elangoas
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
I had a good listen to Sonodyne DAC P1 @ my friends place...Hence thought to share my listening experience with you all..
My friend has Sonodyne 2605 FS with Marantz AVR SR 5200 + Sonodyne SPA (power amplifier) which he bought it from me when i moved to the new AVR Onkyo TX NR 818... I also own the Sonodyne 2605.
The Marantz SR5200 was aging out & my friend asked me for a suggestion for replacement.. I suggested him to consider Sonodyne DAC P1 (or) replace the entire unit with Onkyo TX 8050 stereo network receiver.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Raghunath of Decibel,Chennai who obliged to loan the DAC for my friend for a days time... The idea of getting the DAC for home audition was to find if it makes a good pairing to his speakers (2605).
Now moving to the review..
Here is the link to the product SONODYNE
This happens to be my first hands-on with standalone DAC + Preamp....I had no expectation from the DAC, just wanted to try them.....
Components used : Sonodyne DAC P1, Sonodyne SPA 202 (Discontinued stereo power amplifier), Sonodyne Sonus 2605, PC (Plenty of FLAC/WAV files) - Full Sonodyne house
hyeah:
Connectivity : PC had Asus Xonar sound card with an optical out.. So this was connected to the DAC P1's optical in..Preamplifier unbalanced outputs to the power amplifier's unbalanced input, as we didn't have XLR cables...
Fit & Finish of Sonodyne DAC P1.. (MRP is Rs 22,500)
Here are some pictures....
Sonodyne has adopted a dual tone colour for the DAC... The front, sides have silver finish while the Top & bottom panel have matte finish black... Looks very
elegant, weighs quite heavy.....It is little bigger than the WD TV Live Hub media player (or) XL size of a tupperware lunch boxhyeah: ....
The inputs have been named in dark silver which makes it little difficult to read against light at certain angles...You get a remote control which is little bigger than a Britannia biscuit.. Precisely 6 buttons....
Listening experience :
I started off listening to familiar songs (or) the ones which i usually enjoy listening everyday... (Film music Tamil/Telugu/Hindi)...@ very first listening
it was clear that mids were very good... Better than what i have heard @ home thru my AVR with the same speakers..
on playing some more songs, i noticed that the DAC was able to produce very good details....
Few songs that i checked were the opening song from Robo/Endhiran... The first few mins of the songs have plenty of details...If your system is good enough, you get to hear them, else it is missed...
An other song that i checked was Adaraku song from Athadu (Telugu), again first minute of the song has rain splashing over... Very clearly heard....
Nee partha parvai - Hey Ram (Tamil), i could very clearly hear hissing sound when playing this song... I paused the song & there was no hissing.. So it must be something to do with recording quality...
the pairing did sound bright with some songs, but not throughout.....
Then Zoobi doobi song (HindI) from 3 Idiots had good details....
I could hear hissing background noise when some song plays...really don't know if the recording was such (or) the DAC can expose a recording.....listened to many songs and all of them sounded extra detailed...
I have heard an other stereo DAC @ one of my another friends place, he had paired the Polk FS (Old model RT series) with Marantz stereo amplifier....It was good, but not good as DAC P1. (I don't recollect the DAC model used by my friend, will update here)..
Probably this DAC was made so that it could be paired with Sonodyne Active speakers for home (Opus & SRP Range)... But some more features to it, could make it a little sweet.
Some features which i think would make it even better:
1) Display is sorely missed.....When i increase the volume, the blue LED blinks...i had no indication if it is actually increasing..
2) Front USB port to play MP3/WAV/FLAC...
2) Network functionality : wi-fi/ Bluetooth / Ethernet port... An android app to play directly from mobile....(this will become a primary feature of next gen amplifiers)
3) More digital inputs : 2 Optical & 2 Co-axial will be superb & give the flexibility of connecting more devices...
4) Remote is just not comfortable to hold... Could be more comfortable & ergonomic. If your hands sweat, chances are that it might slip...
5) FM Tuner : May be too much of an ask, but this would make it a superb system.
Thanks for reading....
I had a good listen to Sonodyne DAC P1 @ my friends place...Hence thought to share my listening experience with you all..
My friend has Sonodyne 2605 FS with Marantz AVR SR 5200 + Sonodyne SPA (power amplifier) which he bought it from me when i moved to the new AVR Onkyo TX NR 818... I also own the Sonodyne 2605.
The Marantz SR5200 was aging out & my friend asked me for a suggestion for replacement.. I suggested him to consider Sonodyne DAC P1 (or) replace the entire unit with Onkyo TX 8050 stereo network receiver.
My sincere thanks to Mr. Raghunath of Decibel,Chennai who obliged to loan the DAC for my friend for a days time... The idea of getting the DAC for home audition was to find if it makes a good pairing to his speakers (2605).
Now moving to the review..
Here is the link to the product SONODYNE
This happens to be my first hands-on with standalone DAC + Preamp....I had no expectation from the DAC, just wanted to try them.....
Components used : Sonodyne DAC P1, Sonodyne SPA 202 (Discontinued stereo power amplifier), Sonodyne Sonus 2605, PC (Plenty of FLAC/WAV files) - Full Sonodyne house
hyeah:Connectivity : PC had Asus Xonar sound card with an optical out.. So this was connected to the DAC P1's optical in..Preamplifier unbalanced outputs to the power amplifier's unbalanced input, as we didn't have XLR cables...
Fit & Finish of Sonodyne DAC P1.. (MRP is Rs 22,500)
Here are some pictures....
Sonodyne has adopted a dual tone colour for the DAC... The front, sides have silver finish while the Top & bottom panel have matte finish black... Looks very
elegant, weighs quite heavy.....It is little bigger than the WD TV Live Hub media player (or) XL size of a tupperware lunch box
hyeah: ....The inputs have been named in dark silver which makes it little difficult to read against light at certain angles...You get a remote control which is little bigger than a Britannia biscuit.. Precisely 6 buttons....
Listening experience :
I started off listening to familiar songs (or) the ones which i usually enjoy listening everyday... (Film music Tamil/Telugu/Hindi)...@ very first listening
it was clear that mids were very good... Better than what i have heard @ home thru my AVR with the same speakers..
on playing some more songs, i noticed that the DAC was able to produce very good details....
Few songs that i checked were the opening song from Robo/Endhiran... The first few mins of the songs have plenty of details...If your system is good enough, you get to hear them, else it is missed...
An other song that i checked was Adaraku song from Athadu (Telugu), again first minute of the song has rain splashing over... Very clearly heard....
Nee partha parvai - Hey Ram (Tamil), i could very clearly hear hissing sound when playing this song... I paused the song & there was no hissing.. So it must be something to do with recording quality...
the pairing did sound bright with some songs, but not throughout.....
Then Zoobi doobi song (HindI) from 3 Idiots had good details....
I could hear hissing background noise when some song plays...really don't know if the recording was such (or) the DAC can expose a recording.....listened to many songs and all of them sounded extra detailed...
I have heard an other stereo DAC @ one of my another friends place, he had paired the Polk FS (Old model RT series) with Marantz stereo amplifier....It was good, but not good as DAC P1. (I don't recollect the DAC model used by my friend, will update here)..
Probably this DAC was made so that it could be paired with Sonodyne Active speakers for home (Opus & SRP Range)... But some more features to it, could make it a little sweet.
Some features which i think would make it even better:
1) Display is sorely missed.....When i increase the volume, the blue LED blinks...i had no indication if it is actually increasing..
2) Front USB port to play MP3/WAV/FLAC...
2) Network functionality : wi-fi/ Bluetooth / Ethernet port... An android app to play directly from mobile....(this will become a primary feature of next gen amplifiers)
3) More digital inputs : 2 Optical & 2 Co-axial will be superb & give the flexibility of connecting more devices...
4) Remote is just not comfortable to hold... Could be more comfortable & ergonomic. If your hands sweat, chances are that it might slip...
5) FM Tuner : May be too much of an ask, but this would make it a superb system.
Thanks for reading....
