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SONCOZ SGD1 Audio DAC Review

EMMA

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Switching on device and immediately it starts the pulsing in the speakers. No flashing LEDs just the normal lights. Pulse starts and stops after maybe 4 or 5 sequences.

And it is only on the left channel
Does it appear within one minute after switching on? During this time SGD1 will be networked to check whether there is any firmware to upgrade on the server. If there is no update, the network will be turned off after one minute. Will it play normally afterwards? If it is normal, it may be affected by the network.
 

Morla

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Does it appear within one minute after switching on? During this time SGD1 will be networked to check whether there is any firmware to upgrade on the server. If there is no update, the network will be turned off after one minute. Will it play normally afterwards? If it is normal, it may be affected by the network.

Yes I think those pulsing sounds are emitted during that networked phase.

It is gone after that phase. Until recently I think after some hours it might have gone into network mode again it lowered the volume even.

It always disappears after maybe half a minute or so
 

EMMA

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Yes I think those pulsing sounds are emitted during that networked phase.

It is gone after that phase. Until recently I think after some hours it might have gone into network mode again it lowered the volume even.

It always disappears after maybe half a minute or so
When did you buy this SGD1? Have you upgraded after purchase?
 

chasefrench

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Does anyone have issues with the volume of this device?

I have windows set to full volume, my active speakers set to 75% at the back which is 25% more than usual, and the Soncoz SGD1 at 75% volume and its still really really quiet?

I am using XLR output and the volume problem remains regardless of input.

I thought this device didn't need a separate pre-amp?

Thanks again for any advice
 

Get a hearing test

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Does anyone have issues with the volume of this device?

I have windows set to full volume, my active speakers set to 75% at the back which is 25% more than usual, and the Soncoz SGD1 at 75% volume and its still really really quiet?

I am using XLR output and the volume problem remains regardless of input.

I thought this device didn't need a separate pre-amp?

Thanks again for any advice
soncoz at 75% volume and you have 25% less volume, that might be it. Always have your dac at 100%? Is there a problem with 100%? Is it too hot sounding or something? Why woulld anyone use less than 100% im curious.
 

Hemi-Demon

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Does this device always search for a firmware update at each power on? Does it delay audio playback for a minute or so? Can you turn OFF the auto update feature?
 

Morla

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Does this device always search for a firmware update at each power on? Does it delay audio playback for a minute or so? Can you turn OFF the auto update feature?

always? yes
turn it off? no
delay? not supposed to but I get a pulsing sound during update searching in my monitor boxes. Could be just me. Unresolved.
 

Hemi-Demon

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always? yes
turn it off? no
delay? not supposed to but I get a pulsing sound during update searching in my monitor boxes. Could be just me. Unresolved.

Isn't that going to damage your speakers. That can't be good long term.

A question for the builder, how secure is my personal wifi information in said app, required to update the firmware?
 

Morla

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Isn't that going to damage tour speakers. That cant be good long term.

I doubt it is damaging the speakers. If you remember how a incoming mobile call sounded in the past if you put the phone close to the speakers.. that's how it sounds
 

Hemi-Demon

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I doubt it is damaging the speakers. If you remember how a incoming mobile call sounded in the past if you put the phone close to the speakers.. that's how it sounds

Nice memory :lol:. Guess I will give this one a shot, I am curious how this will perform against the D50
 

Morla

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By the way. You might want to use your mobile as hotspot for the update once a month or so. The security of the firmware update is currently undisclosed.
 

chasefrench

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soncoz at 75% volume and you have 25% less volume, that might be it. Always have your dac at 100%? Is there a problem with 100%? Is it too hot sounding or something? Why woulld anyone use less than 100% im curious.

If the Soncoz needs to be set at 100% volume to be audible, then it does not have a digital pre-amp functionality!

On another setup, I have a d90 connected directly to active speakers, the d90 volume is used to control volume.

A dac should only be set to 100% if there is a dedicated pre-amp next in the chain
 

Ajp

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I just bought this dac to compare it against my PS Audio Directstream DAC (gasp). I really enjoy the sound of the DSD but am open to the possibility that I simply haven’t heard a “Proper measuring” dac to compare it against and could hate it afterward. Will set up a blind test using some helpers and report back. It gets here on Wednesday.
 
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Good suggestion. Just added a note to it.
As a suggestion, after re-checking on the original post: would you consider "nuancing" the conclusions too? That later edit about IMD hump nailed the respective chapter, but the conclusions disregard it, so it's confusing?

Or maybe if it's not in your hands to retest, you wouldn't go so far to revise the recommendation? (As long as the only factor that drew the possible highest recommendation was that issue, as I Understand)
 

Ajp

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Ok, so I have spent the last few hours with a buddy running ABX tests of the Soncoz SGD1 vs the PS Audio DSD. Before we get into results, @amirm I really wonder whether you got a DSD that just had a bad transformer. I just have never experienced what you measured and this test showed that as well.

First my system aside from DACs:

Martin Logan Impression 11a speakers
Jeff Rowland Capri S2 Preamp
Primaluna Evo 300 amp
The analog portion of the system doesn't really matter for this test

So we gave both units identical power cords, identical cables, RCA and then XLR and Roon. The only difference between the two was that I used them the way I would have to use them if I ran them full time. The DSD used it's Bridge II and the Soncoz was connected via usb to my computer with its drivers installed.

To set up the test, we had a third person connect both DACs to my preamp via RCA cables. We didn't know which one was on which input, we only knew the two input numbers we were using. He renamed the two devices in Roon as well to match the inputs, this turned out to not work well because we couldn't change the icons for the devices so our 3rd person had to manage the music for us. When jumping from one input to another on the preamp there was no way to know which DAC we were using. We used a phone DB meter to level match the internal volumes of both DACs before our #3 went to work so that the switching resulted in the same volume level for both RCA and XLR.

We had a preselected group of songs we were both very familiar with. We compared them in two different ways. The first time, we started the songs at the same time on both roon endpoints so that they played in sync and went back and forth recording which we preferred. We also reran the tests across the songs starting one DAC 30 seconds after the other. We listened for 30 seconds on the first and then listened to the same 30 seconds on the other DAC, rinse repeat. We then had our 3rd person switch to matching XLR cables and redid this all. We found that our results were almost identical going both ways on RCA, so for the XLR tests, we only tested going 30 seconds apart.

So the results of this as we were testing were pretty shocking. Throughout the listening, we were both blown away by the fact that one of them did not leap ahead of the other, which we assumed would happen consider one is $7,000 and the other is $500. But throughout the RCA test, they were shockingly similar. Similar bottom end, similar top, similar extension, similar sound stage. When we moved to XLR, the similarities were there, but we were able to pick out differences a lot more and the scores showed this.

RCA: PS Audio / Soncoz
Me - 11/9
Buddy - 9/11

XLR: PS Audio / Soncoz
Me - 13/7
Buddy - 11/9

Total 44/36

Takeaways

The PS Audio DAC won, but the fact that it was only the preferred option 55% of the time against a DAC that literally costs less than the Bridge II upgrade inside of it was pathetic. @amirm I still definitely didn't hear the issues your test showed, and neither did my buddy. I wonder if you would be interested in taking my unit and running tests again.

The Soncoz SGD1 is a SHOCKINGLY good DAC, the testing results were spot on. Considering it costs less than $500, it's hard to see why it would be worth it to spend more unless you need very specific connection like IIS which it doesn't have, and it is certainly not worth it to consider the PS Audio DSD over it.
 
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Veri

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The Soncoz SGD1 is a SHOCKINGLY good DAC, the testing results were spot on. Considering it costs less than $500, it's hard to see why it would be worth it to spend more unless you need very specific connection like IIS which it doesn't have, and it is certainly not worth it to consider the PS Audio DSD over it.
Great conclusion ;)
 

Jave

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The PS Audio DAC won, but the fact that it was only the preferred option 55% of the time against a DAC that literally costs less than the Bridge II upgrade inside of it was pathetic. @amirm I still definitely didn't hear the issues your test showed, and neither did my buddy. I wonder if you would be interested in taking my unit and running tests again.

The Soncoz SGD1 is a SHOCKINGLY good DAC, the testing results were spot on. Considering it costs less than $500, it's hard to see why it would be worth it to spend more unless you need very specific connection like IIS which it doesn't have, and it is certainly not worth it to consider the PS Audio DSD over it.

Statistically, considering the low number of repeats, 55% means random choice. Also, considering that the SONCOZ is audibly transparent and PS might be less so, it is possible that if you had any preference, it was for some added noise and distortion...
 
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