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Obscure Chinese DAPs
Dec 30, 2016 at 4:37 AM Post #1,996 of 8,139
pjabber said:
I am a new member here, though I have checked out the site intermittently for quite a number of years when I felt the need to buy some new audio equipment. Needed some Christmas gifts and bought a few of the recently released BJ-T6 model directly from Shenzhen Benjie a couple of weeks ago. I do not work for Benjie or any of their resellers and the opinions here are my own.

My account is too new to attach photos of the actual unit that I have. I will add some personal notes to the official info below, but this is not intended as a full review by any means. 


The images that Shenzhen Benjie has referenced on the company WWW site and their AliExpress page do not accurately represent the unit, those are early renderings of the design, not actual photos. The unit is internally named in the firmware as K1 but the marketing name is BJ-T6 or just T6. The T6 is now definitely available to resellers so you should be able to find online pictures of the T6 very soon.

The unit sells for around US$50. My units came only with a micro-USB cord - no charger or earphones.

The T6 has an on-off button and microSD slot on the left side, up and down volume buttons on the right side, micro-USB port and headphone/AUX jack on the bottom, nothing on the top or rear of the unit. The front has the TFT screen and a five way click selection pad. The metal case is finished semi-matte. TFT screen is smooth and shows reflections but that is not really a distraction in use as it is backlit with adjustable contrast. The unit feels really solid, no rattles and the buttons are easy to push and have a positive click. 

The T6 was used with Philips Fidelio L2, Grado SR225 and Sony MDR-CD1700 headphones, no IEMs. These headphones are all quite efficient and the T6 drove each of them to acceptable volume levels with no apparent distortion. No EQ was applied but the T6 has a 10 band customizable EQ as well as eight EQ presets.

Playing well recorded 24BIT/96kHz FLAC files only, and in comparison with a non-Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ that was being used at the same time, also with no EQ, the sound seemed just a tiny bit rolled off in treble sparkle, bass was equivalent, mids equivalent. I would describe the sound as detailed and neutral but not clinical. No hiss or noise floor perceived at all. The 10-band customizable EQ as well as eight presets should adapt the output to whatever sound profile anyone might desire.

Please note that the T6 is being sold in Firmware Version 1.0, so it does not yet support DSD or higher resolution FLAC files. Benjie's sales manager told me that a revised firmware is due out any time now to provide the expected wider range of file comparability and it might also add some other functionality. 

1. 1.8 inch high resolution TFT screen (Note: I don't have the specs for it but it is a color TFT screen and not particularly high resolution. It does show album art and scrolling file names. Washes out with off-axis viewing but legible in daylight.


2. Full zinc alloy die casting (Note: The case is very solid but corners and edges are sharp rather than rounded off, meaning it might wear pockets out and it is not particularly comfortable in hand. Think of it as a mini black monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey."


3. Supports 256GB external storage, no built-in memory (Note: Formatted and tested OK with 64GB SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC UHS-I)


4. Bidirectional Bluetooth: receive and transmit (Note: Paired quickly with a couple of Bluetooth speakers that I have but not an Eclipse CD5030 head unit, might be my error in trying to do the pairing in the car as I was rushing and did not have time to try once more.


5. Supports DSD format (Note: Not yet, not until a new firmware is released.)


6, Supports AUX IN and 3.5mm earphone output (Note: Really solid connect with headphone jacks, did not try AUX IN)


7. Supports CUE and gapless playback (Note: Did not test yet.)


8. Lossless playback (APE,FLAC, WAV, ALAC...) (Note: Tested OK with FLAC 24BIT/96kHz files but 24BIT/192kHz and 24BIT/352.8kHz FLAC and DSD files are not supported until the new firmware is out.) 


9. Battery capacity: 3.7V/600mAh, charging time: 2 hours, claimed playing time around 40 hours by earphone (Note: I have a couple of these units and one is indicating that it is barely drawing power and the other displays a relatively fast draw down on battery life. Neither unit has been played more than a few hours, used only FLAC files driving several types of headphones, not IEMs, and they have gone through only a couple of charging cycles, so I don't have a conclusion on battery life or efficiency as of yet, but one is showing pretty good life and the other is likely not going to be anywhere close to 10, much less 40 hours of playtime.)


10. USB2.0 high speed transfer slot (Note: Tested functional but don't have transfer rate at the moment.)


11. Synchronous lyrics display (Note: Not tested for lyrics. The current firmware shows Chinese, Japanese,  English, French, German, Spanish and Italian language options.)   

12. IC solution: Ingenic X1000 (Note: Menu responsiveness and file loading of even large files is very quick. Specs can be found here - http://www.ingenic.com/en/?product/id/9.html) 

13. Size: 85*38*10mm

 
I can offer some more comments after I get more time to play with the T6, but I would say that for me it is worth the US$50, particularly when Benjie releases the updated firmware to enable DSD and higher resolution FLAC files.
Click to expand...


No line out? Do you know any benjie dap that has a line out?
 
Dec 30, 2016 at 3:46 PM Post #1,997 of 8,139
I am attaching some photos of the Benjie T6. Please note that the V1.0 firmware shows K1, not T6. K1 is the Benjie internal designation for the BJ-T6, might be changed in subsequent firmware releases to avoid confusion. (I called the Benjie sales manager after receiving the units to confirm that this was actually the T6 that I ordered as both the firmware designation and the physical layout are different than what Shenzhen Benjie has on their websites.) 
bigsmile_face.gif

 

 

 

 

 
Dec 30, 2016 at 7:15 PM Post #2,000 of 8,139
Oops. Messed up my reply.
Yes, I brought Aidu AX8 early this year for around $86 USD. It sounded great. The only issue with it is the root menu is in English and Chinese. It is in the firmware and can not be changed. Other than that, the UI is actually quite easy to use.
 
Dec 30, 2016 at 9:09 PM Post #2,001 of 8,139
buzzbuzz said:
Oops. Messed up my reply.
Yes, I brought Aidu AX8 early this year for around $86 USD. It sounded great. The only issue with it is the root menu is in English and Chinese. It is in the firmware and can not be changed. Other than that, the UI is actually quite easy to use.
Click to expand...

Ok, good to know. 
Also, there is a Benjie K9S now. It looks REALLY nice. 
The original didn't quite get to me, but this looks fantastic! Dedicated volume buttons too.
 

 
 
 https://world.tmall.com/item/535025760534.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-5858742950.53.mDW5OI&id=535025760534&rn=fdd058b91e4635ddaeda2347c70ef58d&abbucket=0&skuId=3268362385438
 
Dec 30, 2016 at 11:47 PM Post #2,004 of 8,139
guywholikeshifi said:
  Ok, good to know. 
Also, there is a Benjie K9S now. It looks REALLY nice. 
The original didn't quite get to me, but this looks fantastic! Dedicated volume buttons too.
 
 https://world.tmall.com/item/535025760534.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-5858742950.53.mDW5OI&id=535025760534&rn=fdd058b91e4635ddaeda2347c70ef58d&abbucket=0&skuId=3268362385438
Click to expand...

Yeah I spotted that too. Looks like I'll need to grab that as well. 
biggrin.gif

 
Dec 31, 2016 at 5:31 AM Post #2,007 of 8,139
^ I have HM603s, bought it for $150 from Penon audio, and they still have stock (but $199). Fyi it's not a sigma delta dac, that's what modern dacs are, TDA1543 is a multi-bit dac, these type of dac's are no longer made, they do have a unique presentation (goodbye treble, hello texture and timbre), but hifiman's implementation of the dac is mediocre and doesn't show off these traits.
 
It is a very flawed player, It has extreme treble roll off, and the bass is flabby AF, the mids are kinda strident, it feels like the bass, mids and treble are from different planets, all are individually bad, and not even matching with each other to boot.
 
Don't buy it expecting some kind of magic sound from the multi-bit dac...
 
But thanks for reminding me about this dap, now that I think about it I really should MOD this guy with better suited opamps, the stock OP275, OP2604, LT1057 are all good opamps, but not the best suited to their roles, using so many Jfet opamps is only exaggerating the bass and treble problems.
 
Now to pick the opamps, will have to think of bright opamps, jfet for IV, bipolar for lpf and amp, I'm thinking OPA1642 for IV, LM4562 for LPF and TLE2142 for Amp.
 
Edit: Just had a fresh listen to the HM603s, and it confirmed to me it's not worth trying to save it with modding, it just sounds wrong, it has a powerful output but at the same time sounds thin and discomposed, like the digital audio process is bad, which is no surprise given no PLL or decoupling for I2S seems to be used for timing to the dac.
 
HM603s is a paperweight.
 
Dec 31, 2016 at 9:44 AM Post #2,008 of 8,139
t.r.a.n.c.e. said:
  ^ I have HM603s, bought it for $150 from Penon audio, and they still have stock (but $199). Fyi it's not a sigma delta dac, that's what modern dacs are, TDA1543 is a multi-bit dac, these type of dac's are no longer made, they do have a unique presentation (goodbye treble, hello texture and timbre), but hifiman's implementation of the dac is mediocre and doesn't show off these traits.
 
It is a very flawed player, It has extreme treble roll off, and the bass is flabby AF, the mids are kinda strident, it feels like the bass, mids and treble are from different planets, all are individually bad, and not even matching with each other to boot.
 
Don't buy it expecting some kind of magic sound from the multi-bit dac...
 
But thanks for reminding me about this dap, now that I think about it I really should MOD this guy with better suited opamps, the stock OP275, OP2604, LT1057 are all good opamps, but not the best suited to their roles, using so many Jfet opamps is only exaggerating the bass and treble problems.
 
Now to pick the opamps, will have to think of bright opamps, jfet for IV, bipolar for lpf and amp, I'm thinking OPA1642 for IV, LM4562 for LPF and TLE2142 for Amp.
 
Edit: Just had a fresh listen to the HM603s, and it confirmed to me it's not worth trying to save it with modding, it just sounds wrong, it has a powerful output but at the same time sounds thin and discomposed, like the digital audio process is bad, which is no surprise given no PLL or decoupling for I2S seems to be used for timing to the dac.
 
HM603s is a paperweight.
Click to expand...

I have no idea to half of what was mentioned, but nontheless, I thank-you very much for the informative and decisive reply. I will skip the 603 then.
With all the daps you have tried, which is the best for arround 100USD?

Thank-you
 
Jan 2, 2017 at 3:17 PM Post #2,009 of 8,139
After crawling the web for it I found some real experiences with the XunSound X01 from a French user on another forum. If anyone's interested, here's the link:
 
http://www.tellementnomade.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=15942&sid=413790c83c88bb545eed1332e7f0a1f1
 
 
And Google translated (to English) : 
 
https://translate.google.nl/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tellementnomade.org%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D38%26t%3D15942%26sid%3D413790c83c88bb545eed1332e7f0a1f1&edit-text=&act=url
 
If I had it I would spend it....
 
Jan 3, 2017 at 10:57 AM Post #2,010 of 8,139
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