Tone2 Pro - Firmware v1.2 + MCU Update

The leads that I needed arrived today. They are a little short, but they will work just fine. I’ll provide some before and after measurements this evening.

@DeJuan_Skelton - I’m not delighted about peeling back the rubber pad, but I understand from the video that the adhesive is good for at least one more go.

Resale value on DACs is pretty terrible regardless since technology changes so fast. Enjoy the Tone2 Pro while you have it and then give it to a nephew when you’re ready to move on to the Tone3 Super Pro or whatever comes next. :stuck_out_tongue:

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@Tonny_Jensen @Tintin @Ardummy

I’ve updated the hardware tool into Khadas Shop: https://www.khadas.com/product-page/st-link-v2-hardware-tool

Notes:

  • Standard world-wide shipping for this tool is free, but could take 15-60 business days.
  • Press “add a note” and input your Tone2 Pro’s order# before checking out.
  • You can purchase your own ST-Link v2 hardware tool, and we can compensate you.
  • Cash compensation / shop coupon shall not exceed 10 USD per person.

You can PM me at @tsangyoujun with your “Tone2 Pro proof-of-purchase, order#”, “serial # starting with 0C or 11” and your “local purchase receipt for the hardware tool”, and we can arrange the cash compensation or shop coupon accordingly.

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In my personal opinion, there was no audible difference between v1.0 and v1.2 and the new MCU update. I believe the changes only affect the audio measurements done by the testing suite! I’d like to believe I have good ears, and I personally prefer DSD over MQA and PCM.

Perhaps @Gouwa can comment more.

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Thanks for the link. Where do I “PM you”? 'scuse my ignorance, but I can send you my serial or anything else you want (although you have me in your database), but I don’t understand how to PM you at @tsangyoujun

@tsangyoujun, I ordered one through the link you posted, and it appears to have worked. Fingers crossed it ships. Thanks again for the timely and appropriate response.

FYI, I had given up on a response, and ordered this from Amazon an hour ago. Either way, you owe me the part, or the money… what a mess. Poor Khadas is taking a beating in the media over this.

It seems that the XMOS and MCU updates for my SN: 11xxxxx Tone2 Pro was successful. I remeasured the response of the filters with v1.0 firmware (before upgrading, as a baseline). As you can see here, the response of my unit was identical for all filter settings:

I’ve separated the lines on the plot. If I did not, you would only see a single line because there was absolutely no difference in response!

After updating XMOS and MCU firmware, here’s the new response of these filters:

I’m not sure how audible these differences are (note the very small scale), but the filter selection knob is now clearly working. Yay.

As promised, the new firmware addresses phase as well. Step response with firmware v1.0 was inverted:

Step response with firmware v1.2 looks correct:

Noise and distortion has improved with the firmware updates as well. Here’s distortion and noise under v1.0 firmware:

With v1.2 firmware, we no longer have that “Loch Ness” spike in 2nd order distortion at around 14 kHz.

So, congrats Khadas team. The v1.2 firmware seems better all around!

Note: I did have problems with my Tone2 Pro intermittently flipping to mono under v1.0. I understand that’s been fixed with v1.2, but I won’t know until I go for a few months without it happening again. Fingers crossed. :slight_smile:

Edit: Distortion and noise at 352.8 and 384 kHz with the v1.0 firmware was pretty terrible. I don’t have a lot of content at that sampling rate, but this distortion was audible.

I’m pleased to report that this too has been sorted with firmware v1.2:

This is quite good news.

If you’d like to explore my REW files, you may download them from here.

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Click on @tsangyoujun and send a message. :slight_smile:

I’ve already sent you a message, check your inbox.

If you are happy with the sound, there’s no need.

For DSD, the only benefit is correcting the inverted phase and preventing the DAC from flipping to mono. If you’ve not had that problem, the firmware update may not be worth bothering with.

Does it fix crackle problem when sample rate or codec changes?

Just finished the update. Easy to accomplish with windows PC and tool. As for the rubber pad. the adhesive stayed on the chassis as I lifted the pad. once I located the pin holes, I peeled back the adhesive that covered the holes. After the upgrade, all I had to do was put everything back in place. the pad is properly adhered to the chassis and you cant tell it was lifted.
Take your time and follow the instructions and you will be rewarded for the effort

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After flashing to v1.2 is it possible to revert back to v1.0 i mean if something ‘buggy’ should happen in future ?

I imagine for XMOS, the answer is yes, but perhaps not for MCU.

Hey! thanks for the numerous tests, very helpful information!:slightly_smiling_face::+1:

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I successfully flashed my batch 2 TP2 with the MCU update and 1.2 firmware this morning

I had an ST-Link V2 lying around but no header pins for the cable…I simply cut three short pieces from a small paper clip. Cutting one end of each pin on the diagonal makes it easier to firmly insert the pins in the link cable;

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Clever solution. thanks for sharing. :slight_smile:

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The ST-Link tool arrived today. The update of firmware and MCU went without issue. For the record, I used Windows 10.

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Perfect! I was struggling with that!

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@tsangyoujun

Hi,

I’ve been reading for a long time but I’m a new member and can’t send you private messages.
How can I send the invoice and photo of the serial?

hello

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Welcome. Any luck with the MCU firmware update?

Hi @fatez,

I’ve sent a PM to your messages inbox.