Sony PHA-1 portable DAC/amp - Page 15

I hope I like it since I bought it blind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFiGuy528 

I hope I like it since I bought it blind.

We'll know if you do like it depending on whether or not you'll do a review 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFiGuy528 

Is this good for desktop DAC/amp with a Mac?  Will it sound better than DragonFly?

 Depends on your needs I suppose.

The Dragonfly is pretty good, the DAC is a bit smoothed over for my tastes but the amp section can easily handle most headphones that are considered difficult to drive.

The PHA-1 has barely anything for an amp, and I don't know a thing about its DAC chip.

Hello Guys,

Can I use the PHA-1 as a 'desktop amp'? Meaning:

1. Connect the PHA-1 to a USB wall charger and leave it switched on indefinitely &

2. Use an iPod as a digital source

If so, this means that I need not 'worry' about recharging the PHA-1 as it is drawing power off the usb charger. The only device I need to charge occasionally is the iPod.

Thanks in advance for answering this.

Cheers,

cansman

Quote:

Originally Posted by cansman 

Hello Guys,

 

Can I use the PHA-1 as a 'desktop amp'? Meaning:

 

1. Connect the PHA-1 to a USB wall charger and leave it switched on indefinitely &

2. Use an iPod as a digital source

 

If so, this means that I need not 'worry' about recharging the PHA-1 as it is drawing power off the usb charger. The only device I need to charge occasionally is the iPod.

 

Thanks in advance for answering this.

 

Cheers,

cansman

You could do this, but you're far better off getting a real dedicated home amp. Portable designs sacrifice circuit layouts and components that require more room, more power, etc etc. A Schiit Magni/Modi setup will be 1/3rd of the cost and will almost certainly sound better, and will have over 6x as much output power.

The only upside to the PHA-1 is that you can use the iPod with it, but there's not much point in that if it's just going to sit on a desk. It could have a better DAC in it, but given Sony's recent products, I wouldn't count on it.

my PHA-1 is still in route. :(

Hello takato 14,

Thanks for your response. I presume you actually had a chance to physically try out this arrangement with the usb charger?

I travel a lot so a semi-permanent 'desktop' amp is desirable for my use. My HP-P1 has some issues with it and am considering getting a replacement.

You made an interesting comment regarding the WM8740 DAC. I don't understand how you have come to this conclusion. To my ears, if properly implemented, the DAC sounds absolutely fine. One of the implementations that I heard extensively is through the REGA Jupiter CD player. And it was very good indeed.

Thanks again for your comments.

cansman
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by cansman 

Hello takato 14,

 

Thanks for your response. I presume you actually had a chance to physically try out this arrangement with the usb charger?

 

I travel a lot so a semi-permanent 'desktop' amp is desirable for my use. My HP-P1 has some issues with it and am considering getting a replacement.

 

You made an interesting comment regarding the WM8740 DAC. I don't understand how you have come to this conclusion. To my ears, if properly implemented, the DAC sounds absolutely fine. One of the implementations that I heard extensively is through the REGA Jupiter CD player. And it was very good indeed.

 

Thanks again for your comments.

 

cansman
 

There's no need to test this because that's how USB works. The Micro USB port will always accept input voltage. If Sony did something to prevent this, I'd be questioning their intelligence

I wasn't aware of what DAC it was using. Is it dual mono? While I agree the 8740 is quite good, it can also be quite bad depending on the implementation. The E7 is very noisy and unrefined, not hi-fi by any means, and it uses the 8740.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFiGuy528 

My Pha-1 makes noise in the audio stream when used on a Mac. Why?

Because it's a mac

Nah, just messin' with you. How loud is the noise and what are you connecting it to the system with? I'm going to assume USB. It's very likely that you're getting electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the computer's motherboard. It's an inherent design flaw with USB-based DACs that varies based on the system. The USB ports and their signal paths are often too close to noisy parts like the CPU and RAM, which causes some of the noise to leak into the audio signal. Laptops and netbooks have particularly bad interference in my experience. If you're using a MacBook, you're probably getting EMI.

That said, if it doesn't happen with a Windows-based laptop then I'd be very perplexed. Perhaps MacBooks are more susceptible due to the full metal casing keeping all the EMI cooped up inside the system? I don't really know what else it could be. My Dragonfly sometimes makes screeching static noises when it's first plugged in, but that never happens for more than 5 seconds so I doubt it's related to what you're hearing.

Sony DID use a fairly low-power opamp chip, it could be low quality as well. The thought of a $600 DAC/amp having an unusable amp section is a travesty, but it has happened before...

yeah, it may be EMI or because it's also charging while streaming the audio data.  I hear the same noise when charging my iphone while playing music in the car via it's Dock connector.  I won't if I were to use a non-power USB cable, data only if it will fix the issue.  The PHA-1 is silent when using iPhone.

here's the unboxing video.  It looks great!

Oh thing about the PHA that I heard from Jude was that they did the isolation very well with it. Lots of foil and all that good stuff in there. 

Another one of your many unboxings. Thanks Mike! Unbelievably good looking. So is it a DAC/amp in one that can work together/separately? Would love to get it but I'm broke 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrViolin 

Oh thing about the PHA that I heard from Jude was that they did the isolation very well with it. Lots of foil and all that good stuff in there. 

Another one of your many unboxings. Thanks Mike! Unbelievably good looking. So is it a DAC/amp in one that can work together/separately? Would love to get it but I'm broke 

It's not the PHA I'm worried about, its the signal coming from the computer. The power very well could be the issue. I'd suggest trying a different computer, or maybe a USB cable with the +V wire cut.