[zilch0md]

^ Perfectly OK - you're judging the Sonica DAC's fit to the rest of your gear and your tastes. Every opinion is valid!

 

[polecrab]

Just got my Sonica DAC today. I'm using it as a preamp for my power amp.

Was anyone else thrown off by the volume slider display? Most volume controls get loud really fast, so I'm used to setting my volume around 9 or 10 o'clock on the dial (e.g., on the HA-1).

So when I first hooked up and powered on the Sonica DAC, I thought something was wrong because I couldn't hear anything, even when I had the volume indicator at the halfway point. I turned up the gain on my power amp and I could just barely hear something, so I turned the volume slider almost to the end and I finally got some normal volume.

However, I see that the volume shows -23dB with slider almost all the way to the right and the volume is very moderate (like 70dB at the listening position). On my HA-1, -23dB would be about 9:30 on the dial.

The specs on the pre-outs for the Sonica are just slightly lower voltage than for the HA-1 so I'm assuming this difference is just due to how they've scaled the volume control. Does this match others' experiences?

Also, the sound seems brighter and thinner than with my HA-1. I'm not a huge believer in break-in for solid-state electronics, but I hope the sound warms up and fleshes out some. But it sounds very clean and detailed.

 

[nhtran1]

Just got my Sonica DAC today. I'm using it as a preamp for my power amp.

Was anyone else thrown off by the volume slider display? Most volume controls get loud really fast, so I'm used to setting my volume around 9 or 10 o'clock on the dial (e.g., on the HA-1).

So when I first hooked up and powered on the Sonica DAC, I thought something was wrong because I couldn't hear anything, even when I had the volume indicator at the halfway point. I turned up the gain on my power amp and I could just barely hear something, so I turned the volume slider almost to the end and I finally got some normal volume.

However, I see that the volume shows -23dB with slider almost all the way to the right and the volume is very moderate (like 70dB at the listening position). On my HA-1, -23dB would be about 9:30 on the dial.

The specs on the pre-outs for the Sonica are just slightly lower voltage than for the HA-1 so I'm assuming this difference is just due to how they've scaled the volume control. Does this match others' experiences?

Also, the sound seems brighter and thinner than with my HA-1. I'm not a huge believer in break-in for solid-state electronics, but I hope the sound warms up and fleshes out some. But it sounds very clean and detailed.

I had the same complaint originally. While things did improve after @ 1 week of continuous play, make sure you're on the latest firmware. The firmware update and a set of Paul Speltz's anti-cables did the trick for me.

Re: volume level, it really depends on amp wattage and sensitivity. That said I also tend to hover @ -25 to -15 db running the dac directly to my amp.

 

[polecrab]

After talking with Oppo tech support, I learned that the Sonica DAC and HA-1 have the same low output impedance on the pre-outs, 100/200 ohms on RCA/XLR. That, along with the published output voltage, which is only slightly lower on the Sonica than the HA-1, means they should have similar preamp capabilities. The biggest difference seems to be in the scale used to visually represent the volume. -25dB on the HA-1 is at 9 o'clock, which seems to indicate low volume, whereas on the Sonica, -25dB is almost at the end of the volume slider, which implies high volume. This is kind of confusing from a UI perspective, but not difficult to get used to. If I had designed the UI, I would have put -25dB at the midpoint of the volume slider, having the graphical intervals between dB points grow bigger as you get louder.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Amp recommendations please.

I would like a low-gain, fully balanced, amp only, since I'm getting pre-amp functionality from the Sonica. -- why pay for duplicate capabilities.

Don't need a huge amount of power, and low gain is a must, since I have some sensitive IEMs I'l like to keep using. If I eventually move to something more demanding, I'll replace the amp if needed. But right now no such plans.

Amps I've glanced at (just getting started):

Schiit Jotunheim (best match?? Low output impedance, low gain setting is low enough. Too right?)
Schiit Mjolnir 2 (a little less Schitty top end than Jot? Price)
Violectric 280/281 (can't afford)
Violectric 181 (discontinued, but might find used one at price I can swing)
Matrix M-Stage HPA-3b (too much gain?)
Audio-gd NFB-1
Cayin iHA-6 (output impedance too high? Maybe to bright to pair with Sonica?)

Others I need to investigate:

Little Dot Mk III
Cavalli Liquid Carbon

Feel free to offer opinions on these, and to suggest others.

Thanks in advance.

 

[michaellynn]

Not sure if this is a mistake, but in the What Hi-Fi review (https://www.whathifi.com/oppo/sonica-dac/review), they mention that there is an optional remote control for the Sonica. I have never heard of this, but if it is true, it would sway me to purchase the Sonica. For me, not having a remote control was a deal-breaker.

 

[LCMusicLover]

Not sure if this is a mistake, but in the What Hi-Fi review (https://www.whathifi.com/oppo/sonica-dac/review), they mention that there is an optional remote control for the Sonica. I have never heard of this, but if it is true, it would sway me to purchase the Sonica. For me, not having a remote control was a deal-breaker.

Interesting. I went to the OPPO site, but didn't find anything about a physical remote. However, I did find this document:

http://download.oppodigital.com/sonica-dac/Sonica DAC NEC & Pronto Hex Remote Codes.xlsx

on this support page:

https://www.oppodigital.com/sonica-dac/sonica-dac-Support.aspx

Looks like you could import these into some programmable remotes.

Hope that helps.

BTW, got my Sonica yesterday, connected it and listened a bit last night. Nowhere close to enough time to form any opinion. Project for this weekend is to get it streaming from my NAS

 

[mocenigo]

2/4K DACS cannot be justified? Hardly. PLENTY of justification for the best DACs in that price range. Now, if you want me to agree with you, you need to add a zero. Its the 20/40k (and more) DACs that could be considered unjustifiable, in my opinion.

20/40K DACS cannot be justified? Hardly. PLENTY of justification for the best DACs in that price range. Now, if you want me to agree with you, you need to add a zero. Its the 200/400k (and more) DACs that could be considered unjustifiable, in my opinion

(smile)
Roberto

 

[wood1030]

It is true that Oppo is offering a physical remote for $30, in addition to a remote code for those with a programmable remote, like a Harmony.
I haven't seen the new remote myself but there is lots of chatter about it, especially since this was such a major complaint of a missing feature.
The new remote can be purchased directly from Oppo on their website.

Edit: I thought the remote was available on Oppo's site but after a quick check, couldn't find it. A call to Oppo direct would be a better idea.

 

[zilch0md]

Amp recommendations please.

I would like a low-gain, fully balanced, amp only, since I'm getting pre-amp functionality from the Sonica. -- why pay for duplicate capabilities.

Don't need a huge amount of power, and low gain is a must, since I have some sensitive IEMs I'l like to keep using. If I eventually move to something more demanding, I'll replace the amp if needed. But right now no such plans.

Amps I've glanced at (just getting started):

Schiit Jotunheim (best match?? Low output impedance, low gain setting is low enough. Too right?)
Schiit Mjolnir 2 (a little less Schitty top end than Jot? Price)
Violectric 280/281 (can't afford)
Violectric 181 (discontinued, but might find used one at price I can swing)
Matrix M-Stage HPA-3b (too much gain?)
Audio-gd NFB-1
Cayin iHA-6 (output impedance too high? Maybe to bright to pair with Sonica?)

Others I need to investigate:

Little Dot Mk III
Cavalli Liquid Carbon

Feel free to offer opinions on these, and to suggest others.

Thanks in advance.

The Metrum Acoustics Aurix can function as a very quiet passive pre, with 0 dB of gain, or with 10 dB of gain. It's design is much like one a power amp designed by Nelson Pass, using transformers for gain, instead of transistors or tubes.

And... It's currently on sale at a crazy low price (for people in the EU, but if you ask nicely, Metrum might ship to the U.S. - I really don't know.

See https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/metrum-acoustics-aurix.689743/page-17#post-13549488.

 

[LCMusicLover]

The Metrum Acoustics Aurix can function as a very quiet passive pre, with 0 dB of gain, or with 10 dB of gain. It's design is much like one a power amp designed by Nelson Pass, using transformers for gain, instead of transistors or tubes.

And... It's currently on sale at a crazy low price (for people in the EU, but if you ask nicely, Metrum might ship to the U.S. - I really don't know.

See https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/metrum-acoustics-aurix.689743/page-17#post-13549488.

Thanks, but really want balanced out. If that weren't a requirement it would be easy.

 

[michaellynn]

Not sure if this is a mistake, but in the What Hi-Fi review (https://www.whathifi.com/oppo/sonica-dac/review), they mention that there is an optional remote control for the Sonica. I have never heard of this, but if it is true, it would sway me to purchase the Sonica. For me, not having a remote control was a deal-breaker.

Oppo have confirmed that they are selling a remote control for the Sonica (see below)

Thank you for your recent enquiry. We have in fact just received the Sonica DAC remote control. The cost is £24.00 including VAT and a cost of £5.00 plus VAT for postage and shipping making a total cost of £30.00.



If you would like to proceed with ordering one then please email orders@oppodigital.co.uk and give your full name and shipping address so that a pro forma can be created for you and once payment has been received we will ship the remote to you by DPD.

 

[zilch0md]

http://oppodigital.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SDAC3Remote

 

[wood1030]

...and already out of stock. High demand, I'm sure.

 

[wood1030]

has anyone actually bought or even seen the Sonica remote yet?
Is it similar to the HA-1 remote?