Tone2 Pro: Pre-Orders Begin 16th December @ $169.90!

[Gouwa]

As the ES9038Q2M DAC not with MQA rendering support, and for the T2P is the XMOS processor XU216 do the MQA decoding.

The I2S on both USB-C port & GPIO, and the SPDIF IN both routed to ESS DAC directly, and not throught XMOS processor, so not with MQA decoding support.

[AudioNewbie]

Khadas Tone Pro 2 - MQA full hardware decoding

Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum & the Khadas community. Was redirected to this forum by Khadas’ support team.

I’m interested in the Tone Pro 2, I’m currently using Roon + Tidal Master + iFi Hip DAC to achieve full MQA unfolding through HIP DAC’s MQA renderer (the DAC doesn’t have hardware decoder, according to iFi it’s a MQA renderer)

Question: If I replace it with the Tone Pro 2 which supports hardware MQA decoding with 3 unfolding, does it mean that I can achieve full MQA unfolding without needing s/w players like Roon or Audiovana? (Assuming I have some FLAC/MQA files in my local hard drive) for example, I can use free players like Foorbar2000 or windows player etc. and still achieve full 3 level unfolding MQA? Thank you!

[RDFTKV]

Hello, Welcome to the community.
Unfortunately, I cannot answer your question. Those that could best answer your question, the Khadas Team, are on holiday for the Chinese New Year from February 6th until February 20th. So most the team will be back in about two weeks, though some might pop in before then.

Speculatively, and I am no expert on this(understatement ), I would think the answer would be yes. I base that on these two statements from the product page,…
1.) “The onboard XMOS XU216 processor enables bit-perfect, hardware-native, USB class II, asynchronous “unfolding” of MQA data for both web streaming and local high fidelity audio playback, …”,
2.) " FULL MQA DECODING
The XMOS XU216 processor embedded within Tone2 Pro, enables full hardware decoding of MQA files (3 unfolds), so you can listen to hi-res streaming audio or local files, just as the artist intended at “Master Quality”.​

*XMOS XU216 processor for full hardware MQA decoding
*Compatible with hi-res streaming & local playback
*Tone2 Pro is approved by the MQA Company

From the MQA site…

[Robert]

Maybe a white one would look Hmmm White

[Vladimir.v.v]

@Robert

Maybe a white one would look Hmmm White

Tone 2 Pro, albino

[Electr1]

why not the whole bouquet of err… ocularly inverted tone 2 pros ?

that peach colored one is very appealing

[Vladimir.v.v]

@Electr1

that peach colored one is very appealing

Buddy, your photo Tone looks magical!

[ravelo]

Did you get three of them really ?

[Electr1]

no, its just an inverted color image

[Grooved]

Hi all,

to AudioNewbie, yes you can. Just tested with Foobar with ASIO plugin, selecting the ASIO Tone2 Pro output.
Got Yellow with standard FLAC, and got Green and Blue for MQA depending on the file (tested with these : 2L High Resolution Music .:. free TEST BENCH )

It shows the same thing than playing the same file from Tidal (with setting Passthrough MQA on, if you set it off, Tidal app does the first unfold=decoding and Tone2 Pro does the rest=rendering and the light is Magenta)

[Electr1]

I did a general first look of the device (not a full review) and made a point list which I will update with stuff as I figure more of it out

you can take a look at the post here:

My personal view of the Khadas Tone 2 pro:

also, Kudos to the Khadas team for making the intuitive rotary wheel
it was very easy to memorise and remember the various modes and functions

[Professor_F]

Hello!

Quick question–if I were to use the Balanced RCA cables from the Tone2 Pro into a female XLR-to-RCA male adapter, then connect that to a single-ended amp with RCA, would that eliminate ground loops or would that still pass through?

Tone2 Pro → Balanced RCA cable → female XLR to male RCA adapter → RCA single-ended amplifier (still ground loops???)

Thanks!

[Grooved]

@Professor_F
Hi, a ground loop can happen with both RCA or XLR, the difference is on cancelling interferences you can get along the cable generated by other equipments.
To make it simple, the processing done with both signals in opposite phase in the XLR will cancel that, which can’t be done with RCA as there’s only one signal.
But both have ground connection and can have ground problem.

If I’m not wrong, the “Tone2 Pro → Balanced RCA cable → female XLR to male RCA adapter → RCA single-ended amplifier” you described will do exactly the same than “Tone2 Pro -> RCA cable -> RCA single-ended amplifier”