[sebek]

You can use a 3.5 to 3.5 mm adapter, it will "trick" the tempotec sonata HD Pro into going into the maximum 2 V output all the time.

I've bought 2 tempotec sonata HD Pros, one is 9 months old, I use them daily and no issues. But I am very careful with them, the wires are a bit thin, so I try not to snag them on anything and put them in hard cases when not in use.

With easy-to-drive headphones / iems does it make sense to turn it into high gain? Does it improve the SQ in any way?

Also if I want can I also connect an amp to Tempotec Sonata HD Pro and use it only as a DAC?

 

[baskingshark]

With easy-to-drive headphones / iems does it make sense to turn it into high gain? Does it improve the SQ in any way?

Also if I want can I also connect an amp to Tempotec Sonata HD Pro and use it only as a DAC?

Sometimes high gain is not good for highly sensitive multi BA type IEMs. Too much power can skew the frequency response in fact. So perhaps for these sensitive IEMs, best to just use it with the auto detect function on the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro (ie no 3.5 to 3.5 mm adapter).

Higher power is probably better for single DD types, planars (especially) and piezos. It is not about absolute volume, but more that you get more dynamics, bass tightness, microdetails and perhaps soundstage with more power.

As for connecting an amp to the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro, I have friends that do that, but personally I don't. Cause I feel it already has an amp inside, so that would constitute double amping. I don't think double amping will damage anything in modern electronics (electrical experts please correct me if I'm mistaken), but u can amplify noise from the first amp (though in theory the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro has quite good measurements and clean power, so probably it won't affect anything).

 

[jeejack]

Thank you, but I only listen to music on my SD card. But if I decide to stream music, I will keep that in mind.

Only for this I also recommend the Hiby music app

 

[]eep]

i sometimes use the HD Pro as a stopgap dac in my workshop when i use a tubeamp. I have no problems with. It sounds better than over BT 5.0.

There is nothing wrong by doing this, using multiple amplifier stages. Most amplifiers have 2 stages. And what do you think opamps are for? The only problem might be impedance matching. But that's just a matter of trying.

Hiby is very good. It's also getting more and more tracktion as remote for daps and streamers, use Hiby-link to control your player with your phone app. Sound quality is top notch and it plays everything (except maybe wv). Also MSEB sound tuning works a lot better than 10-band or parametric equaliser.

 

[Jerry Lee]

hi all,

Recently got a gifts from my brother, FIIO M6 DAP. I tried to pluck in the sonata in but it just can't seems to work. Tried some setting on the USB on the M6 also cannot work. It was working fine with my phone (OPPO Reno), Hidizs AP80.

What seems to be problem here? anyone encounter this before, please advise, thanks.

 

[tashikoma]

Hello members of Head-Fi.

I really need help for this ******* firmware update.

I've litterally tried everything, eeprom write always fails, and I am getting tired of this mess !

I've tried with the values found for the 2 devices appearing as "USB input device" (in the device manager) when dac is plug-in.
I've even tried values indicates by Mellowship earlier in this thread, and also the default value when SONATA _HD-C_Sound priority.exe start. ....
NOTHING works.

Please, I really need help on this.

So, I wrote to Tempotec company for my issue.

Not even an answer !!!

Worst after sale service I've ever seen !!!

 

[yseviel]

This is written on a review of the Meizu and I was wondering if the same thing is true of the Sonata HD pro. I'm trying to find a good gift for someone who uses a lot of Spotify and isn't happy with the current volume output of their new phone. At first I was looking at DAPs but I'm really not sure if they would want one.

Android as an operating system will actually use this dongle in "Passthrough Mode" meaning the DAC that is inside your phone is actually doing all of the processing, and that basically turns this into a glorified USB-C to 3.5mm converter. If you use an app such as UAPP (USB Audio Player Pro, costs 7.99 USD on the Play Store) or HiBy music player (Free on the Play Store) you can then use the dongle in USB Mode, which bypasses the Android audio stack, and instead will play the digital audio straight to the USB DAC in this dongle, allowing the crisp and clean sound to come from the DAC.

.....as there is no way to use USB Mode with Spotify.

 

[Lifted Andreas]

This is written on a review of the Meizu and I was wondering if the same thing is true of the Sonata HD pro. I'm trying to find a good gift for someone who uses a lot of Spotify and isn't happy with the current volume output of their new phone. At first I was looking at DAPs but I'm really not sure if they would want one.

Yeah the Meizu is great and has the Cirrus Logic DAC chip which is better than all the cheaper Realtek dongles flooding the market.

You could also just buy this instead of the Meizu:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ugCvqj

I actually bought it using the AliExpress app from CKLewis Audio store, it's a tiny bit more expensive in the listings but only by like 22p and they have more orders. Worked out like £12.47 total:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_vqRYEB

Cheap for pretty much the best sounding DAC for the price.

 

[yseviel]

Yeah the Meizu is great and has the Cirrus Logic DAC chip which is better than all the cheaper Realtek dongles flooding the market.

You could also just buy this instead of the Meizu:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ugCvqj

I actually bought it using the AliExpress app from CKLewis Audio store, it's a tiny bit more expensive in the listings but only by like 22p and they have more orders. Worked out like £12.47 total:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_vqRYEB

Cheap for pretty much the best sounding DAC for the price.

But it doesn't work with Spotify. I want something that works with Spotify on a cell phone.

 

[Ufasas]

is jcally 20 better than sonata s3? specs of jc looking better than s3, 32bit vs 24 bit, and so on. i have it , it's clipping sometimes in laptop, not in PC though

 

[amanieux]

This is written on a review of the Meizu and I was wondering if the same thing is true of the Sonata HD pro. I'm trying to find a good gift for someone who uses a lot of Spotify and isn't happy with the current volume output of their new phone. At first I was looking at DAPs but I'm really not sure if they would want one.

can someone confirm this audio passthrough mode on android usb c ? and spotify not using the dongle internal dac ? thanks

 

[yseviel]

can someone confirm this audio passthrough mode on android usb c ? and spotify not using the dongle internal dac ? thanks

I haven't found a definitive answer, but from what I was able to find it is probably the case that you can't use high quality audio like FLAC without bypassing the internal DAC and only some few apps do this on cell phones because they need specific drivers to do it (UAPP which can also stream Tidal and Quboz, Neutron, Hiby, Poweramp?). Spotify didn't care so they never added this functionality to use USB mode on their app, and only has compatibility on high end Android DAPs (there was also a comment somewhere that you can sideload it to Fiio M6, I didn't check out that claim, it would be the cheapest one). An alternative that I found is using Bluetooth receiver instead of USB. If your phone has LDAC or aptX then you can use the Bluetooth DAC instead such as Fiio BTRK3 to receive high quality audio. The BT codec might not change manually, so you will have to unhide your developer options and change it as the BT codec mode each time you use it. You can also use a BT DAP but I had trouble figuring out which ones stream apps and which one just stream playlists.

 

[yawg]

can someone confirm this audio passthrough mode on android usb c ? and spotify not using the dongle internal dac ? thanks

My Xiaomi Redmi Pro does it with Hiby Music and Foobar no problem. I get the digital signal on my Mac and my FiiO Andes too.

 

[yseviel]

With lack of info about answers I went with the Hidizs H2. It's a noticeable improvement over the cellphone volume and fidelity. It's the same company and similar price so I'm assuming it can't be much worse quality. The buttons work for volume and forward/backward. The BT range is the same as a Corsair gaming headset, I'm not sure how much of that is up to the device versus the router. The person I gave it to was pleasantly surprised because this tiny thing is much more convenient than carrying a second full size device for their purpose.

 

[yawg]

With lack of info about answers I went with the Hidizs H2. It's a noticeable improvement over the cellphone volume and fidelity. It's the same company and similar price so I'm assuming it can't be much worse quality. The buttons work for volume and forward/backward. The BT range is the same as a Corsair gaming headset, I'm not sure how much of that is up to the device versus the router. The person I gave it to was pleasantly surprised because this tiny thing is much more convenient than carrying a second full size device for their purpose.

The best small DAC/amp available for a reasonable price is the E1DA 9038D. Some people who tried a lot of expensive stuff swear it's the best you can get. You need a phone with a high capacity battery as it needs a lot of juice but is able to power even planar headphones. Just got mine.

Edit: Not enough power for my planar, a Takstar.