Dethonray Clarinet - Portable DAC/Amp Discussion + Impression thread

[ronni2times]

I just received my Clarinet in the mail this afternoon.

Very well built, great size.

I have it connected via USB at the moment, I have a coaxial-USB C adapter from Hiby coming in the mail as well. From what I have heard the output is very engaging and fun. The resolution great, the soundstage is impressive (to my ears). Currently am listening with my Moondrop Blessing 3.

I have a long night of listening to do, but I can definitely say it was well worth the price at this point.

 

[F700]

I just received my Clarinet in the mail this afternoon.

Very well built, great size.

I have it connected via USB at the moment, I have a coaxial-USB C adapter from Hiby coming in the mail as well. From what I have heard the output is very engaging and fun. The resolution great, the soundstage is impressive (to my ears). Currently am listening with my Moondrop Blessing 3.

I have a long night of listening to do, but I can definitely say it was well worth the price at this point.

Enjoy!

 

[pradiptacr7]

Help Check

Whenever I put SMSL PO100 Pro with Fiio's co-axial cable to the clarinet, no sound comes from the HPs. Should I change anything in the PO100 Pro??

 

[Nosibilance]

Help Check

Whenever I put SMSL PO100 Pro with Fiio's co-axial cable to the clarinet, no sound comes from the HPs. Should I change anything in the PO100 Pro??

I believe there is 2 issues at play here. First the coaxial port of clarinet can be picky on the coaxial plug used so better use rca to the included adapter. Secondly, some phones may not provide sufficient power to power the coaxial connection. My vivo is weak but iphone 16 pro was ok.

 

[pradiptacr7]

I believe there is 2 issues at play here. First the coaxial port of clarinet can be picky on the coaxial plug used so better use rca to the included adapter. Secondly, some phones may not provide sufficient power to power the coaxial connection. My vivo is weak but iphone 16 pro was ok.

Solved..!!

The Fiio cable didn't support. Changed to a regular optical one. Now working fine.

 

[eree]

I believe there is 2 issues at play here. First the coaxial port of clarinet can be picky on the coaxial plug used so better use rca to the included adapter. Secondly, some phones may not provide sufficient power to power the coaxial connection. My vivo is weak but iphone 16 pro was ok.

Try to use the latest firmware, fixed some COAX/Optical bugs.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BJ4ze-bqvZ-rPsWHE7pmfodDH826lDB/view?usp=drive_link

 

[zlayde]

I just got my Clarinet and I think it's worth sharing what a mixed bag it's been for me.

The Good -

• That lovely GLISTENING Dethonray sound. I remember this from the Pegasus (which I sold b/c it was oddly buggy). Just a lovely pristine, resolving sound. It feels expensive and high-end.
• The hardware is beautiful. Volume control is lovely as well.
• Amazing value for the price.

The bad -

• Maybe this is my unit but if you lower volume all the way down to 0, you can't raise the volume again. Just silence. This happens on 4.4 for me. If I unplug the cable and plug in again it works.
• My H/L gain toggle is jammed and stuck. Flipped it to low and can't flip it back. Pretty frustrating. It does click a tiny distance so I guess maybe that's switched back? As I tried to make it click over, the gain popped to 11 and almost blew my ears out. Good times.

This is an amazing product in terms of what it's delivering for the price. But it is not battle-tested. Yes I'm a sample size of 1 and I'm going to keep it (I don't need it beyond low gain anway so I'm ok if it's stuck there) but I would've paid an extra $50-100 for some solid QA.

 

[DingDongMonster]

Dang. Thanks for sharing. I agree. Cheap is nice. But it sounds so good. I’ll be happy to pay for a more solid build. It’s very frustrating to be shipped a lemon.

 

[TchaikovskiFan]

The Optical/Coax input that comes with the Clarinet is SO useful.
New life has been given to some of my beloved old equipments and music. Sound is full and deep with the Coax, very satisfying!

 

[zlayde]

The Optical/Coax input that comes with the Clarinet is SO useful.
New life has been given to some of my beloved old equipments and music. Sound is full and deep with the Coax, very satisfying!

Can you share the details of your setup here? Adapters etc?

 

[TchaikovskiFan]

Can you share the details of your setup here? Adapters etc?

Sure! The first picture uses a digital audio player with COAX output to connect to Clarinet's Optical/Coax port via a COAX cable and Clarinet's RCA-3.5MM converter; The other one is using the optical output of the CD player to Clarinet's Optical port, which makes the sound more transparent and brings the old equipment back to life perfectly.

 

[zlayde]

Sure! The first picture uses a digital audio player with COAX output to connect to Clarinet's Optical/Coax port via a COAX cable and Clarinet's RCA-3.5MM converter; The other one is using the optical output of the CD player to Clarinet's Optical port, which makes the sound more transparent and brings the old equipment back to life perfectly.

Thanks!

 

[TchaikovskiFan]

I just got my Clarinet and I think it's worth sharing what a mixed bag it's been for me.

The Good -

• That lovely GLISTENING Dethonray sound. I remember this from the Pegasus (which I sold b/c it was oddly buggy). Just a lovely pristine, resolving sound. It feels expensive and high-end.
• The hardware is beautiful. Volume control is lovely as well.
• Amazing value for the price.

The bad -

• Maybe this is my unit but if you lower volume all the way down to 0, you can't raise the volume again. Just silence. This happens on 4.4 for me. If I unplug the cable and plug in again it works.
• My H/L gain toggle is jammed and stuck. Flipped it to low and can't flip it back. Pretty frustrating. It does click a tiny distance so I guess maybe that's switched back? As I tried to make it click over, the gain popped to 11 and almost blew my ears out. Good times.

This is an amazing product in terms of what it's delivering for the price. But it is not battle-tested. Yes I'm a sample size of 1 and I'm going to keep it (I don't need it beyond low gain anway so I'm ok if it's stuck there) but I would've paid an extra $50-100 for some solid QA.

The first drawback you mentioned has happened to me as well. I asked Anson about this and he told me that it's due to the fact that while changing the volume knob to 0 rapidly, this triggers a similar switch-off action. The solution is to pay attention to the speed when adjusting, hope this helps.

 

[zlayde]

The first drawback you mentioned has happened to me as well. I asked Anson about this and he told me that it's due to the fact that while changing the volume knob to 0 rapidly, this triggers a similar switch-off action. The solution is to pay attention to the speed when adjusting, hope this helps.

Got it. This is helpful thank you.

 

[F700]

The first drawback you mentioned has happened to me as well. I asked Anson about this and he told me that it's due to the fact that while changing the volume knob to 0 rapidly, this triggers a similar switch-off action. The solution is to pay attention to the speed when adjusting, hope this helps.

Same issue as with their usb dac/amp Honey H1. Not ideal, but not fatal once you know how to handle the device.