[RockStar2005]

Welcome to the Sabaj portable amp/DAC discussion thread! Please feel free to post your thoughts here.

I do not (currently) own any of their products, but felt the need for a thread like this to be established.

So let's hear it!

 

[Researcher]

Hey, sabaj`s prices are increasing on amazon !! i think those guys had a look at here!

 

[RockStar2005]

Hey, sabaj`s prices are increasing on amazon !! i think those guys had a look at here!

Wow I just checked, and you're right!!

F'ing Sabaj!!! lol

 

[Quequacio96]

Hello guys. Finally the DA3 arrived. Load a few photos of the dac and the cable below, it comes with a single type-c to usb cable.
You can choose whether to use the balanced output or the non-balanced output. You can choose after how many seconds the display will turn off automatically. Also you can set the Rolloff on 3 different choices.
On the site there are drivers to make it go with Windows but it also works without, with the drivers supports DSD natively.
I took it to use it on OnePlus 3, I used a type-C to USB adapter on the phone and a cable that was the same as that supplied by SABAj but shorter to connect it to the dac. The connection does not give problems, no rustle, works with all the apps (spotify, power amp, tidal, netflix ...)
The DA3 has no internal battery, it turns on automatically when the OTG setting is activated on the phone, then it can be switched off and on by the central button.
Unfortunately, it uses a lot of battery, in fact, the phone really downloads quickly according to the house uses about 800mW, much more than the phone itself uses for daily operations. It drops 2/3 times faster in my case, for this reason I do not know if I will keep it ... Never being at home and often using the phone as a source is not very good for me.
I add that after 1 hour of listening to high volumes heats a bit '.. but nothing excessive, it is probably normal
AUDIO
I was very impressed, tried with Momentum in ear, Mometum over ear 2.0, Superlux HD 681 evo. I was not expecting this sound, tried with Sultans of swing Dires Straits and other songs of all genres. I have not tried it for a long time but what I can tell you is that of power it has enough, my headphones do not have a high impedance but it was enough to reach 20 for very high volumes ...
It gives a lot of three-dimensionality to the sound, the low frequencies have been attenuated on the mometum in ear but improved a lot in quality ... much drier and more precise bass. The sound of the guitar in Romeo And Juliet is really great. Overall, the sound improves a lot. Power has it .. Compared to Fiio Q1 mkii is another planet, the sound is more precise and clearer. I call it more "open".
If you want information or curiosity I am available to give you information to clarify any doubts
Too bad for the excessive consumption of battery on mobile phones, in my opinion should be bought for use with PCs or laptops but not mobile phones or other sources with small batteries

Tomorrow I upload the photos, including photos on the scale to see the precise weight.

ps. excuse me for my english. I use google translate. If you don't understand anything ask me for questions.

 

[turbo87]

Can you elaborate on the comparison to the FIIO Q1 MK2? I was looking at both of these (SABAJ D3 and FIIO Q1). In the US, the FIIO is $100 and the D3 is $110. My main use case is going to be mobile with my IPHONE/IPAD. Looks like power wise, I should stay away from the D3 and maybe look at D2. But than the Q1 is made for the IPHONE use. Decisions..

 

[Quequacio96]

Can you elaborate on the comparison to the FIIO Q1 MK2? I was looking at both of these (SABAJ D3 and FIIO Q1). In the US, the FIIO is $100 and the D3 is $110. My main use case is going to be mobile with my IPHONE/IPAD. Looks like power wise, I should stay away from the D3 and maybe look at D2. But than the Q1 is made for the IPHONE use. Decisions..

For Iphone Q1 mkii....
Having the internal battery and being perfectly compatible with iphone you will not have any problem. In my opinion DA3 is better ... But it sacrifices the use with mobile devices.

 

[turbo87]

Thanks. Any thoughts on the SABAJ D2? I believe its the same DAC as the D3? Its smaller and probably mobile friendly.

 

[Quequacio96]

Thanks. Any thoughts on the SABAJ D2? I believe its the same DAC as the D3? Its smaller and probably mobile friendly.

The consumption declared by the house is the same for both DA2 and DA3 it seems to me. However the DA2 has given some problems of rustling with some phones ... DA 3 runs very very well. The top would be to find a cable to y ... To get the otg from the phone and at the same time power for DA3 (power bank) but then I have to carry around 5 kg of equipment .... At this point I wait for bait some device similar to Fiio Btr1 ... But with more quality (the fiio Q5 costs too much)

 

[Quequacio96]

I forgot to write that with the otg connection (on the phone) the DA3 is about 96khz, probably with audio player pro goes even further.

 

[Chein]

If you want something with the same sound as the DA3 but with a built-in battery you have to go for the SMSL IQ, which is a little more expensive as of now

 

[RockStar2005]

If you want something with the same sound as the DA3 but with a built-in battery you have to go for the SMSL IQ, which is a little more expensive as of now

Dual DAC too? Nice! Sounds like a great option.

How does it "play" with Android? Do you need an OTG cable? If so, does it come with one? And is the port on it MicroUSB or USB-C?

 

[RockStar2005]

Hello guys. Finally the DA3 arrived. Load a few photos of the dac and the cable below, it comes with a single type-c to usb cable.
You can choose whether to use the balanced output or the non-balanced output. You can choose after how many seconds the display will turn off automatically. Also you can set the Rolloff on 3 different choices.
On the site there are drivers to make it go with Windows but it also works without, with the drivers supports DSD natively.
I took it to use it on OnePlus 3, I used a type-C to USB adapter on the phone and a cable that was the same as that supplied by SABAj but shorter to connect it to the dac. The connection does not give problems, no rustle, works with all the apps (spotify, power amp, tidal, netflix ...)
The DA3 has no internal battery, it turns on automatically when the OTG setting is activated on the phone, then it can be switched off and on by the central button.
Unfortunately, it uses a lot of battery, in fact, the phone really downloads quickly according to the house uses about 800mW, much more than the phone itself uses for daily operations. It drops 2/3 times faster in my case, for this reason I do not know if I will keep it ... Never being at home and often using the phone as a source is not very good for me.
I add that after 1 hour of listening to high volumes heats a bit '.. but nothing excessive, it is probably normal
AUDIO
I was very impressed, tried with Momentum in ear, Mometum over ear 2.0, Superlux HD 681 evo. I was not expecting this sound, tried with Sultans of swing Dires Straits and other songs of all genres. I have not tried it for a long time but what I can tell you is that of power it has enough, my headphones do not have a high impedance but it was enough to reach 20 for very high volumes ...
It gives a lot of three-dimensionality to the sound, the low frequencies have been attenuated on the mometum in ear but improved a lot in quality ... much drier and more precise bass. The sound of the guitar in Romeo And Juliet is really great. Overall, the sound improves a lot. Power has it .. Compared to Fiio Q1 mkii is another planet, the sound is more precise and clearer. I call it more "open".
If you want information or curiosity I am available to give you information to clarify any doubts
Too bad for the excessive consumption of battery on mobile phones, in my opinion should be bought for use with PCs or laptops but not mobile phones or other sources with small batteries

Tomorrow I upload the photos, including photos on the scale to see the precise weight.

ps. excuse me for my english. I use google translate. If you don't understand anything ask me for questions.

Very cool review que!

So the cable is MicroUSB to MicroUSB-C or are both ends Type-C?? How long is the cable Sabaj supplied??

Yeah that is unfortunate on the battery drain. But great that it sounds so fantastic!

Sultans of Swing, nice!

Yeah I used to own the Sennheiser HD1 Over-Ear (wired) headphones until about 2 mos ago. Now I upgraded to the Bowers & Wilkins P7, which I absolutely love. The Momentum Over-Ear 2.0 and the HD1 Over-Ear are actually the SAME exact headphone with the same exact sound signature. Only difference besides the name change is that the HD1 has a slightly widened headband for a bit more comfort.

 

[RockStar2005]

Can you elaborate on the comparison to the FIIO Q1 MK2? I was looking at both of these (SABAJ D3 and FIIO Q1). In the US, the FIIO is $100 and the D3 is $110. My main use case is going to be mobile with my IPHONE/IPAD. Looks like power wise, I should stay away from the D3 and maybe look at D2. But than the Q1 is made for the IPHONE use. Decisions..

There's a D3 and a DA3. Which one are you referring to? The D3 is a desktop amp where the DA3 is portable.

 

[Chein]

Dual DAC too? Nice! Sounds like a great option.

How does it "play" with Android? Do you need an OTG cable? If so, does it come with one? And is the port on it MicroUSB or USB-C?

Yes, basically Sabaj and SMSL probably used the same OEMs for some of their products considering they pretty much look alike, X4 = DA1, IDEA = DA2, IQ = DA3 with built-in battery.
The IQ has a different internal layout but still uses a dual Q2C and the exact same components inside. The measurements are also pretty much alike.

The IQ uses a micro-USB input and comes with 3 cables => 1m USB to micro-USB, short micro-USB to micro-USB, short USB-C to micro-USB.
The DA3 uses a USB-C input and comes with 1 cable => 1m USB to USB-C.

I don't think the IQ needs an OTG cable since it's designed for portable usage.
I only have the DA3 so can't help you much with the IQ ^^

 

[Chein]

Hello guys. Finally the DA3 arrived. Load a few photos of the dac and the cable below, it comes with a single type-c to usb cable.
You can choose whether to use the balanced output or the non-balanced output. You can choose after how many seconds the display will turn off automatically. Also you can set the Rolloff on 3 different choices.
On the site there are drivers to make it go with Windows but it also works without, with the drivers supports DSD natively.
I took it to use it on OnePlus 3, I used a type-C to USB adapter on the phone and a cable that was the same as that supplied by SABAj but shorter to connect it to the dac. The connection does not give problems, no rustle, works with all the apps (spotify, power amp, tidal, netflix ...)
The DA3 has no internal battery, it turns on automatically when the OTG setting is activated on the phone, then it can be switched off and on by the central button.
Unfortunately, it uses a lot of battery, in fact, the phone really downloads quickly according to the house uses about 800mW, much more than the phone itself uses for daily operations. It drops 2/3 times faster in my case, for this reason I do not know if I will keep it ... Never being at home and often using the phone as a source is not very good for me.
I add that after 1 hour of listening to high volumes heats a bit '.. but nothing excessive, it is probably normal
AUDIO
I was very impressed, tried with Momentum in ear, Mometum over ear 2.0, Superlux HD 681 evo. I was not expecting this sound, tried with Sultans of swing Dires Straits and other songs of all genres. I have not tried it for a long time but what I can tell you is that of power it has enough, my headphones do not have a high impedance but it was enough to reach 20 for very high volumes ...
It gives a lot of three-dimensionality to the sound, the low frequencies have been attenuated on the mometum in ear but improved a lot in quality ... much drier and more precise bass. The sound of the guitar in Romeo And Juliet is really great. Overall, the sound improves a lot. Power has it .. Compared to Fiio Q1 mkii is another planet, the sound is more precise and clearer. I call it more "open".
If you want information or curiosity I am available to give you information to clarify any doubts
Too bad for the excessive consumption of battery on mobile phones, in my opinion should be bought for use with PCs or laptops but not mobile phones or other sources with small batteries

Tomorrow I upload the photos, including photos on the scale to see the precise weight.

ps. excuse me for my english. I use google translate. If you don't understand anything ask me for questions.

Thank you for the review. I feel less alone enjoying this little gem
Yeah, this one is more designed for desktop or semi-portable usage, during a travel with powerbank for example.