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TANCHJIM Space Portable Headphone Adapter Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 3 1.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 4 1.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 38 12.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 265 85.5%

  • Total voters
    310
I wish it was more obvious what you're supposed to do to update the firmware. I have the Space plugged in but have this displayed. Also I renamed the hex file adding 2024 but then going one in the Chinese character folder with 2024 in the hex file name.
 

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I moved them to a folder without the Chinese characters and then renamed the .hex file with timestamp to TANCHJIM_SPACE.hex
I wish it was more obvious what you're supposed to do to update the firmware. I have the Space plugged in but have this displayed. Also I renamed the hex file adding 2024 but then going one in the Chinese character folder with 2024 in the hex file name.
 
Is there anyone that can tell me what usb c to lightning cable will work I really want an original one but no shipping to The Netherlands unfortunately.. and I have 2 at home now that don’t work being a generic and a FiiO LT-LT2 cable
 
Does anyone know where I can download the original or updated firmware for Space Lite? I accidentally flashed firmware the Space to it - it's not bricked but there is no sound.
 
Does anyone know where I can download the original or updated firmware for Space Lite? I accidentally flashed firmware the Space to it - it's not bricked but there is no sound.
You should contact the distributor or Tanchjim; I don't believe any firmware updates were ever released for the Lite model.

Happy Christmas All!
 
Hey!
Mine isn't bricked but I have an issue that I guess has to do with the driver or the new Firmware I installed! So I'm looking into reverting the Firmware but the Dropbox link you provided doesn't work for me!
As the issue occurs on my new laptop, I assume it might be with the ASIO driver. Tanchjim asks in their instruction (translated from Chinese) to "2. Click on the ASIO driver to install", after installing the Comtrue-inc drivers, however, I can't find the "TANCHJIM SPACE ASIO DRIVER_setup" file on their website!
828108b6b9b90e4d8da1cde44b3da95

Have you found such a file?!

P.S.: The issue I face is that the audio output dies for 200-300 ms every couple of seconds to a minute, which is turning the otherwise good DAC useless for playing for an audience!
 
Hey!
Mine isn't bricked but I have an issue that I guess has to do with the driver or the new Firmware I installed! So I'm looking into reverting the Firmware but the Dropbox link you provided doesn't work for me!
As the issue occurs on my new laptop, I assume it might be with the ASIO driver. Tanchjim asks in their instruction (translated from Chinese) to "2. Click on the ASIO driver to install", after installing the Comtrue-inc drivers, however, I can't find the "TANCHJIM SPACE ASIO DRIVER_setup" file on their website!
828108b6b9b90e4d8da1cde44b3da95

Have you found such a file?!

P.S.: The issue I face is that the audio output dies for 200-300 ms every couple of seconds to a minute, which is turning the otherwise good DAC useless for playing for an audience!
Try this one

Edit: the older asio version is gone for good it seems. I can't find the one working with asio anymore :(
 
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Is the output power sufficient to drive Focal Clear MG without compromise?
Better get the Luna instead for peace of mind.

 
Is the output power sufficient to drive Focal Clear MG without compromise?
Their specs say 55 ohm - 104 dbmW that equates for 116 dbV, so they seems pretty sensitive headphones, Space should be more than enough to drive them fairly loud even with single ended output.
 
I can only get 1.993V RMS from my 4.4mm out :/

I'm kind of disappointed - 1.0V from unbalanced, 2.0V balanced. It's supposed to be 4.0V!

2.0V into 300 ohms is 13mW

I thought 46mW measured here into 300 ohms - got 13mW

1/3rd!

It's too late to return :'(


edit: has anyone else measured their voltage out?
If I send 60Hz sine at full scale without adjusting the volume control on the unit itself, voltage is 0.35V (SE) 0.7V (BAL)
When I adjust the volume buttons to maximum (when the LED blinks white), voltage reaches 0.996 (SE) 1.993V (BAL)

This implies that Tanchjim didn't wire the board properly...

54mW is what the Space is rated for pushing into 300 ohms. 4 volts RMS, 300 ohms = 53.333mW
230mW is what it's rated into 32 ohms, meaning it can put out 2.7V RMS

1736409493513.png


I just saw these 2Vrms (Low) 4Vrms (High)
... am I stuck in Low? There's only two buttons!

edit: found out: vol + and - together (short) changes gain to high
anndifoundout: vol + and - together (long) changes the filter. to what? I dunno lol

edit2: voltage output maxes out at 3.87V RMS
 
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There's only two buttons!
Press them both shortly at the same time:
 
vol + and - together (long) changes the filter. to what? I dunno lol
It cycles through 5 available filters:
 
Pressing both buttons on my unit cycles through filters. At each change the LED blinks. When it wraps around, it blinks twice. There are 5 filters in total. Below are their frequency and impulse responses. I named the filters f1, f2, ..., starting from the one with double blink.

Disclosure: the procedure (described below) may have some flaws I'm not aware of. The results look reasonable though, so there's that.

View attachment 355119
View attachment 355120
View attachment 355121

For frequency response I used SoX to generate one minute of white noise at 44.1 kHz sampling rate, -10 dBFS sample peak (-5.3 dBTP, -14.9 RMS).
I played it at full volume and recorded with ADI-2 Pro RS R BE at 384 kHz sampling rate. Ref Level was set to +13 dBu.

For impulse response I used SoX to generate two seconds of silence with a one-sample impulse in the middle at 44.1 kHz sampling rate, -2 dBFS sample peak.
I recorded it like above and then added 4.4 dB gain (that's the difference between DAC's max output and +13 dBu Ref Level).
To confirm, Filter 1 is the one right after the blue light has blinked twice? Thank you!
 
To confirm, Filter 1 is the one right after the blue light has blinked twice? Thank you!
Yes, when you pressed the buttons and the LED blinked twice, then the filter 1 is active.
 
Hey!
Mine isn't bricked but I have an issue that I guess has to do with the driver or the new Firmware I installed! So I'm looking into reverting the Firmware but the Dropbox link you provided doesn't work for me!
As the issue occurs on my new laptop, I assume it might be with the ASIO driver. Tanchjim asks in their instruction (translated from Chinese) to "2. Click on the ASIO driver to install", after installing the Comtrue-inc drivers, however, I can't find the "TANCHJIM SPACE ASIO DRIVER_setup" file on their website!
828108b6b9b90e4d8da1cde44b3da95

Have you found such a file?!

P.S.: The issue I face is that the audio output dies for 200-300 ms every couple of seconds to a minute, which is turning the otherwise good DAC useless for playing for an audience!
I looked for it on my backups and found the file, you can use this link to download it.
Happy Chinese New Year!
 
Yes, when you pressed the buttons and the LED blinked twice, then the filter 1 is active.

Thanks for the information and charts!

I just upgraded my Tanchjim Space into something less fatiguing than it's been since.. well, since pretty much when I bought it! I don't know which mode mine came in, or what I might have knocked it into while I was trying to enter the "high gain" when it was new.. but I've knocked it right, now - into filte


Except for frequency response anomalies like 17kHz being down a dB or two early, with most DACs, I've found it pretty hard to hear any difference at all between their filters.

The Tanchjim Space now sounds more full and accurate, the highs are less fatiguing and more detailed, and lastly imaging is improved. Filter 2 is a close second to 4- the sound is virtually the same including slightly better bass and the highs and less fatigue, it's just not quite matching with the imaging.

The first song I played, I set it to filter 1. I listened to half the song and then circulated through all options, listening for 10-20 seconds on each, twice. First song, 1 was winning - in particular the excellent-sounding and very well recorded tambourine was coming through just as I've come to understand it should (through all other systems I've listened through), and the vocals (female) were balanced tonally. In literally all of the other modes the tambourine was lacking its proper luster, it sounded hollowed out. The less blatant (but still significant) second strongest weakness to the tambourine's failure, was the vocals - they sounded like they had a bit too much energy in the 6-7kHz range.

But when I moved onto the next song on the album, I quickly learned that the NOS filter was just, coincidentally, interacting really well with the first song. When I flipped through the filter modes now, they didn't all suck in the same way. I came to understand that they were all pretty distinct, having their own attributes. Two pairs (2 and 4, and 3 and 5) sounded similar to each other, but 2/4 sounded better than 3/5, with 4 sounding best of all.

At this point I only knew that the double flash meant I was on #1, so when I looked at the charts and found that 1 meant NOS and that the impulse response of the similar sounding pairs were, themselves, very similar, everything came together...

Anyway, my recommendation is filter #4. Some people believe filtering doesn't make a notable difference to a DAC's sound. Before my experience today with the Space, I would have agreed. It may just be that this is a CS43131/43198, a different design than most DACs being used today, maybe because there's almost no supporting hardware around the chips because the Space has no space inside (it's TINY) the filters don't work properly. I don't know anything for sure, other than I'm going to be using filter #4 with my Tanchjim Space from now on!
 
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