SONCOZ SGD1 Audio DAC Review

[arithon]

My marantz have fews pre out RC like front pre out rc.
Do you think is enaugh for have phone->marantz->sgD1?

and what's downstream from SGD1? you need think about why must you have this chain Phone -> marantz instead of Phone -> SGD1?

 

[arithon]

My marantz have fews pre out RC like front pre out rc.
Do you think is enaugh for have phone->marantz->sgD1?

Also, the Pre out from the Marantz is an analog output. The SGD1 Is a DAC and takes a digital input.

 

[UltrasMN]

Also, the Pre out from the Marantz is an analog output. The SGD1 Is a DAC and takes a digital input.

So Phone -> SGD1 -> Marantz using Bluetooth for Qobuz is the best way, i see. Thank you!
Another thing.. I have a nas with lot of music dsd, 24bit... How can i use this dac with music on my nas?

 

[somebodyelse]

So Phone -> SGD1 -> Marantz using Bluetooth for Qobuz is the best way, i see. Thank you!
Another thing.. I have a nas with lot of music dsd, 24bit... How can i use this dac with music on my nas?

Raspberry Pi or similar running PiCorePlayer, Volumio or similar. Or a spare PC, NUC or thin client with Daphile, Volumio etc. pick hardware and software according to taste and/or budget. Note that with PiCorePlayer or Daphile you'd be able to play from Qobuz too - LMS has a plugin for it. Have a search - there are a few threads about similar things where any questions you have may already have been answered, and any further questions you may have would be on topic.

 

[firefuocco]

So Phone -> SGD1 -> Marantz using Bluetooth for Qobuz is the best way, i see. Thank you!
Another thing.. I have a nas with lot of music dsd, 24bit... How can i use this dac with music on my nas?

Your Marantz SR7012 has already got a presumably good DAC in it. Not sure what you hope the SGD1 will give you over what you have and certainly not if part of the solution is to use Bluetooth. I have a SGD1 and with my Marantz CD17KI cd player feeding the SGD1 coax input I cannot notice any real difference between the CD player DAC output and the SGD1.

 

[BobPM]

So Phone -> SGD1 -> Marantz using Bluetooth for Qobuz is the best way, i see. Thank you!
Another thing.. I have a nas with lot of music dsd, 24bit... How can i use this dac with music on my nas?

I have the older Marantz SR7008. Be aware that if you are using any of the DSP functions, the output from the SGD1 will be re-digitized, AD, before its processed. Seems kind of pointless unless you use the direct mode.

In my case, I found that the due to my room, the DSP was more important, and sounded better that using the direct bypass mode. Accordingly, I would skip a DAC and just go to the receiver using the coax or toslink input.

 

[mt196]

For anyone interested I confirm that the SGD1 is correctly recognized and works without problems with Volumio on Raspberry Pi Zero W I just cannot understand why sometimes during playback of FLAC 16/44.1 I get some pops (I put the buffer to 12Mb and 40% buffer before playing, just to be sure and it didn't change anything)

 

[OP1M.DR3M]

Does anyone know whether the XLR outputs on the SGD1 are differential?

 

[Pluto]

If you mean balanced i.e. pins 2 & 3 are mutually out of phase, then yes. They are perfectly standard balanced outputs.

 

[dank0]

For anyone interested I confirm that the SGD1 is correctly recognized and works without problems with Volumio on Raspberry Pi Zero W I just cannot understand why sometimes during playback of FLAC 16/44.1 I get some pops (I put the buffer to 12Mb and 40% buffer before playing, just to be sure and it didn't change anything)

Probably the USB transfer is not fast enough. I tested Raspberry 3b and 4 without any issues, Today I am running Volumio on Odroid XU4. I also have Mac Mini and I am thinking to get NUC to test windows NT.

 

[mt196]

Probably the USB transfer is not fast enough. I tested Raspberry 3b and 4 without any issues, Today I am running Volumio on Odroid XU4. I also have Mac Mini and I am thinking to get NUC to test windows NT.

It seems like reducing the buffer to 8mb 10% works better but I have to test it a bit more to say it works without pops

 

[nspp]

I'm using PicorePlayer (only player ZqueezeLite) with Rpi and wifi.

I also no issues with Rpi4 up to DSD256 and 384Khz (I do not have many track for upper resolution).
All players are attached to the LMS running on my NAS..
I have some issues above 96Khz with Rpi 1 even if i've a dedicated 5V supplier for usb but this is the same with other dac.

 

[somebodyelse]

For anyone interested I confirm that the SGD1 is correctly recognized and works without problems with Volumio on Raspberry Pi Zero W I just cannot understand why sometimes during playback of FLAC 16/44.1 I get some pops (I put the buffer to 12Mb and 40% buffer before playing, just to be sure and it didn't change anything)

Probably the usual Pi <4 USB pop/click issue - Volumio seems more prone to it than PiCorePlayer.

 

[mt196]

Probably the usual Pi <4 USB pop/click issue - Volumio seems more prone to it than PiCorePlayer.

How does PiCorePlayer works? Is it more or less the same as Volumio? I actually use the Pi just to stream music from the NAS to the DAC so if I can do that while controlling it through a browser or an app, I can swap Volumio for PiCorePlayer

 

[somebodyelse]

How does PiCorePlayer works? Is it more or less the same as Volumio? I actually use the Pi just to stream music from the NAS to the DAC so if I can do that while controlling it through a browser or an app, I can swap Volumio for PiCorePlayer

It's a different approach to the same problem. Out of the box PiCorePlayer is a minimal system providing a Squeezebox endpoint. That's all you need if you've got LogitechMediaServer (aka LMS) or Roon running somewhere else on your network. A lot of NAS systems have the option to install LogitechMediaServer, so that may be all you need. If you can't (or don't want to) do that PiCorePlayer has the option to install LMS on the Pi, but I'm not sure if the Zero is up to the job of running both given its limited CPU. Wherever LMS is running you can control it via a browser, or using one of the apps - Squeezer and iPeng spring to mind but there are others.

Another option is to get one of the digital output hats and connect to the DAC via coax or toslink. This avoids the issue with USB entirely.

 

[Thomas savage]

The Bluetooth works well, love my unit .

 

[Oberoni]

I've had this for a couple of days now and it sounds absolutely wonderful with my JDS Atom -> Meze Empyreans.

Question: Does anyone know the logistics of how the coaxial out works? Will it send a digital signal to a device attached via coaxial, even at the same time it's sending an analogue signal out to my amp? Or is there a way to switch which output the device uses?

 

[Ben1987]

Will it send a digital signal to a device attached via coaxial, even at the same time it's sending an analogue signal out to my amp? O

All digital inputs to SGD1 can be digital (RCA S/PDIF) outputs. The digital output and analog output of each digital input channel are simultaneous.

 

[Oberoni]

All digital inputs to SGD1 can be digital (RCA S/PDIF) outputs. The digital output and analog output of each digital input channel are simultaneous.

How exactly do I set this up? I might have overlooked this in the manual or in this thread.

 

[Pluto]

Think of the digital output as a ‘repeater’ of the selected digital input. It really is that simple…