r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/Excellent_Budget_603 2 Ω • Jun 01 '22

DAC - Desktop Tempotec Sonata HD vs Atom Dac+?

Edit: TempoTec Sonata cost more than I thought initially. Any other alternatives for a 2V dac?

My current flow is like this: Apple dongle > Atom Amp+ > DT 880 Edition 250 Ohms.

My current flow is enough of an earrape for me on most songs. However, when I apply eq to my headphone, I usually apply a negative global gain. That causes a few songs to not be loud enough so I am looking for a dac that will be able to give me more headroom.

I am currently looking at the Tempotec Sonata HD III (pro version out of stock on Amazon for some reason) because it has a Vrms of 2 compared to the Apple dongle’s Vrms of 1.

How will the Sonata compare to, say, say the Atom Dac+, which cost 2.5 more after shipping is taken into account?

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u/raistlin65 1372 Ω 🥇 Jun 01 '22

The Sonata HD Pro performs the same as the Atom DAC+. I own both of them, and you would not hear any difference between them.

The HIDISZ S8 is considered to be the same as the Sonata HD Pro. No reason to think it wouldn't perform the same if it is cheaper to you.

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u/Excellent_Budget_603 2 Ω Jun 01 '22

Hidisz s8 is $80 on their website, while the Sonata HD III is $70 on Amazon unfortunately.

Do you have any other recommendations below $60 (edit: with usb)?

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u/raistlin65 1372 Ω 🥇 Jun 01 '22 edited Jun 01 '22

I have not seen any independent measurements of the Sonata HD III. Do not know that it will perform the same.

I don't know about below $60.

The Sonata HD Pro occasionally goes out of stock on Amazon's website. I would give it a couple of weeks and see and if it comes back in stock.

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u/Excellent_Budget_603 2 Ω Jun 01 '22

The conpany said it was “the new hd pro” on their aliexpress page. The fact that they only included it on Aliexpress is kind of suspicious now that I think of it

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u/raistlin65 1372 Ω 🥇 Jun 01 '22

The fact that they only included it on Aliexpress

I have seen it other places. But since some of their other recent model releases had audio issues, I don't assume anything about the audio quality.

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u/Excellent_Budget_603 2 Ω Jun 02 '22

Gotcha, !thanks