if no progress are made on this topic. I will send it back. That is a shame because the rest works very well, but for me it's mandatory
Last edited:
somebodyelse
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I hope I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound like it meets the EU standby power consumption requirements:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/energy-cl...roducts/mode-standby-and-networked-standby_en
The standby function was designed to be used in a non-standby mode to address the specific needs of some music lovers. If memory serves, this feature is not recorded in the manual.
Thanks for the information. Maybe you could consider two different options, sleep (like today’s solution) and a deep sleep with max 2-3 watt to meet EU requirements. Normal is 0.5W but you may use 2-3 since it’s a network unit. Some of the manufacturers have those options.
If I got this right, the unit use 9W, after 10 minutes of inactivity it will use 7W?
Thanks Ben, when?
the fact that this dac does not fully work on linux is quite disappointing...
and unexpected - i'm using his tone board with a mini linux distro (wtfplay) and i can play all dsd files i have, both as dop and dsd direct.
Kyosato, maybe if your time permits... you could try this linux/player?
it's a live disk, you just need a small free usb drive
dudodelmundo
Member
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Is this an operating system thing? I thought the linux kernel doesnt need any drivers to play audio via usb?
Hi everyone, those who got this unit already. What is your impression?
Thanks.
- Cons and pros?
- Sound?
- Recommended?
- Build quality?
- How is the volume knob?
Thanks.
Very strange, I have asked Ben about it without any replies yet : I would like to have details on the USB board that is used...Is the USB entry of the tone board the same?? I suspect no. But the traditional drivers of the XMOS 208 don't work with the SGD1...even the latest versions. Only the custom brewed available on the website works well (PCM only)...with the notable and unfortunate fact that....you can't absolutely play any DSD with this DAC...yet.
We are all waiting for Ben and his team's reply, and possibly the updated drivers...but that would not resolve anything regarding the Rapsberry-based setup that a lot of us use.
I will try to find time to fiddle again with this distro...but frankly, having spent nearly 5 hours working on this during precious weekend time...I feel annoyed. Advanced features works well like blutooth connectivity, but basic dsd playback don't...This is not a cheap blutooth speaker, this is a promising DAC.
Having paid more than 500 €, I expected it to work. and I don't want to wait for a mark II version in two years...
Ben told me that the drivers they are working on, had DSD capabilities, but for whatever reason, they decide not to release it...I can't see why. Let's hope for the best, because the product deserves it.
If the unit use USB Audio Class 2.0 standard it shouldnt be a problem regards MacOS or Linux? Or is it something else that I'm missing?
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