Loxjie D30 DAC MoOde configuration

[TheOldPresbyope]

@happymax

To suggest a DAC which will "improve sound quality" without having characterized an issue with the existing sound quality would be puerile. Finding the "best" DAC is a bit like finding the best sushi bar (well, ok, some folks don't like sushi at all, so substitute your own example of a food). Reviews can go only so far because personal taste is involved in both endeavors.

Once you reach a certain level of board design and bit-handling competency in the input and D/A portions of a DAC (which I believe the Khadas and all the others in the top tier of AudioScienceReview DAC Performance Chart do) then perceived sound quality is down to the output filters used in the DAC. IMO judging the relative quality of the output filters is highly subjective (for DACs with a choice of output filters people get into arguments over which one is best).

In my case I'm satisfied with the sound quality of the Khadas Tone Board. If I end up switching DACs it will be for some other reason such as packaging, display, controls [1], etc.

Good hunting.

Regards,
Kent

[1] as has been mentioned already, the KTB doesn't offer hardware volume control for DSD streams. That's not an issue for me because I have no interest in buying DSD encoded material. YMMV.

[ycdtosa]

I am very happy with the Topping E30 USB DAC (connected to an Allo USBridge Sig that runs Moode), the DAC identifies itself in Moode as "E30" and needs no further configuration.
The E30 sounds better than the built-in DAC of our NAD amp (D3045), I have no other comparisons.

Good luck,
Willem

[Miss Sissy Princess]

I did some more research.  

Looking at measured performance of the Khadas Tone Board, I am skeptical of the notion that you could audibly improve your sound quality by changing to another DAC, whether to the Loxjie D30 or one of the Toppings.  Mind you, I'm still not a fan of the Khadas Tone Board, but I have a begrudging respect for it having seen the results if instrumented testing.

I know that audiophiles often report near-religious experiences when changing DACs.  But most people hear differences when they expect to, even if there are no audible differences.  If I put two different DACs on a shelf (maybe including one with a pair of glowing vacuum tubes), most audiophiles would "hear" a difference when I "switched" between them -- even if I never really made the switch and, instead, just momentarily muted the audio.

If you want the fun of buying new gear, want some new feature in your DAC, or just want new gear to inspire you to do some more listening, that's fine.  I've bought gear for all of those reasons.  But if it's important to you to get an audible (vs. imagined) improvement, then get a friend to help you do blind testing to prove to yourself that you really can hear a difference.  If not, then Amazon's generous return policies might be your friend.

Please don't take any of what I wrote as a criticism of you, your hearing, your listening skills, your source music, or your audio system.  We're all subject to expectation bias, fleeting audio memory, and other factors that lead us to hear differences when there are none.  Here's a great read on the topic, entitled What We Hear.

[happymax]

I decided to buy the Loxjie D30 DAC and yesterday I did a first test of about an hour with my wife to get an objective opinion.

Connected to the raspberry MoOde (7.2.1) it identifies it as "Loxjie" without problems (see the attached image) and everything works correctly.

Since with the Khadas approaching the ear to a speaker I heard a rustle (inaudible from a distance and therefore irrelevant), I tried to do the same with the Loxjie but the rustling was gone; perhaps because the Khadas was powered by the Raspberry while Loxjie has its own built-in power supply.

Our impressions were that the sound produced with the Loxie is decidedly warmer, fuller, less metallic, cleaner and more detailed than the Khadas with bass present; we distinctly noticed details that were not there before and in complex songs, the instruments are very well separated.

The Loxjie has a DDSD mode which bypasses the built-in headphone preamp and is basically handled as a pure DAC.

From a technical point of view Khadas uses the ES9038Q2M chip while the Loxjie uses the AK4493 chip.

In my opinion, for a difference of 38 € (125 € with a case for the Khadas compared to 163 € for the Loxjie) without hesitation I would buy Loxjie especially if I will use it with a good level system.

[TheOldPresbyope]

@happymax

Glad to hear you're satisfied with your new DAC. Enjoy the music.

Regards,
Kent

[Miss Sissy Princess]

@happymax

Thanks for letting us know. I'm glad that it's working out well for you.

[happymax]

Please note that the correct configuration to use the Loxjie D30 in Config, Audio, Mpd, Dsd Support is "Dsd over PCM" (as suggested from Miss Sissy Princess) and not "Native Dsd".

Sorry for the mistake; I've changed the attachment of my previous post.

Enjoy the music with MoOde!