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Tempotec Sonata HD Pro Review (headphone Adapter)

Freezak

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Dec 3, 2022
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Welcome, this is my first post and my question about the high gain mode is - does it change anything else than just the volume? i find my sonata hd pro drives my hd560s loud enough without forcing it into 2v.

It's just that i hate using the hardware volume control and i'm keeping it maxed out and using the windows volume control - apparently this is not good, so i'm wondering whether to by-pass the 3.5mm adapter trick (it's annoying, have to re-plug it everytime i restart my PC) would it be better to flash the BHD firmware to my Sonata, then keep the hardware volume control at around 50% and use my OS to control the volume. Does that make any sense? lol
 
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pytor

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Do you think someone with average listening skills and good headphones can hear considerable differences between the Tempotec and the Apple USB-C adapter?
I don't have the Sonata HD, but I have the Hidizs S8. Biggest difference I notice with sensitive IEMs is no noise from hardware volume control, actual sound quality is not that much different, maybe a little cleaner and punchier, touch better imaging/separation, but no substantial difference with most recordings. I'd say a Sonata HD is still worth it if only as a reference point, especially if you don't have any other sources/DACs. You should hear for yourself if you notice any differences since it's extremely variable person to person, headphone to headphone. If you do notice a difference, then that could be a sign you and your headphones can benefit from an upgraded DAC/amp, if not, then not much harm done and you can continue to use whatever gets out of the way and makes you enjoy the music the most.
 

G-rig

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Hi guys, wondering if anyone has experience with one of these? They come well recommended and the reviews look great. Just not sure how much power they would output for say some DT880 editions (250 ohm).

Thanks,
AU $10.48 5%OFF | LXDAC A01 ALC5686 USB Type C to 3.5mm Angeldac earphone Amplifie Digital Decoder AUX audio Cable hifi adapter converter Android
 

Freezak

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I don't have the Sonata HD, but I have the Hidizs S8. Biggest difference I notice with sensitive IEMs is no noise from hardware volume control, actual sound quality is not that much different, maybe a little cleaner and punchier, touch better imaging/separation, but no substantial difference with most recordings. I'd say a Sonata HD is still worth it if only as a reference point, especially if you don't have any other sources/DACs. You should hear for yourself if you notice any differences since it's extremely variable person to person, headphone to headphone. If you do notice a difference, then that could be a sign you and your headphones can benefit from an upgraded DAC/amp, if not, then not much harm done and you can continue to use whatever gets out of the way and makes you enjoy the music the most.
Thanks, you helped me a lot.
 

Sinquito

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Finally I got one, buy it on Aliexpress for around 30 USD which I think it's a good price, especially with the conversion to my local currency. I tried them with the Hifiman Sundara, so far so good, one thing is not clear for me is how many steeps the volume control has, I tried to count them, and I think might be 15 or 16 steeps. Anyway, I kinda like it, hopefully it will last. I also checked the Tempotec webpage and I don't think the firmware is user updatable, I could only find the drivers for Windows which in don't even think it's necessary unless you use DSD which is not my case.
 

Freezak

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Finally I got one, buy it on Aliexpress for around 30 USD which I think it's a good price, especially with the conversion to my local currency. I tried them with the Hifiman Sundara, so far so good, one thing is not clear for me is how many steeps the volume control has, I tried to count them, and I think might be 15 or 16 steeps. Anyway, I kinda like it, hopefully it will last. I also checked the Tempotec webpage and I don't think the firmware is user updatable, I could only find the drivers for Windows which in don't even think it's necessary unless you use DSD which is not my case.
Firmware updates are not available on the website anymore - i don't know why they decided to remove them. I guess you could find them somewhere on the internet along with the Sonata BHD firmware which can be flashed into Sonata HD Pro for permanent high gain mode.
 

charleski

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Firmware updates are not available on the website anymore - i don't know why they decided to remove them. I guess you could find them somewhere on the internet along with the Sonata BHD firmware which can be flashed into Sonata HD Pro for permanent high gain mode.
http://www.tempotec.com.cn/en/2-Product/Sonata/SonataHD/firmware.htm
They've hidden it (can only find the link through google), but it's still there.
 

Sinquito

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http://www.tempotec.com.cn/en/2-Product/Sonata/SonataHD/firmware.htm
They've hidden it (can only find the link through google), but it's still there.
Thanks for the links, I tried both C and D firmwares but neither worked. I downloaded the BHD firmware which I think it's for a different dongle and that one worked, maybe the problem was the Product ID of the USB device? I was using E202 as per the webpage (but I think mine was E203 from factory). I used E205 of the BHD instructions and worked.
 

charleski

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Thanks for the links, I tried both C and D firmwares but neither worked. I downloaded the BHD firmware which I think it's for a different dongle and that one worked, maybe the problem was the Product ID of the USB device? I was using E202 as per the webpage (but I think mine was E203 from factory). I used E205 of the BHD instructions and worked.
If it’s any help, I found the version 3.0 firmware I used in an old download directory.
 

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Sinquito

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If it’s any help, I found the version 3.0 firmware I used in an old download directory.
Thanks a lot! Your firmware worked correctly and I think it's the same as the one that came in mine (Product ID is E203 again). My iPad Pro throws an error message but still sounds, with the BHD firmware didn't shown any message error funny enough.
 

goldenears

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Can someone who has this tell me if you can use the Sonata HD Pro with ASIO drivers and supports multiple outputs simultaneously in Windows 10?

I am thinking about getting one of these to use Ableton on my laptop. Ableton needs ASIO drivers for low latency.

But I also need to be able to play sound from youtube or foobar2000 at the same time as using Ableton.

I spent a long time mucking around and eventually located and installed suitable ASIO drivers for my laptop's inbuilt soundcard, only to find that it does not allow multiple outputs to play simultaneously.

I can't believe it's so difficult to get a nice portable music setup working in 2023.
 
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staticV3

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@goldenears
ASIO prevents other applications from accessing your DAC. It's an exclusive Audio API.

If you want to have audio from multiple applications simultaneously, then you have to use Direct Sound or Wasapi Shared.
 

L5730

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@goldenears As @staticV3 has said above, you cannot have two programs simultaneously access the SonataHDPro using ASIO.
You can probably do something like what is mentioned here:
I don't know what the playback latency penalty would be.

I am not sure what your concern with latency is - the SonataHDPro isn't an I/O audio interface.
I suppose, if you were using a MIDI keyboard or such, then that may make a difference.
 

goldenears

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@goldenears
ASIO prevents other applications from accessing your DAC. It's an exclusive Audio API.

If you want to have audio from multiple applications simultaneously, then you have to use Direct Sound or Wasapi Shared.
@goldenears As @staticV3 has said above, you cannot have two programs simultaneously access the SonataHDPro using ASIO.
You can probably do something like what is mentioned here:
I don't know what the playback latency penalty would be.

I am not sure what your concern with latency is - the SonataHDPro isn't an I/O audio interface.
I suppose, if you were using a MIDI keyboard or such, then that may make a difference.
I have a Focusrite audio interface at home using ASIO drivers in Ableton, and I can use youtube or whatever at the same time.

1692359628199.png


I am planning on using the laptop with a Launchpad Mini MIDI controller, so I need low latency to play it.

I would much rather just buy a dongle that supports this without trying to cobble together a software solution like FlexASIO or ASIO4All.

It amazes me that this kind of use doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere. Why should I need a giant audio interface to do this?
 
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iscorpio71

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Hello everyone,

Happy Holidays!

I wanted to come back and write that. Tempotec Sonata HD Pro: started working with my Samsung Galaxy S23 for some reason, maybe after setting it up or a reset... I decided to connect it today, and it WORK perfectly!

What a great present :) And it sounds great!
 

iscorpio71

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Hello everyone,

Happy Holidays!

I wanted to come back and write that. Tempotec Sonata HD Pro: started working with my Samsung Galaxy S23 for some reason, maybe after setting it up or a reset... I decided to connect it today, and it WORK perfectly!

What a great present :) And it sounds great!
Now is back to not working... who knows why.
 

iscorpio71

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Now is back to not working... who knows why.
Contacted TempoTec. Their answer was to connect the USB C cable first to the Samsung port and then to the Sonatas. Well, that worked out fine.

The voltage required by the sonata is higher than the one provided if connected at the same time.
 

salmo

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Jan 4, 2024
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I bought used one super cheap, I was curious how it performs so why not! I can't hear the difference between this dongle and the E30 II Lite with Atom as an amp to be honest, it will definitely stay as a mobile option! I can even tuck it into a flash drive pouch. :D
 

DosThou

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Oct 25, 2018
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I honestly can't tell the difference between this and BHD pro in term of sonic performance. Only reason I wanted to upgrade was because this only has micro usb input and the volume jump is a bit too much otherwise, it was the dongle that convinced me to sell of the vast majority of my audio gear (which included massdrop thx amp and rme adi 2 dac) as I only used IEMs anyway.
 
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