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I'm not sure how you can release a VNA with that name on the sticker and make the VNA optional extra, marketing innovation? It's like releasing a Digital Storage Oscilloscope and making the storage optional extra.

I think the sharp edges on the shieldings are a secondary "Waranty void if removed" device. If somebody cut themeself there would be blood on them and easy checkable if it's the blood of the owner.

The VNA capability is wonderful for anyone doing filter design and impedance matching/feed networks. S11 and S21 is all you need.

Hi Dave, the crappy Leylon 400V Cap only has to worry about 100Hz ripple When refurbishing some repairable SMPS I have not found any failed DCBus 400V caps. It is good to see better quality caps in the HF switchmode part of the supply were ESR can be problem particularly if they are high density value caps or low value/high voltage types.

How much extra is the main power supply?

Huh? i've never been so in over my head watching a video and trying to understand it. So much to learn. Thanks Dave!

I find it really odd that in a bit of $1k+ test gear there is corner cutting on the filter cap but yet on a $500 projector I took apart that failed every single cap on the PSU is Rubycon

Vector Network Analyser: $609 Demodulation Analysis (ASK/FSK): $629 Distance to Fault: $289 EMI: $449 AM/FM Modulation options: €319.00 = $375 Advanced Measurement Kit: €364.00 = $428 So... $2779 in total for all upgrades! Doesn't include the hardware necessary.

The options policy killed this, sadly. But I really am a sucker for looking under the RF shielding, just delightful!

Many "HMC" devices went obsolete after Analog purchased Hittite. Some of them only temporarily, appearing back in production with a new part number, some permanently. Some devices became "obsolete" overnight. We had a design ready for review by our international customers, only to be told they can't accept a new design with obsolete components.

Under 2K for a VNA /SA combination is a winner, shame it's upper limit is 1.5GHz though.

Any chance on getting hands on a rigol 7000 o-scope? Also, I want the batt bump enabled version.

Maybe touch anywhere else on the screen to "get rid" of the menu.

I'm considering this puppy for my lab and ham adventures. As of 2019.09.23 Siglent started including the VNA option for free which is fantastic. TEquipment currently has it listed for $1635.62. It doesn't seem like there's much in the way of competition right now so I may have to bite! 73 de KN6MEC

Replacing the Bowties with SMD components probably means they were throwing away a lot of PCBs that didn't meet the standards, or the material for manufacturing to the tolerance was significantly more expensive.

Pity about the de-modulation not being enabled at 53:00, I wanted to see how that worked!

My friend just bought a new build house where interior flooring wasn't included in the price. This video reminds me of that.

What you miss is material used for those filters. In "highish" version is there some ceramic substrate used for those filters (like Rogers).

1.5 GHz is very small. VNA should be atleast upto 6 GHz.

At 53:03 you see that the tracking generator and DMA are extra paid options. In the device in this video they were included as temporary licences. The optional extras Dave listed in this video add up to almost $2,700 for a device that retails just under $1400. I don't remember if that included the tracking generator. If they included the TG and VNA options as stock for just under $1400 it would be a possible killer of the Rigol DSA-815TG.

I wonder if the high cost for the VNA feature (and the fact that its optional) has to do with patents, i.e. someone out there holds patents on the tech involved and either charges a large royalty (hence the high cost) or insists on a high price point as a condition of the license (because they dont want Siglent to undercut whatever their own product costs by too big a margin...)

Scaling is limited to 1 dB/. Even the basic DSA815 goes to 0.1 dB/. My 1990s vintage HP VNA goes down to 0.001 dB! VNA option is limited to 10 MHz or higher! Shouldn't these have been mentioned in the review?

After watching this I feel like my BS in EE I got last month is just not enough. Absolutely interesting video though, loved it.

The processing on the daughtercard is a really spiffy idea! Solid points, regarding reducing the size of the multilayer board area, and potentially standardizing the processing across products!

The prices on those options are insane. This machine would never get near my workshop for that reason. Excellent review!

$1300 with 20k in options? Lost interest.

Thanks Dave. Long time lowballer on Patreon bit you've helped me in my professional life volumes. Keep up the great content and telling it like it is. BNE fanboy.

I know I'm a bit late, but the HMC213B is not obsolete, only the HMC213A is. For some reason Analog Devices does not have a recomendation for the HMC213B on the product page of the HMC213A.

A big part of deciding to pick up the Siglent SDS1204X-E scope was that so many "options" were standard -- signal decoding among those. Bummer that Siglent have returned to making so many things option$. In a SA, I need coverage through 2.8 GHz. I have an old HP 8594E SA with the 85630A scalar network analyzer that does a very nice job (it's portable -- it has handles). Let's see what Siglent (or Rigol) do in a 3 GHz model with TG and VNA. You can get okay 3 GHz cal kits (open, short, 50 Ohm load) on eBay for around $200, look for OSL cal kit.

Love the saw-tooth directional couplers. They switched to a shitty laminate, compared to the previous PCB. I wonder if those obsolete Hittite parts are counterfeit? I used the HMC-488 years ago.

Shame that they used only 2 screws (instead of intended 4) to fix the N-connector. That is the only mechanical support and you have always a lot mechanical stress on the peripheral connectors, especially for those main IN/OUT connections... But otherwise seems very nice apparatus 🙂

The Tracking Generator on the SSA3021X is listed as going down to 100KHz, while the generator in this bottoms out at 10MHz. It's another point to consider, if you're trying to choose between these models

If there is coupler (or directional bridge) that will reduce noise floor. That will explain lower noise floor then spectrum analyzer.

It's like buying a car with, No wheels, no engine, no transmission, no interior, and no sheet metal, all optional extras.

So this stops just too low to work with the 2.4GHz ISM band (RC toys, Bluetooth, WiFi etc.) let alone the ~5GHz bands used for modern WiFi,cordless phones etc. But it might be able to analyze wired Ethernet, TV broadcasts etc.

Not sure if you mentioned it, but is the SSA3021X model using a PCB with a rogers RF material top layer and the new SVA1015X is getting away with regular FR-4?

Calibration kits are not free to make regardless of how low-end they are assuming they're N-type and still within the range of being usable for general purpose stuff up to 1.5 GHz. Open, short and thru are cheap enough, only so-so machined blocks of brass in the cheaper end of the spectrum, but a decent 50 ohm load will always cost you something. If you're looking at a $2000 instrument, they're not going to throw in a $350 cal kit. That would absolutely destroy the bottom line and plenty enough people would complaint about the quality anyway. RF engineers and HAMs get the level of calibration standards they require. Some need $20,000 kits per connector type and some are fine with getting a simple set of $300 standards. There's a whole spectrum of different price points available for calibration standards.

LOL there is a not soldered ceramic filtercap in the Section between IF Output and 12bit ADC --- C112 is open :D In the topdown pictures its a little hard to see but still noticeable (better distinguishable on the angled view found on the Daves Flickers page) Good to see that even big brands still have such easy escapes with AOI inspection.

Love to get your take on the new NanoVNA compared with the Siglent VNA.

The picture quality of this video is amazing.

I notice at 40:30 that D46, D47, D48 are not installed in the tracking gen, I suspect that they would of been protection diodes for reverse DC input, maybe they effected the output in some way and were not really needed because of the capacitive coupling from the port anyway.

That sort of milling is also found inside LNB's if you ever took a LNB apart, I just hope that you can put it back together without any problems, you can do the same analysis by doing a IFFT then to get the magnitude by doing sqrt((i*i)+(q*q)) and the phase by atan2(i,q);, I think it would be wise to just use 4096 bins and not to go above this as it gets progressively slower.

Totally confused ! I just bought an SVA1032X (same SA as this) based partially on this review - thanks ! There is a setting in the "BW" menu called "Average Type" with no useable explanation of what "averaging" operation in the device it controls. The manual says, "When trace average is on, the average type is shown on the left side of the display" however the average type selected here is ALWAYS shown on the left side of the display no matter what is turned on and off - anywhere. And there's no "Average" setting IN the BW menu, just this "Average Type" setting. What is this setting actually DOING ? Which average function does it pertain to ? I've been trying to get the simplest answers from Siglent support here in the US but they are absolutely USELESS !! There doesn't appear to be any other source of support for Siglent questions and problems. I'm almost beginning to wish I'd never heard of Siglent for confusion like this !

This dude didn't notice the metallisation on the side of the tracking generator board? It's always nice when this dude tells you something without actually not knowing what he is talking about.

I'm wondering what a quote from a dealer for this instrument fully loaded would look like? Last time I ordered instruments with add-ons, some of the add-ons were bundled together and the price of the bundle was significantly less than the prices listed on the manufacturer's website. The bundle offered also included some features I wouldn't have otherwise purchased. I'm still going to agree with everybody, if it says VNA on the box, it should come off-the-shelf with a VNA in the box.

I can't really imagine that many useful cases for a VNA that can only do up to 1.5GHz, especially given that almost everything is 2.4GHz and above nowadays.

20:39 Good question - why would they shove 3M VHB tape down there? Don't get me wrong, I love it - use it at work and around the house for lots of stuff. And even some things that don't require me to peel back the other side (making it essentially one sided super tape..) which this appears to be - as neither an adhesives or electronics expert; only a hobbyist, I'm sort of curious. When I use it, I'm using it mostly for bodge jobs, so perhaps I have a jaded perspective on it's practical industrial and electronics uses.. :)

That 3M is VHB tape, a type of goo like tape from them, which acts as a double sided tape, good adherence in general

We saw a Chicken Caesar Salad on a menu and it was an additional $3 to have chicken on it. So the Chicken Caesar doesn't come with chicken...

those gold plated boards are "Schmick "

Teardown starts at 11:25.

I would be somewhat hesitant to buy this spectrum analyzer for radio amateur (ham) use, as it does not cover e.g. the 40 m and lower bands. If I read the specifications sheet correctly, the tracking generator starts at 5 MHz and the network analysis option even higher at 10 MHz. Tracking generators in other low cost products from Siglent and Rigol start as low as 100 kHz, although they do not have the network analysis option. However, radio amateurs may find these products more useful if combined with a separate ham-oriented analyser such as the Funkamateur FA-VA5.

Hey now, Ne nice to the watch crystal. I know a DMM that originally had the watch crystal flapping in the breeze. :-)After it was pointed out, the PCB didn’t have a pad to solder so the manufacturer decided on hot glue to hold it down. Just took apart a smart meter hub that did the block gold traces since it had Bluetooth, zigbee, and WiFi, just no shielding. That 3M stuff is high temperature double stick tape, not the cheap double sided tape like in some. It must be sticking down a cable I’m guessing so it doesn’t work loose?

the base material of the distributed element filters locks much different in both instruments - could that be the reason for the larger structures ? like, more expensive ceramics in the 3GHz analyzer as opposed to cheaper ceramics or kind of epoxy or similar in the lower bandwith sva ... ?

I like that they are using a BR cell instead of a CR cell. BR cells are more expensive and don't have the current capacity of CR cells but they do have a substantially lower rate of self-discharge.

I'd like to see this compared with a very similar unit, the R&S FPC1500. I'm aware of the significant price differences and general limitations between the two, however this introduction definitely peaks my interest to see which one would fulfill my "home lab" for my graduate studies. Whilst I'm quite impressed by Siglent's significant improvements over recent years, my experience with them has been "fair" compared with the usual "high price brands." EDIT: "The Signal Path" ep. 121 has an in-depth review of the FPC1500.

Looks like the ribbon cable for the display was a bit skewed in the plug on the driver board.

It seems like this thing has a ton of optional features. I don't know if they were all mentioned in the video. Is there a list of all the optional features and what they cost (what would the total cost be for everything)? At around $300 per feature, it adds up quick..

It will only be good enough for pre compliance work if your UUT only clocks up to 200 MHz, otherwise you need to go 5 times the max clock speed

53:36 Hahaha a weekend of Sundays would be one Sunday, so a short amount of time. I think you invented a nice new version of the phrase!! My dad used to say "not in a bloody month of Sundays" all the time :)

would like you to test the cheap portable VNA found on ebay for a couple of $, just to see if they are worth for the hobbyist... like you did test the cheap component tester identifier, you could do the same for the cheap VNAs...

I like that they are starting to mimick an UI of the Rhoden-Shwartz equipement. RS uses Windows afaik and some native code, and Sigilent and Rigol use Linux, but they managed to make it similar, and more importantly very usable and nice. I wonder if they use Qt framework maybe.

Not sure how this is LOW COST. Options are insane priced. By the time a ham can use this they need to add $1000 USD. AM demod is mandatory. Calibration too... This should have the Rigol hack that opens up all options, which I've done. Plus alot of folks are into the 2.4ghz ASM band. This is worthless for that. Pretty much a non starter.

Can you comment of the relative value of the very lowend nano-vna versus this sort of VNA? For a ham I am not seeing the big justification for the 10+ X price.

Distance to fault $289 - NanoVna with 4.3 screen < $150 . BAM

Great video Dave but SCREW siglent for the nickel and dime BUTT REAMING for options.. I'll keep my older HP SA and VNA which I can repair wo BUTT REAMING !!

Not a bad looking unit. Definitely a lot of "moist" HAM's around the world. :-) Since you mentioned Rubycon capacitors. Did you know there is a class action lawsuit here in the US against them, Nippon Chemi-Con and several other companies. Apparently they have been price fixing prices since 2002. Screwing us for 16 years!!! Got my notice in the mail the other day. www.capacitorsindirectcase.com/

is this... test gear teardown in 4k?! Oh my god.

With the price of these things, not using an IPS LCD is really quite sad... TN panels are cheap, but this kit is not. Gimme an IPS screen please! I want good viewing angles!

Dave you've got a typo in your description "SSA3021X Specrtum Analyser Teardown".

Do people hack these? Send worth it for $600 saving?

You should've tried the "marker" buttons while in VNA mode.. Awesome video

If it was only 400 mhz higher in spec i would grab one, so close, maybe next year

I still think the KC901V is the best value performer in this field.

Amazing. Thanks for the post

Any idea why most spectrum analyzers don't cover audio frequencies? This one the BW starts at 9 kHz and that is typical.

This is some nice piece of engineering.

Personally I like S-parameters with dB rather than a Smith chart as it's more intuitive for me to read the amount of power being reflected or transmitted at a frequency of interest (and the phase in some cases). Smith chart seems a bit old school for me.

I think those smith charts would look far better if you calibrated the thing...

Didn't get how they measure S11. Where is the coupling device?

Just like cloud based software, software licensed hardware is just plain bad business, they’ll learn down the road that trying to follow other companies lead was a seriously bad idea, customers are frustrated by it and they lose money adding in the hardware an only being able to charge what the derated hardware is worth and then very few people actually buy the options. Just release the stuff for a little higher price and release it all as standard... If people are willing to pay $1200 then $1500 isn’t a deal breaker to get it all. I refuse to buy anything that’s licensed like this on principle, and I’m now running virtually ALL free software thanks to the cloud. I had no problem paying Microsoft several hundred dollars for Office, but I’m plenty happy with Open Office vs renting my files from a company, I’ll donate what I would have paid to ensure it’s further developed and maintained.

Have you done a video on the Siglent 1200 series Oscilloscope?

51:00 EEVblog presents the world’s first one-wire Quine.

Back browsing cheap SAs again and I’m beginning to not be a fan of Siglent marketing... fully optioned this thing is what $4300.00US and decent options it’s $3500.00US, it makes the Rohde and Schwartz FPC1500 seem like an absolute steal at $3000.00US, Siglent needs to get busy working on that full bundle for sub $2000.00 and throw in the calibrator for the $600 they are asking for the VNA option... seriously though $4300.00US for 1.5Ghz SA is not exactly cheap, especially when you see things like Smith charts that aren’t labeled... really? I’m assuming they are fixing that so probably no big deal....

So it's like a cheap printer with expensive cartrages....

You call them "moist hams", despite the fact that they are obviously grilled.

I never understood why Spectrum analyzer (especially with TG) and VNA are separate devices. It always struck me as milking the market, and maybe running little different software, and little bit different layout of buttons to be optimized for task. But come on.

Wow, I was excited until I heard the price. I will just rent one when I need it at that price point.

It is only a one port VNA. The other port is scalar not vector?

SO does Siglent provide any form of calibration kit for their VNA? That's normally a pretty spendy of add-on for most VNA's....

would be nice if someone started to make "open hardware + freesoftware + all fancy gnu license" scopes and spectrum analyzers for hobbiest

I'm not trying to be "that guy" but FYI peregrine is pronounced "perry-grin".

@8:22 Finally remote viewing can be done. That is truly amazing. Oh no, just remote web viewing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing

I saw the thumbnail on my phone, and thought you’d ported Stardew Valley to an oscilloscope.

I'm suffering a cognitive dissonance. You turned it on before you tore it apart. What the? ;^)==

what happens if you were to try to analyse a signal below the minimum frequency?

i need one of these for my RF adventures!

EEVblog #1103 "Hacking the SVA1015X" EEVblog #1104 "I got sued"

Can you do a review about analog arts scopes ?

Can anybody tell me if the ‘N’ connectors on the Rigol 832 and the Siglent SSA 3032X spectrum analyzers are the same distance apart? I want to buy the Siglent, but their directional bridge is only good up to 2GHz, while the Rigol one is good for the whole 3.2GHz. I’m going to try to buy the Rigol directional bridge, to use with the Siglent, if it will fit without using extra cables. Thanks!