TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro Portable DAC & Amp Review

[bavlf]

And the question here is if there any comparison between the head to head for now as I see TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro TANCHJIM SPACE?
I do not know what to choose!

I have both, the Tempotec Sonata BHD pro is much more pleasant for its musicality, more beautiful, finer, more nuanced, with more dynamics.
The power, manufacturing quality, are similar.
And updates followed at Tempotec generally.

 

[Jimbob54]

And the question here is if there any comparison between the head to head for now as I see TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro TANCHJIM SPACE?
I do not know what to choose!

The Space. You can properly and safely check and control volume. Not as powerful but for iem it's the obvious choice.

 

[Deckard01]

Actually I would like one of the to dongles to drive my HD600 so as I see more powerful is the Tempotec right? Also is it better than Moondrop Dawn Pro?

Moreover has anyone connect the dongle to any external amplifier?

Thanks!

 

[bavlf]

@Deckard01
Moondrop or Tempotec or Tanchjim or Truthear or ... with almost the same power therefore:

HD600 on the 4.4 socket
Your amplifier on the 3.5 mm output

And you are happy!

 

[Deckard01]

@bavlf
I was thinking the same so as to feed my Heed CanAmp from the dongle..

Do you know if I use a Jack to RCA splitter/adapter will it work? Gonna have any issues?

I was thinking of these options:

Audioquest adapter
or
Amazon cheap adapter

Does it make any difference the price here?

I have these rca cables Atlas Integra that I used to connect to my old Dac->Amp

Also one more question are these dacs better than the IFI Go Link that I have now?

Thanks for all!

 

[bavlf]

This will work, but an adapter is always, always a bad thing.
Choose a direct 3.5 male to CINCH female cable

 

[Deckard01]

This will work, but an adapter is always, always a bad thing.

Hello @bavlf, can you tell me please why an adapter is not a good idea?

I am asking because I have tried the splitter to my Go Link and it worked properly with no issues. But I always wondered if there are issues that I could not find out using this method.

Also any suggestion for a direct 3.5 male to female cable? Does it need to be any expensive cable?
Something like this will be ok?

Thanks for all

 

[Aperiodic]

There are apparently two different versions of this amp, differing only in color. Clearly, the black one as shown in this review is the one to buy because it has excellent customer feedback on Amazon, whereas the virtually identical, silver one has a whopping 21% rate of one-star reviews. Maybe the black anodizing sounds better? More seriously, it makes me wonder if there is a QC issue?

If you revisit this Amir, would you mind measuring the current draw as recently adopted?

 

[sushi2020]

I’m using this.
I have no complaints except that the volume step is remarkably small.
I will submit a request to TempoTec for a firmware update to improve it.

 

[chi2]

There seems to be a new version of the BHD Pro firmware available (https://www.tempotec.net/pages/firmware-download). It's a pity that a documentation of the function changes is almost completely missing. The only information given is the following:
"The firmware “S-BHDPRO-HMF1.01.bin” is the default one which has been flashed into Sonata BHD Pro in factory.
The firmware “S-BHDPRO-HMN1.01.bin” is the one you can upgrade to get a different sound style."

"A different sound style"? I don't feel like buying a pig in a poke. Even if the change is very minor or unhearable like a different DAC filter.

 

[Jimbob54]

There seems to be a new version of the BHD Pro firmware available (https://www.tempotec.net/pages/firmware-download). It's a pity that a documentation of the function changes is almost completely missing. The only information given is the following:
"The firmware “S-BHDPRO-HMF1.01.bin” is the default one which has been flashed into Sonata BHD Pro in factory.
The firmware “S-BHDPRO-HMN1.01.bin” is the one you can upgrade to get a different sound style."

"A different sound style"? I don't feel like buying a pig in a poke. Even if the change is very minor or unhearable like a different DAC filter.

That's not new. It's a variant on the one it shipped with that allows sound profiles. I don't believe they have yet released any of the profiles.

 

[chi2]

Is there any written documentation about this feature? They seem to be rather challenged with regard to documentation and software development.

 

[Jimbob54]

Is there any written documentation about this feature? They seem to be rather challenged with regard to documentation and software development.

Pick the bones out of the "little difference" section here. https://www.tempotec.net/pages/sonata-bhd-pro-details

Not exactly clear what it means

 

[chi2]

"...make sounds more abundant and various..."

Looks like they intend to implement EQ settings for genres and selected headphones/earphones - just like with the L&P W4/W4EX. Only that the BHD Pro lacks any kind of UI and display which means that all settings must be applied via firmware and there's no change on the fly. Awkward.

 

[Sebby]

Yup- my total paypal bill (taxes and delivery) was just over £60 UK. Cant really argue with that and got shipping confirmation this morning

Here's how much it costs me from Italy...

 

[tedmingo]

Ahh! MQA, why ? That ship sailed years ago. Help keep our signal paths clean, say no to MQA.

 

[bavlf]

Such a pointless comment.. So vain...
The Sonata BHD pro works great even without MQA files!

 

[shorodei]

Ahh! MQA, why ? That ship sailed years ago. Help keep our signal paths clean, say no to MQA.

Same. waiting for a cheaper mqa-free version/competitor.

 

[starfly]

Those of you that also use the Truthear DAC, how is the power draw on that thing compared to the BHD Pro?

 

[bavlf]

Tempotec Sonata BHD pro is very, very sober