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Top of the dongle heap is the luxury and precision w2.
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THX Onyx Review (headphone adapter)
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
i cant find a review on audiscience or a comparision to onyx? the only thing i know is that it drains more battery. other than that it looks fantastic
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Look on l7 audiolab for a review.
what about Lotoo Paw s2?
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Yup, that's been measured on the same site. What about it?
do they have enough power to drive hd650s loud?
thanks for your help! that site is in chinese?
Last edited:
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It gets auto translated for me on chrome. Hint, the lottoo doesn't fare too well.do they have enough power to drive hd650s loud?
thanks for your help! that site is in chinese?
But seriously, for the price you're looking to spend, I'd get 2 things, a dongle like the tempotec sonata HD pro for mobile use, then a good $100 desktop amp like the JDS Atom, fed from the same dongle as a DAC for desktop use.
Yep. I have the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro hooked up to my THX 789 amp. But no one wants to believe that a dongle DAC is just as good as the desktop DACs that cost more money. I love it because it doesn't take up any space. Just hangs out back with the cables. lol
NHL99
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FW update available at https://www.thx.com/thx-onyx/support/
At least with a placebo effect, definitely better PRAT after the update
At least with a placebo effect, definitely better PRAT after the update
The firmware from a year ago or is there something newer?FW update available at https://www.thx.com/thx-onyx/support/
At least with a placebo effect, definitely better PRAT after the update
That's what I saw. I just wondered if I was missing something and there was something new.
NHL99
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I got the device April 2021 and had missed the FW update available from June 2021, sorry for causing a stir.
Jimster480
Major Contributor
I experienced the same thing. I put it back in the box on the shelf of products to sell. I haven't tried it again. However after checking the review here it might be because I tried it with my planar headphones. I will try it with normal headphones and see (or actually hear) what the results are.I just received this to test and it sounds very veiled in the high frequencies. I'm not sure if this is the filter, placebo, or both, but for what it's worth:
Blind Testing a 19 kHz Upper Hearing Limit
Discover the highest frequency you can reliably hear.www.audiocheck.net
I originally bought the Onyx to drive headphones, but I’m in the middle of a system reorganization and decided to try it as an external DAC from my MacBook Pro via Airplay.
Holy shit it is good! Simply as good a DAC as I’ve ever heard. I have it feeding a Schiit Saga+ which then feeds a 150wpc Onkyo M506RS powering a pair of Vandersteen Treo CTs, so a pretty revealing system. Noise floor is extremely low and live recordings sound phenomenal. Even listened to this Chesky recording disk, which does have some incredible sounding test tracks.
I will be getting the new Bluesound Node and hope to use the Onyx on the usb outputs to push to the Saga+. I think that will basically be my last system upgrade for a long time. For something I bought used for $100 on eBay, I am in utter disbelief.
When I get the time I’m going to remove the Saga+ from the chain and attenuate the Onkyo to my max allowable volume, then use the Onyx as a DAC/pre. Will report back.
Holy shit it is good! Simply as good a DAC as I’ve ever heard. I have it feeding a Schiit Saga+ which then feeds a 150wpc Onkyo M506RS powering a pair of Vandersteen Treo CTs, so a pretty revealing system. Noise floor is extremely low and live recordings sound phenomenal. Even listened to this Chesky recording disk, which does have some incredible sounding test tracks.
I will be getting the new Bluesound Node and hope to use the Onyx on the usb outputs to push to the Saga+. I think that will basically be my last system upgrade for a long time. For something I bought used for $100 on eBay, I am in utter disbelief.
When I get the time I’m going to remove the Saga+ from the chain and attenuate the Onkyo to my max allowable volume, then use the Onyx as a DAC/pre. Will report back.
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Quick update: took out the Schiit and noticed no difference. Now running the Onyx DIRECTLY into the inputs of this 150wpc power amp and it’s just as good as before. This is a credit to the Saga+ as much as the Onyx I suppose!
At any rate, I’m very happy with this setup! If you have one lying around, try using it as a DAC/Pre, I think you’ll be surprised!
At any rate, I’m very happy with this setup! If you have one lying around, try using it as a DAC/Pre, I think you’ll be surprised!
Jimster480
Major Contributor
Yeah I mean it can work fine into an amplifier. The DAC portion is quite good. It just doesn't have that much power output, atleast not for planar headphones lol.
Follow up:
I ended up getting a Topping E50 locally, just because I wanted to have a reference level, full featured DAC that had outboard volume controls and multiple input options.
Well, with my Chromecast Audio the E50 did great. Running in DAC mode and using the CCA for volume control I was happy as a clam, but I kept running into disconnection issues with the CCA and had it go to full volume unexpectedly causing me to nearly shit my pants; thank god I have my power amp attenuated!
So, I grabbed a raspberry pi I had lying around and put Volumino on it. Turns out the E50 can’t adjust volume with Volumino and I’ll be damned if I was going to use that garbage E50 remote, so I grabbed the Onyx and I think I’ve found my final streaming solution.
Does everything I need from Spotify to AirPlay to tidal connect. Also, between the Pi and the Onyx the whole thing can quite literally fit in your pocket!
So, if you have a raspberry pi lying around or can get one easily, this is a stupendous streaming combo that I don’t think can be beat, especially for the eBay price of the onyx and a used pi.
PS my Pi 4 didn’t have usb-c so I bought a four pack of usb-c to usb3 adapters for $8 on Amazon. No issues, and was recognized immediately.
Picture of this mighty combo on top of the E50:
I ended up getting a Topping E50 locally, just because I wanted to have a reference level, full featured DAC that had outboard volume controls and multiple input options.
Well, with my Chromecast Audio the E50 did great. Running in DAC mode and using the CCA for volume control I was happy as a clam, but I kept running into disconnection issues with the CCA and had it go to full volume unexpectedly causing me to nearly shit my pants; thank god I have my power amp attenuated!
So, I grabbed a raspberry pi I had lying around and put Volumino on it. Turns out the E50 can’t adjust volume with Volumino and I’ll be damned if I was going to use that garbage E50 remote, so I grabbed the Onyx and I think I’ve found my final streaming solution.
Does everything I need from Spotify to AirPlay to tidal connect. Also, between the Pi and the Onyx the whole thing can quite literally fit in your pocket!
So, if you have a raspberry pi lying around or can get one easily, this is a stupendous streaming combo that I don’t think can be beat, especially for the eBay price of the onyx and a used pi.
PS my Pi 4 didn’t have usb-c so I bought a four pack of usb-c to usb3 adapters for $8 on Amazon. No issues, and was recognized immediately.
Picture of this mighty combo on top of the E50:
Jimster480
Major Contributor
pretty cool little setup there!
Not much of a headphone person, but I have a new office setup and don't want to disturb my partner, so I grabbed the Onyx and slapped it into my work laptop. Did the firmware upgrade and now listening to the Tidal app. Volume normalization off and volume control at max (controlling volume through the Onyx). I have the HiFi plus tier, so listening to a mix of MQA and HiFi.
Using DT 770 Pro (80 ohm) and thrilled with the bass response and general sound. With the volume at 35 I'm pretty close to the limit of how loud I (or anyone) should listen for any extended period. If I really wanna go ape shit there is an enormous amount of power there. At 55 it got crazy loud without any audible distortion on a very bass heavy, compressed track (Al Green - Lay it Down). It also performed flawlessly with a torture test of Nude by Radiohead balancing the crazy deep bass, synth, string section and Thom Yorke's falsetto as well as anything I've heard.
I need another one now, so I'll be keeping an eye out on eBay.
Using DT 770 Pro (80 ohm) and thrilled with the bass response and general sound. With the volume at 35 I'm pretty close to the limit of how loud I (or anyone) should listen for any extended period. If I really wanna go ape shit there is an enormous amount of power there. At 55 it got crazy loud without any audible distortion on a very bass heavy, compressed track (Al Green - Lay it Down). It also performed flawlessly with a torture test of Nude by Radiohead balancing the crazy deep bass, synth, string section and Thom Yorke's falsetto as well as anything I've heard.
I need another one now, so I'll be keeping an eye out on eBay.
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