Some time ago the folks at Khadas had teased an upcoming availability of a Mk. 2 version of their Tone Board, the original version of which debuted way back in 2018 if memory serves. By all accounts the original KTB at $99 was a big success in the DIY DAC market. I own one, as do several other members here at HFH.
The Mk. 2 appears to have been delayed by the original design engineer's departure from Khadas parent WesionTEK to form his own venture, called Soncoz, resulting in what he claimed was the spiritual successor to the original Tone Board, the Soncoz LA-QXD1, and thereafter, the flagship fully balanced dual mono SGD1.
Things had then gone a little quiet at Khadas with regard to a successor to the KTB, but a clue that the project was still alive could be found over the last year or so on the Khadas website, where the original version had been given the new name "Tone1", suggesting that a "Tone2" would still be forthcoming.
On November 23rd, the
Tone2 Pro was formally announced. Now no longer a DIY bare board, the new version ships fully assembled in a fairly cool looking enclosure, complete with hardware volume control that is also a "push" encoder for selecting the input and operating mode:
I don't see any mention of what the enclosure is made of, though it certainly resembles a CNC machined block of aluminum thats been anodized black. Pretty sharp look (assuming it isn't plastic), and quite sleek too:
A look at the side/rear shows what appear to be separate USB ports for power and data, and both 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone jacks:
Curiously, they also mention the RCAs are "balanced", meaning a 3 pin connection to the board, and are fully backwards compatible with single ended RCA loads. More on that
here.
Introductory pricing is currently a $169 preorder if you register your email address, or $199 thereafter.
While this looks like a pretty cool desktop DAC, especially if one needs the hardware volume control for use with active monitors, I'll be taking a pass in favor of the
Topping E30, which utilizes the Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) AK4493 DAC chip, has a large easy to read OLED display of sample rate similar to it's predecessor D10 and D10s, remote control of volume, and external PSU jack, at $129 with price match available through Apos Audio. Just provide a link via their chat bot support to a lower price (for instance from Asian sellers on eBay), and Apos will match it with no further questions asked through the end of 2020.