SONCOZ SGD1 Audio DAC Review

[Veri]

Great news, this DAC will now become my present to myself at my upcoming 60th birthday!!

Congrats!

 

[Balle Clorin]

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

Who cares? The consumption is silly low anyway. I use 25000kWh per year a Dac will not be notised, if you want to compensate forenergy comsumption ,shower 0.2 second shorter every morning

 

[somebodyelse]

Who cares? The consumption is silly low anyway. I use 25000kWh per year a Dac will not be notised, if you want to compensate forenergy comsumption ,shower 0.2 second shorter every morning

My main concern was that it would mean there wouldn't be any EU based resellers because they wouldn't be allowed to import or sell a nonconforming product. Since then Audiophonics, Purité Audio and maybe more have started stocking it, so my concern appears to have been misplaced.

 

[juliopr]

EDIT: subsequent to this review, the IMD "hump" was resolved by the designer. He was also gracious to provide the fix for anyone to use!
Does this means that this DAC Does not suffer from ESS hump anymore?

 

[mt196]

EDIT: subsequent to this review, the IMD "hump" was resolved by the designer. He was also gracious to provide the fix for anyone to use!
Does this means that this DAC Does not suffer from ESS hump anymore?

Yes

 

[jtwrace]

EDIT: subsequent to this review, the IMD "hump" was resolved by the designer. He was also gracious to provide the fix for anyone to use!
Does this means that this DAC Does not suffer from ESS hump anymore?

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-hump-on-sgd1-and-la-qxd1.10502/#post-289953

 

[Oberoni]

Do any of you fine people recommend changing the digital filter? The default one sounds great, and I'm not sure if it's worth changing.

 

[RickSanchez]

Do any of you fine people recommend changing the digital filter? The default one sounds great, and I'm not sure if it's worth changing.

I cannot give you a recommendation as I neither own this DAC nor am I a very fine person.

But out of curiosity: which filter is the default? (I know Amir mentioned he used the "BRIC" filter for testing.)

 

[bahamot]

Default filter is apodizing filter

 

[Nathan_A]

I just received mine yesterday. It's a fantastic piece of kit, FWIW. Driving an Icepower 1200AS2 amp directly.

I chose the FAL filter based on the above graphic from the review.

 

[CrimeInPartner]

I just wanted to add some final comments dealing with Yooteetoo on Amazon US. I had mentioned a while back that he had sent me the gray version in error instead of the black one. It's been a good bit of waiting while they were getting their local stock shipped to the US to be delivered through Prime, but I wanted to let everyone know that Yooyeetoo fixed my problem and sent me the correct version and covered my shipping, so he made things right with me. Buying from him through Amazon will make a great option for those in the states, especially if you have Prime.

 

[mjoshi]

Should I rethink about RME ADI-2 DAC that I just bought after reading this review ? I’m still under 45 days return period.

 

[jtwrace]

Has anyone had an issue with channel imbalance? I clearly have a a few dB difference between Left & Right channels and do not see that you can change channel volume independently so I'm thinking there's an issue with this unit. My other dac, image is spot on.

 

[Sophia Ann]

Has anyone had an issue with channel imbalance? I clearly have a a few dB difference between Left & Right channels and do not see that you can change channel volume independently so I'm thinking there's an issue with this unit. My other dac, image is spot on.

Hi, Jason, just directly ask the person again I told you. He should solve the issue. Thanks

 

[Ben1987]

The new version 4.86 of “SONCOZ_Thesycon_UsbAudio_Driver_V4.86” is available，if you need，please Download and upgrade.

NEW:
1、Support for Windows 10 version 2004
2、Various improvements and bugfixes

 

[jtwrace]

The new version 4.86 of “SONCOZ_Thesycon_UsbAudio_Driver_V4.86” is available，if you need，please Download and upgrade.

NEW:
1、Support for Windows 10 version 2004
2、Various improvements and bugfixes

Has anyone had an issue with channel imbalance? I clearly have a a few dB difference between Left & Right channels and do not see that you can change channel volume independently so I'm thinking there's an issue with this unit. My other dac, image is spot on.

Hello @Ben1987 will this update fix my issue? Is this a known issue? Also, how does one update this? I don't see any instructions in the manual to do so.

 

[EMMA]

Hello @Ben1987 will this update fix my issue? Is this a known issue? Also, how does one update this? I don't see any instructions in the manual to do so.

We haven't received feedback from others about channel imbalance.You can try to update this driver, just need to install the 4.86 version of the driver after uninstalling the one installed before. For the upgrade, please refer to the SGD1 upgrade instructions, which can be downloaded from the official website .

 

[jtwrace]

We haven't received feedback from others about channel imbalance.You can try to update this driver, just need to install the 4.86 version of the driver after uninstalling the one installed before. For the upgrade, please refer to the SGD1 upgrade instructions, which can be downloaded from the official website .

Thanks. That didn't do anything...still have a very obvious imbalance with this dac compared to my other.

EDIT: I have swapped amp too and it's still there and traced to the DAC.

DAC > BSS BLU 50 > (2) Hypex NC502MP > JBL M2

 

[jtwrace]

Thanks. That didn't do anything...still have a very obvious imbalance with this dac compared to my other.

EDIT: I have swapped amp too and it's still there and traced to the DAC.

DAC > BSS BLU 50 > (2) Hypex NC502MP > JBL M2

@Ben1987 @Sophia Ann I did some more troubleshooting...

XLR output, Bluetooth as in the input - same issue.

XLR on Left, RCA output on the louder (right) channel - problem solved and now level matched.

Leads me to believe there is an internal firmware issue or wiring issue? Please let me know how to proceed with either refund or dac swap with a dac that has been fully tested on the bench.

 

[Veri]

That seems like a wiring issue for sure!