This is a review and detailed measurements of the TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro portable DAC and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $70.
I really like the fresh look of the BHD. There is a red LED that lights up the tiny ICs in there, giving it some elegance. There are volume control buttons on the side with good tactile feedback. And from what I could see in measurements, they have fine resolution.
Importantly there is support for 4.4 mm balanced headphone out in addition to 3.5mm.
EDIT: I originally left out "Pro" out of the name. Corrected some but the rest of the graphs are still missing that word in the model name.
SINAD of 105 dB is excellent for a portable DAC. But check out unbalanced output:
Wow, this thing will give many desktop dacs a run for their money! And that is not all. See the dynamic range:
Stunning!
Jitter performance is the best of any dongle from what I can remember:
Dynamic range is excellent even at 50 mv:
High output voltage translates to plenty of power for 300 ohm headphones:
Same for 32 ohm:
Not feeling well so no listening performance. May do so tomorrow and report back but I expect no surprises.
Conclusions
The performance of the Sonata BHD Pro rates as state of the art for portable DACs and will easily substitute for many desktop DACs as well. Add this the nice enclosure and controls and you have a winner.
It is my pleasure to add it to my recommended list.
Manufacturer Specifications:
Sonata BHD Pro is a USB C dongle DAC&
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I really like the fresh look of the BHD. There is a red LED that lights up the tiny ICs in there, giving it some elegance. There are volume control buttons on the side with good tactile feedback. And from what I could see in measurements, they have fine resolution.
Importantly there is support for 4.4 mm balanced headphone out in addition to 3.5mm.
EDIT: I originally left out "Pro" out of the name. Corrected some but the rest of the graphs are still missing that word in the model name.
TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro Measurements
Let's start with our dashboard using balanced output:SINAD of 105 dB is excellent for a portable DAC. But check out unbalanced output:
Wow, this thing will give many desktop dacs a run for their money! And that is not all. See the dynamic range:
Stunning!
Jitter performance is the best of any dongle from what I can remember:
Dynamic range is excellent even at 50 mv:
High output voltage translates to plenty of power for 300 ohm headphones:
Same for 32 ohm:
Not feeling well so no listening performance. May do so tomorrow and report back but I expect no surprises.
Conclusions
The performance of the Sonata BHD Pro rates as state of the art for portable DACs and will easily substitute for many desktop DACs as well. Add this the nice enclosure and controls and you have a winner.
It is my pleasure to add it to my recommended list.
Manufacturer Specifications:
Sonata BHD Pro is a USB C dongle DAC&
- DAC: 2*CS43131
- SNR: 131dB
- THD+N: 0.00012%(@32ohm 1kHz 0dB signal )
- OUTPUT LEVEL: [email protected]/32Ω,[email protected]/32Ω
- OUTPUT POWER: [email protected]/32ohm
- Frequency: 0-40KHZ /+- 0.5dB
- RGB light: indicates working status
- PCM: up to 32Bit/384kHz DSD256(NATIVE)
- DSD: up to DSD256
- MQA: MQA renderer 8X
- Volume Control: hardware buttons
- Platform support: Windows PC,MACOS and Android
- USB Audio driver: Win7,Win8 Win10 & Exclusive ASIO driver for windows system
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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