TANCHJIM Space Portable Headphone Adapter Review

[thecheapseats]

is this the first revision of their dac design(s)?...

 

[elole]

The problem has been solved. New firmware is available on the official website.

nice! Can't wait to try it. I was not aware Tanchjim had an official website.

 

[elole]

The problem has been solved. New firmware is available on the official website.

Hmm the tanchjim_Tool_V1.0.exe sensed the dongle but it's not sensing the hex file in the same folder... am I doing something wrong?

 

[charleski]

Is the USB receiver chip asynchronous or isochronous? This can be tested on a PC with the Thesycon dumper. The chief reason I went with the dongle I currently use (JCally AP90) is that it runs an asynchronous interface. The Tempotec Sonata I used previously is very good, but its isochronous interface leads to intermittent dropouts when paired with my RPi, these are gone with the JCally.

 

[MCH]

Is the USB receiver chip asynchronous or isochronous? This can be tested on a PC with the Thesycon dumper. The chief reason I went with the dongle I currently used (JCally AP90) is that it runs an asynchronous interface. The Tempotec Sonata I used previously is very good, but its isochronous interface leads to intermittent dropouts when paired with my RPi, these are gone with the JCally.

Glad you mention it. Same issue with my Meizu non pro + RPI.

 

[AlexHRider]

Yeah right.

The Roksan only has an inbuilt phono preamp, 2 line inputs, 4 digital inputs, LAN and twin USB connections, along with around 150wpc@4R. One you will lose behind the sofa or leave it on the train, the other will probably be still working happily in your loungeroom in 15 years. Totally a fair comparison. Not.

*kitchen frying eggs
fixed

 

[Galke6]

Fine, I think this should reemplace my Hidizs s9 but this can drive my Aeon RT well or I should find more options?

 

[IAtaman]

Fine, I think this should reemplace my Hidizs s9 but this can drive my Aeon RT well or I should find more options?

S9 has a bit more power single ended than this one. For balanced, this can produce more power than S9 but you will need a 4.4mm cable.

 

[abm0]

Since we long have reached the realm of inaudibility of noise and distortion even for dongles, output power is more what counts (at least to me). The Fiio KA3 ouputs 240mW at 32 Ohm, so about 100mW more than the Tanchjim Space, it is also cheaper.

The catch with Chinese manufacturers though is they're only limited by law to putting out power specs that correspond to at most 10%(!!!) THD+N, so you will see some spectacular mW numbers from them for super cheap no-name devices (and even some famous ones) but the associated distortion will no longer even satisfy the NwAvGuy thresholds, and will not be the best THD+N specs they show for the product, which are achieved at much lower power.

So for example HiBy did this with their ridiculous spec of 380 mW for the FC4 dongle, which is only reached at 10-11% THD+N, while clean power (0.003%) is only to be found below like 190mW, see here: https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/hiby-fc4/
Even the much-hyped Ovidius B1 has this issue, with lots of people reporting it produces noise through a lot of headphones, to the point that using the included impedance adapter isn't optional, which means cutting the power in half isn't optional, and all of a sudden we're back to Earth at the same popular-brand max power of 240-ish mW balanced.

Same-ish is happening with the Luxury&Precision W4, they're just more upfront about it, quoting 480mW @10%THD+N, 400mW @0.01%THD+N, and who knows what's left by the time we get to adequate levels like 0.005%, 0.003% etc.

In this case FiiO are trying to meet us halfway by giving us a power spec at "THD+N<1%", but that's just not good enough until we can see it measured properly and judge the clean power at 0.0056% and below. You can't talk about inaudibility of noise and distortion at 1% THD+N.

What would keep me away from the Tanchjim is rather that it has favorable reviews from fans of "analog sound", who fatigue themselves with harsh death metal music, high volume and bad listening habits for 12h/day and then blame the device (usually an ESS) for being fatiguing, and who then go looking for badly tuned DACs with early-rolloff filters that veil the sound and remove treble detail.

 

[devilhyt]

Hmm the tanchjim_Tool_V1.0.exe sensed the dongle but it's not sensing the hex file in the same folder... am I doing something wrong?

Does the file path contain Chinese characters? If so, delete them.

 

[elole]

Does the file path contain Chinese characters? If so, delete them.

It works! Thanks, you are a saviour

Now the dongle is useable!

 

[Matias]

It works! Thanks, you are a saviour

Now the dongle is useable!

Funny you say that, I prefer it to keep the same lowish volume every time I connect it. I will not be upgrading my firmware here.

 

[Rotiv]

It has been reported in other threads/forums that the CS43131/43198 switch the internal gain around -20-30dbfs, which biases the dynamic range test results. If true, a well implemented CS dongle may be great but not quite SOTA as the measurements would indicate…
Any clue from the experts?

 

[Sokel]

IMD vs level?

Thanks Amir!

 

[Dunring]

Has anyone tried the Lite version of this? It looks like it's not balanced so less power, but costs half as much. I had a couple of weeks with the Tanchjim Hana 2021 and those are ones I'd get again, so well rounded for daily use and comfortable. Think I'll sell the Soundblaster X1 and maybe get the full version of the Space unless the Lite version measures the same, the Truthear Zero Blue should be fine with it.

 

[elole]

Funny you say that, I prefer it to keep the same lowish volume every time I connect it. I will not be upgrading my firmware here.

Hmm What do you mean? With the firmware upgrade, your preferred volume should remain constant. For me, the default volume is way too high for sensitive iems.

 

[Matias]

unless the Lite version measures the same, the Truthear Zero Blue should be fine with it.

See 2 pages before...

 

[Matias]

Hmm What do you mean? With the firmware upgrade, your preferred volume should remain constant. The default volume is way too high for sensitive iems.

I mean that for me the volume is kept mid-low for the Reds and that is fine for me when I connect it and adjust from there.

 

[Jimbob54]

Has anyone tried the Lite version of this? It looks like it's not balanced so less power, but costs half as much. I had a couple of weeks with the Tanchjim Hana 2021 and those are ones I'd get again, so well rounded for daily use and comfortable. Think I'll sell the Soundblaster X1 and maybe get the full version of the Space unless the Lite version measures the same, the Truthear Zero Blue should be fine with it.

Yes, works fine. Only tried with iem so can't attest to power but more than enough for for easy loads.

And a lot more streamlined

 

[elole]

I mean that for me the volume is kept mid-low for the Reds and that is fine for me when I connect it and adjust from there.

Ah understood

Though there is also the added benefit of filters in the tanchjim app from the same site should you be interested