LaLaLard
Member
I've been looking at Soncoz SGD1 for some time. It is amazing how a freshman could implement the cheap(ish) 9038q to such perfection! It showcase the designer's profesionality.
I've contacted the company and was told the ES chip "hump" has been fixed already. This makes the SGD1 an even more attractive option.
Another company with good engineering technique - Gustard, has released their more affordable version of A22 - Gustard A18 around a month ago. They posted their release of A18 on erji.com (the biggest head-fi like forum in China) on 1 May 2020.
More details in English can be found here: https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/...ed-dac-lme49860-6-decoder-with-remote-control
I haven't seen technical review of it to date, so am not sure about its quality, but Gustard's boss Mr.Huang once claimed in a Hifi expo that Gustard was trying hard to come close to A22's quality when designing A18, so I think it's not going to be too far off, if not very close.
Here are some details to look at:
A quick look inside:
When Hifi equipments are good enough in terms of sonic performance, I tend to look for some extra feature and overall design quality, and that's why I purchased RME ADI-2. But this time I need another DAC for the speaker system.
The Gustard A18 looks quite neat inside! it reminds me of apple and Devialet.
Soncoz SGD1 is slightly worse in my personal opinion. I don't particularly like the sticky tape.
And AK4499 are surely more expensive, yet A18 is around $100-$150 cheaper than SGD1. This could imply better designing or cost management or bigger scale or production...I don't know.
What do you think?
I've contacted the company and was told the ES chip "hump" has been fixed already. This makes the SGD1 an even more attractive option.
Another company with good engineering technique - Gustard, has released their more affordable version of A22 - Gustard A18 around a month ago. They posted their release of A18 on erji.com (the biggest head-fi like forum in China) on 1 May 2020.
More details in English can be found here: https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/...ed-dac-lme49860-6-decoder-with-remote-control
I haven't seen technical review of it to date, so am not sure about its quality, but Gustard's boss Mr.Huang once claimed in a Hifi expo that Gustard was trying hard to come close to A22's quality when designing A18, so I think it's not going to be too far off, if not very close.
Here are some details to look at:
A quick look inside:
When Hifi equipments are good enough in terms of sonic performance, I tend to look for some extra feature and overall design quality, and that's why I purchased RME ADI-2. But this time I need another DAC for the speaker system.
The Gustard A18 looks quite neat inside! it reminds me of apple and Devialet.
Soncoz SGD1 is slightly worse in my personal opinion. I don't particularly like the sticky tape.
And AK4499 are surely more expensive, yet A18 is around $100-$150 cheaper than SGD1. This could imply better designing or cost management or bigger scale or production...I don't know.
What do you think?