HOTAUDIO bit-perfect USB dac headphone amp first impressions

[The Vinyl Adventure]

yeah ijust find it a bit confusing. i to am a bit short on the technical knowledge!
the problem i find with his comments are to do with the comparison i make to the other dac i have used in the same set up, namly the 7520
if he is corect in what he says then surly the 7520 would sound overly bassy in any other system?

maybe stan can comment or explain how his dac is capable of suppling a more dynamic and balanced sound in comparison to the hotaudio?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Bass quality may depend on quite a few things in a DAC, including power supply, clock arrangement, output stage configuration etc. "Near zero Hertz" has actually very little to do with the bass quality. And there are DACs with DC coupled output stage - and that is not a panacea either. It is also very often that a perceived lack of bass helps to "improve" performance in the mid and high frequency areas. It is not right way of doing it, though.

Alex

it is usb powerd, is this perhaps a likely cause of this issue?

[Alex Nikitin]

it is usb powerd, is this perhaps a likely cause of this issue?

It is a possibility. Without looking inside that DAC it is impossible to make proper suggestions.

Alex

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i shall take some photos of it wheni get a mo

[The Vinyl Adventure]

here you go





can you make out anything from those?

[Alex Nikitin]

can you make out anything from those?

Err... yes. But perhaps I should not make public comments . How much is this thing anyway?

Alex

P.S. I found the price. For this money you can not blame this device for anything.

P.P.S - it uses PCM2705 . It is a toy, not really hi-fi and a bit expensive at that. Probably good enough to play MP3 thought .

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i paid £50 for it
it was worth a stab for that money i felt, and like i said im not teribly disapointed with it! it does sound suprisingly ok if you arnt fused about the lack of bass

i was thinking last night after i went to bed, he says:

"Try a solid Power Amplifier.

No class D or switching Amplifiers...

And some BIG speakers, like 10 inch subs or 18 inch, whatever you've got or can afford.

With the right amp and speakers the BIT PERFECT will blow the walls down."

basically put it with a loud bassy system and it will be loud and bassy
well, you could say that about any source, you could plug an mp3 player into a 18 kilowatt pa rig and it would be loud and bassy and "blow the walls down"

ah well no great loss im happy with it until stan makes an equivelent (BIG HINT FOR YOU THERE STAN!!!) it is better sounding than my soundblaster was and that was the perpours of this whoe exercise

[The Vinyl Adventure]

just plugged it through the main system and it sounded fine i dont want to do another u turn or anthing but i think it must be the combination with the tripath somehow making it lack so in the bass
plugging it through the main system did highlight a few other downfalls to it. the soundstage is all to cock, there is a bit of noise in there somewhere and the sound isnt as full as it could be. but still not bad for the money (even if it is expensive for whats actually in it, after all wouldhave no idea how to make this thing!)

[Alex Nikitin]

but still not bad for the money (even if it is expensive for whats actually in it, after all wouldhave no idea how to make this thing!)

£50 is about right for it, IMHO.

Alex

[leo]

The internal digital to analogue out of those cheap codec chips is quite poor .
Some places even just stick passive parts on the output and wonder why it sounds weedy

Obviously they make ok all in one IC's on the cheap and compact, some have SPDIF out and others offer I2S too to feed a separate dac