Tempotec Sonata HD Pro Review (headphone Adapter)

[Nathan Raymond]

A few months back I picked up the Sonata HD Pro, specifically the one that came bundled with the additional USB to Lightning cable so it works with iOS devices, which has come in handy. I've been happy with it's performance (though I wish that volume control was more granular), and recently picked up the Tempotec Sonata BHD (a balanced USB-C to 2.5mm DAC/amp) and their V1 player. I was able to pop in the two 400GB MicroSD cards with the music I listen to in my Onkyo Rubato DP-S1 DAP, index them in the V1, and then plug in either the Sonata HD Pro or Sonata BHD and have either 3.5mm single-ended or more powerful 2.5mm balanced output from the V1. A little clumsy that you end up with dual volume controls in effect since both the V1 and DAC/amp volume controls are in effect at the same time, though that does work around the granularity issue of the Sonata HD Pro volume steps. Portability and flexibility is high with this setup and sound quality is great while being affordable, so props to Tempotec.

 

[norcalscott]

I've had one of these for a couple of months and it has been great. Looking at the measurements, I can see why it seemed to have the same performance as my LG G7. No problems with it at all using on Android, and also on a Toshiba Chromebook running into my receiver - sounded pretty damned good - quite impressive for the cost and the size.

 

[Matias]

Meizu HiFi DAC $13 exactly the same performance(if Amir will remeasure that with XLRs of his APx555), unbeatable performance/money rate.

More like 19-20 usd plus shipping nowadays. Just ordered mine.

 

[digititus]

I had this thing and it was horrible, constant clicks and pops both on Android and Windows, on different PCs. I don't quite understand how the reviewer can miss those problems and recommend this crap.

Sorry to hear that. Never had any issues with mine so far (in a year).

 

[digititus]

I also have the Tempotec Sonata BHD (the dual DAC balanced version of the Pro). The volume steps are much better on this than the Pro. Another excellent product and better for driving more demanding high impedance ear buds. The price performance ratio of these dongles is outstanding.

 

[IVX]

Matias, I saw 2 months ago on taobao for $13. The only thing probably worse in Meizu DAC is its clock.

 

[Herbert]

ZolaIII said:


No it state's optical input to USB with DAC. Why on earth would you want to use Optical input on vintage gear? You are aware then internal DAC on that gear would be used for transferring it to analog. Use analog line out/in.

I think Herbert is going the other way- I think he wants to take the optical out of (say) an old cd player, convert to USB then use the dongle as a dac. Presumably this is to "improve" the conversion from the original dac in the player.

@Herbert Id be intrigued it you could get it working but I suspect the dongle wont recognise the input and/ or not take power from it.

@Jimbob54 Correct - one could even put the UR23 and dongle even inside an old player.
The UR23 could be opened and tapped to a 5V source, taken from the players circuitry.
Especially the old ones have plenty of juice.
And many models from the late eighties, built like tanks but using
16 bit DACS like PCM54 or PCM56 could be improved.
Once powered, the UR23 will very likely feed the dongle via the usb connector.
Interesting is what the UR23 would tell the dongle:
Nothing? Or "I am a source like any USB sound-output,
play me!"
But frankly I am hesitant to pay 80$ to find out,
as I have no use for a USB dongle as a Mac user- but maybe someone will...?

 

[Blake Klondike]

I bought one of these in Dec for $25 and have been using it every day with Amazon Music HD on a Galaxy S9 phone and it works well-- however, if you slightly bump it, it crashes and have to unplug/replug. I used it with HD800 and it provides plenty of power. I wish they would do away with stepped volume controls though!

 

[Limopard]

Nice little thing. Even bought two of them. Sometimes it's necessary to "trick" the chip into high-gain mode using the 120 Ohm HD 560s (plug the cable first into the Sonata, then into the headphone).

 

[NM156]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $54 on Amazon including Prime shipping.

The Sonata HD Pro comes in the usual rectangular dongle size:

View attachment 124909

The differentiation as you can barely see are the volume control indicators. Alas, they are very coarse so unless you get lucky, I doubt that you can set them to the volume you require.

The cable is removable and the connector is micro-USB. A micro-USB to USB-C cable is provided as you see in above right which I used for my testing.

Tempotec Sonata HD Pro Measurements
As usual, we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz tone:

View attachment 124910

This is excellent performance for a dongle. It ever so slightly saturates as otherwise it could produce a SINAD that wuolld be above 110. As it is, performance is quite competitive:

View attachment 124911

Dynamic range is also excellent:

View attachment 124912

As is jitter test result:
View attachment 124913

Multitone test shows slight weakness in lowest frequencies, likely indicating lack of power supply capacitor reservoir:

View attachment 124914

Let's measure power starting with 300 ohm load:
View attachment 125022

View attachment 124916

Switching to 32 ohm load caused clipping and with it, lower power than I was hoping for:

View attachment 125023

View attachment 124918

Tempotec Sonata HD Pro Headphone Listening Tests
I was pleased with the performance of the unit with my Sennheiser HD-650 high impedance test headphone. For the other extreme, I use the 25 ohm Drop Ether CX headphone. Here, I only had adequate amount of power so not quite enough for me.

Conclusions
The Tempotec Sonata HD Pro is prices as much as half as much as the next tier up dongle and produces performance along those lines. If you don't have an inefficient headphone, it is a very good choice and very well executed. If you want to be obsolete proof though, I would pay more and get one that has more power especially with low impedance headphones.

I am going to put the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro on my recommended list.

------------
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/

@amirm
In case you forgot, can you measure IMD, linearity, and reconstruction filter?

 

[NM156]

Can someone tell me whether or not this device works on Windows 10 64-bit with WASAPI exclusive mode (event-driven), a sampling frequency of 96kHz and a bit depth of 24 or 32? Thanks.

 

[Nomad]

I first encountered this forum when I was searching for some 'evidence' that this TempoTec Sonata HD Pro was actually good. Those at head-fi.org referred to the measurements of the Hidizs s8 at this forum and I bought and used the device since.

It's currently connected to my Pi 4b, which I bought (together with the Aiyima A07) last week, as a replacement for my Onkyo NR676E.

From what I remember, people said that the volume of this DAC should be max for the best performance (and lower the volume of your streamer/phone to adjust for the right volume). I don't know whether this could be backed-up by science?

 

[mkawa]

for practical reasons, you probably want to control the volume on your phone because there are like 6 hardware volume steps on the device. for noise and distortion, my guess is that the hardware volume control is slightly better because the 4313 volume control should be lossless.

 

[Jimbob54]

I first encountered this forum when I was searching for some 'evidence' that this TempoTec Sonata HD Pro was actually good. Those at head-fi.org referred to the measurements of the Hidizs s8 at this forum and I bought and used the device since.

It's currently connected to my Pi 4b, which I bought (together with the Aiyima A07) last week, as a replacement for my Onkyo NR676E.

From what I remember, people said that the volume of this DAC should be max for the best performance (and lower the volume of your streamer/phone to adjust for the right volume). I don't know whether this could be backed-up by science?

Performance was very marginally better at -1db than full output. I use it with the UAPP app on Android and it allows more granular hardware volume than the huge steps you get from the physical buttons. I play it into my car stereo and find the best result is leave the DAC just below full volume and adjust the car volume to taste. If I was using with headphones, I would just use the hardware volume via UAPP. I believe the HIBY app also allows you to get proper hardware control via your phone too.

 

[mkawa]

Picked up a bhd because why not, impressions with Hd800s eventuallly

 

[MiloTheFirst]

I bought this one close to a year ago. out of the box it would give me pops rarely in USAPP while skipping to the next track, in windows it would give pops if I jumped time marks while playing a track. after updating firmware to V3 I haven't encountered any pop in any system. Overall the performance is great when it works but it is set back by that accursed volume steepness, not only the one from its buttons but also the one from windows and USAPP is very drastic. if you pair this with a desktop amp with its own volume knob then its great but as a standalone mobile device it is a bit too uncomfortable.

By the way, has anyone tried the cryptic Xiaomi DAC they sell in ALiexpress? it also uses the CS43131 and claims close to identical measurements to what Amir found here, it usually sells around 28€. if it happens to have a better volume control than the Tempotec it would be a no brainner but I don't want to gamble those 30 buck after getting a bittersweet experience with the Sonata

 

[mkawa]

i have a sonata BHD on hand now and can report how well it drives the balanced HD800s (when i can tear myself away from my genelecs for a minute! ). i can also test how much it affects battery life of my ipad air and my pixel 4 xl

 

[Nathan Raymond]

i have a sonata BHD on hand now and can report how well it drives the balanced HD800s (when i can tear myself away from my genelecs for a minute! ). i can also test how much it affects battery life of my ipad air and my pixel 4 xl

I've been impressed by how well the Sonata BHD drives my HiFiMan HE-560V4 over a balanced connection (HE-560V4 are 50 Ohm 90dB efficiency).

 

[mkawa]

Sonata bhd and Hd800s is another winner. Doesn’t drive with the authority of say the a50s but that’s to be expected. The cs4313 is an amazing chip. The soundstage and dynamics are all there.

only problem so far is that when I plug it into my iPad I get a simple “this device is not compatible” message. Anyone else have this issue? I haven’t done any firmware updates yet, just unwrapped and plugged it in.

 

[SunnyRehde]

Sonata bhd and Hd800s is another winner. Doesn’t drive with the authority of say the a50s but that’s to be expected. The cs4313 is an amazing chip. The soundstage and dynamics are all there.

only problem so far is that when I plug it into my iPad I get a simple “this device is not compatible” message. Anyone else have this issue? I haven’t done any firmware updates yet, just unwrapped and plugged it in.

You have to connect the headphone first. Then connect DAC and tablet. Does that help with your issue?

Sunny