TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro Portable DAC & Amp Review

[Ra1zel]

It's 0.004 THD+N on 16 Ohms 50u so hardly there is a better one (and certainly not mobile one)

Yes, this is also completely irrelevant when you have 3 ohms of output impedance resulting in damping factor of pathetic 5 with 15 ohm IEMs.

W4 simply sounds bad with low impedance IEMs.

 

[Jimbob54]

Yes, this is also completely irrelevant when you have 3 ohms of output impedance resulting in damping factor of pathetic 5 with 15 ohm IEMs.

W4 simply sounds bad with low impedance IEMs.

Strange move on L&P part- looks like the W2 had less than 1 ohm on the 4.4mm https://goldensound.audio/2021/09/08/luxury-and-precision-w2-measurements/

 

[ZolaIII]

Yes, this is also completely irrelevant when you have 3 ohms of output impedance resulting in damping factor of pathetic 5 with 15 ohm IEMs.

W4 simply sounds bad with low impedance IEMs.

Well you should have gone with W2 and for a little more than half the price of W4.

 

[Robbo99999]

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.
View attachment 312470
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:
View attachment 312471

SINAD of 105 dB is excellent for a portable DAC. But check out unbalanced output:
View attachment 312472

Wow, this thing will give many desktop dacs a run for their money! And that is not all. See the dynamic range:
View attachment 312304
Stunning!

Jitter performance is the best of any dongle from what I can remember:
View attachment 312305

Dynamic range is excellent even at 50 mv:
View attachment 312306
View attachment 312307

High output voltage translates to plenty of power for 300 ohm headphones:
View attachment 312308

View attachment 312309

Same for 32 ohm:
View attachment 312310
View attachment 312311

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

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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/

Exceedingly good "dongle" replacing the need for any kind of desktop class DACS/amps, all whilst being just £69 imported (I think import tax included although not 100% sure) from the United States to UK according to Amazon! I'd buy this as a one stop shop to cover all desktop as well as mobile needs, however I already have a gaming G6 DAC for music & gaming which is irreplaceable due to Virtual Surround Sound capabilities and I also have an Apple Dongle for mobile needs which is good enough, but if I wasn't a gamer I'd buy this Tempotac BHD Pro for both desktop & mobile needs.

 

[Bicep]

Hi,

Hum... I think you're not really getting the point of this device. It is all about "portability". To add something that will allow yourt Phone to sound better that it does out of the box.

Think of it this way : instead of having a smartphone and a "high-ennd" DAP that costs a lot of money, has poor SoC, small dispaly and outdated Android System, you just use your phone and add this to have more or less what your DAP would offer (sure it will probably not be the same, but you'll probably hardly notice the difference excpet with some demanding headphones).

Of course, if you want to have a better DAC and a better heaphone amp, you can go for desktop devices. But they won't be "portative" even if some of them (I think of the newly released Shanling H5 and H7) include an internal battery.

Regards.

I'm the person he replied to. My question was based on the thought that this could perhaps cover the job as a dac and headphone amp (for iems) and connect to my fosi v3. My next upgrade for my system will probably be a dac, and I have been looking at the su1, but this sweet little piece looks tempting as I could also use it for headphones (minor importance to me).

 

[PenguinMusic]

I'm the person he replied to. My question was based on the thought that this could perhaps cover the job as a dac and headphone amp (for iems) and connect to my fosi v3. My next upgrade for my system will probably be a dac, and I have been looking at the su1, but this sweet little piece looks tempting as I could also use it for headphones (minor importance to me).

Hi,

Oh... OK. Didn't get that.

So yes, there is one thing that would make sense : keep this DAC (the numbers tell you will probably not hear a significant, if at all, between this and a deskptop DAC), buy a 3.5mm to 2 RCA cable and get your self a nice little desktop headphone amp... You can find several really good and powerful amps for a decent price. If you can strech to that price tag, look at the Shanling H5 or (much pricier) the Shanling H7. It is an upgrade worht considering I think

Regards.

 

[MacCali]

Thanks for the review @amirm
Isn't this the "PRO" version? I have the impression that the tempotec sonata BHD looks different and has a cable attached.
This pro version is also more expensive I believe (90$ tempotec shop)

It’s 70 dollars right now on Amazon in gray. Sure the black is 70 too direct from manufacturer. 1-2 month wait.

Ordered, I’m not in a rush. I really love my Q5S AMD but it’s pretty bulky.

 

[lc6]

There are plenty of examples of such implementations producing poor performance. Dealing with noisy USB right next to the DAC is non-trivial. Many dongles have polluted output as a result.
[...]

The Meizu MBLU Lifeme is based on the Conexant CX31993 and Maxim MAX97220. See the ASR discussion and the product webpage.
The Shanling UA2 is based on the ESS ES9038Q2M DAC & Ricore RT6863 amplifier. See the product webpage.
So neither is based on the Cirrus Logic CS43131. Hence the graphs you showed cannot be used to compare "implementations" of the same chip. Apples to oranges.

Besides, if Meizu MBLU Lifeme is an example of poor performance, then why did you recommend it?
"The performance of the Lifeme dongle is somewhat variable. On most of the tests it does quite well... I am going to recommend the Meizu Mblu Lifeme headphone adapter and DAC."

 

[Billy Budapest]

Let me guess—this $70 DAC outperforms a $100,000 dCS “stack.”

 

[Billy Budapest]

Just waiting for performance like this to come to the size/price of something like the Apple dongle. Next year? Two years?

 

[amirm]

And unfortunately no linearity and no IMD.
@amirm Why did you leave out these tests?

This class of device causes an incompatibility with ASIO emulator I use. So I am relegated to static tests and no sweeps.

 

[jhaider]

More power and cheaper than Quedlix 5k but will sound worse driving most headphones because it can’t EQ them.

If they modernize this platform they’d really have something.

 

[Robbo99999]

More power and cheaper than Quedlix 5k but will sound worse driving most headphones because it can’t EQ them.

If they modernize this platform they’d really have something.

It already outclasses lots of desktop class DAC/amps so the parametric EQ you would like would be very nice significant icing on the cake, it would be an extra cake actually, well I'm all for it!

 

[musicforcities]

I'm the person he replied to. My question was based on the thought that this could perhaps cover the job as a dac and headphone amp (for iems) and connect to my fosi v3. My next upgrade for my system will probably be a dac, and I have been looking at the su1, but this sweet little piece looks tempting as I could also use it for headphones (minor importance to me).

Sure it could do that. And you could take it with you. I have planar magnetics and a 600ohm dt880 I think could use more power, but I suspect senn hd600 and such would be powered more than adequately

 

[mc.god]

The support to "only" 384 Khz and not 768 like other dual CS43131/43198 dongles (Truthear Shio, Tanchjim Space, Moondrop Dawn OG) seems more similar to the new Moondrop Dawn Pro implementation of these chips, so it should be priced a bit lower just like it. For about 20€\$ more i'd personally go with Shio.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Just waiting for performance like this to come to the size/price of something like the Apple dongle. Next year? Two years?

Come to think of it, the Moondrop Dawn might already fit the bill.

 

[bobster]

Amazon (US) says the Sonata BHD Pro is "currently unavailable" as of this posting.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF45JP64/

 

[Acerun]

More power and cheaper than Quedlix 5k but will sound worse driving most headphones because it can’t EQ them.

If they modernize this platform they’d really have something.

You really think that? 88 Sinad versus 112? I suppose the corresponding question is how bad your headphones need EQ. How about just using with UAPP?

 

[ZolaIII]

You really think that? 88 Sinad versus 112? I suppose the corresponding question is how bad your headphones need EQ. How about just using with UAPP?

I like to recommend Hiby Music and TempoTec (still) follows (with it being their DAP software and in generally from their old DAC's with costume implementations).

 

[TimF]

In the near future, the space age, will all home audio equipment even hi-end separates be this size?