Siglent 2042x

[Dan Moos]

Looking at getting a Siglent 2042x waveform generator in the next month or so. Looking for input before I commit.

I could maybe go a little higher in price point, but not much without good reason. This is for hobby use, and my specific areas of interest run the gamut, and are constantly expanding. Thus, a unit with a decent feature set is needed.

One feature the 2042x has that I could care less about is the touch screen.

A feature I really do want is the ability to send a trigger pulse to my scope such that frequency sweeps can be properly synced on the scope. Mostly this is so that I can create the psuedo Bode plots for audio filters as demonstrated by Dave in episode #396.

I'm also interested in messing around with PWM, and would like to have good control of the duty cycle of square waves.

I do a lot of audio stuff, so a clean since wave in the audio band, and the ability to add harmonics is also key.

Is the Siglent a good choice, or should I consider others?

[tautech]

Spelling error in your thread header.

Did you consider the SDG1062X for just a few $ more?
http://www.siglentamerica.com/pdxx.aspx?id=4705&T=2&tid=16

[nctnico]

One thing to look into are logarithmic sweeps. The old Siglent SDG1000 series can't do that properly (it steps instead of a fluently increasing frequency) so it is worth checking whether newer Siglent generators suffer from the same problem or not. Recently I have been using my SDG1010 for some PWM stuff using both outputs to generate a complementary PWM output. The frequency coupling setting between the two channels make things easier to test with different frequencies. However the rest of the parameters are not coupled but you can probably argue ad nauseam whether that is good or bad.

[Dan Moos]

Fixed the title of the thread. Thanks!

[Dan Moos]

Ok, comparing the 1062x and the 2042x, the only differences I see besides bandwidth is the larger samples per second and higher vertical resolution of the 2042x.

I guess I'm not sure which is more important. What are some specific instances where the extra 20 mHz of bandwidth might be needed? I can see the value of the higher sample rate/resolution, but not sure which unit's limitations matter more.

I guess if some specific reason to want the higher bandwidth were put forth, I could be persuaded to reconsider.

Also, current plan is to get it on Amazon since I can get out quick with Prime. Should I consider other possibilities?

[tautech]

Ok, comparing the 1062x and the 2042x, the only differences I see besides bandwidth is the larger samples per second and higher vertical resolution of the 2042x.

I guess I'm not sure which is more important. What are some specific instances where the extra 20 mHz of bandwidth might be needed? I can see the value of the higher sample rate/resolution, but not sure which unit's limitations matter more.

I guess if some specific reason to want the higher bandwidth were put forth, I could be persuaded to reconsider.

Also, current plan is to get it on Amazon since I can get out quick with Prime. Should I consider other possibilities?

Yeah, the SDG2kX range is currently their flagship series AWG specs wise, so you'd probably be better off with it and due to any possibility you might want to  it and get to 120 Mhz. 
Info here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/the-siglent-sdg2042x-thread/

Saelig offer EEVblog member discounts so they might be the cheapest for you US guys, but you need to check this for yourself.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/equipment-discounts-from-saelig/

[alank2]

I love my SDG2082X - and I agree - the touchscreen doesn't mean much to me either.

[DaJMasta]

Another 2082X and I also don't use the touchscreen.  The unit's been great so far, I've had it running continuously for a few days now trying to test the accuracy of a circuit and a frequency counter, no problems so far.  I was also interested in audio band signal generation and from my brief research, the 2KX series was the only ones with such low harmonic distortion.  You have pretty complete control over harmonics, but I don't know if you can stack several up (you can pick phase, amplitude, harmonic order, etc, but you can't have a 2nd, 4th, and 6th harmonic built into the same signal).  Maybe I've just missed it - though if you have a program to generated that on your computer, just make it into an arb waveform and get it on the unit, the sample/speed limitations on arb functions for any of the 2KX series is plenty fast enough for audio work.

As for triggering for a sweep, if you've got two channels that can be linked it's no problem.  Square wave of whatever duty cycle (<100%) that has the same period as the duration of your sweep.  Trigger off the square, input off the sweep.


I assume the 1kX series is brand new?  It wasn't around when I was in the market just a couple of months ago.  I'd be curious if there's much performance difference in the lower frequencies, the front plate and UI look identical.  Seems like siglent's datasheet link is dead at the moment, so I can't tell for sure.

[tautech]

I assume the 1kX series is brand new?  It wasn't around when I was in the market just a couple of months ago.  I'd be curious if there's much performance difference in the lower frequencies, the front plate and UI look identical. 

Yep, quite new and at first glance they look the same but no touch screen for the SDG1000X series.
Thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/siglent-sdg1000x-waveform-generators/

Seems like siglent's datasheet link is dead at the moment, so I can't tell for sure.

Yep, thanks I'll send them an email to get it up again.

[CustomEngineerer]

You have pretty complete control over harmonics, but I don't know if you can stack several up (you can pick phase, amplitude, harmonic order, etc, but you can't have a 2nd, 4th, and 6th harmonic built into the same signal). 

Just wanted to comment on this part. Pretty sure this is incorrect, you can add multiple harmonics to the same signal from what I remember. I am away from my SDG2042X for the next couple of days so can't test it for sure though.

[simone.pignatti]

I've checked both user manuals and the description is the same about Harmonics
Also PWM specs looks similar:

chapter 2.8
http://www.siglentamerica.com/USA_website_2014/Documents/UserManual/SDG2000X_UserManual_UM0202X-E01C.pdf

chapter 2.8
http://www.siglentamerica.com/USA_website_2014/Documents/UserManual/SDG1000X_UserManual_UM0201X-E01A.pdf

[simone.pignatti]

Hi Dan, these is what we wrote into the SDG1000X post:

- 14bit Vs. 16bit
- Bandwidth
- DAC Sampling Rate
- Noise Floor
- Pulse Performances
- Arbitrary Performances

http://www.batterfly.com/PDF/Siglent/siglent-sdg2000x-sdg1000x.pdf

Any question, please ask.

By the way we are going to release a new video comparing SDG2042X and SDG1062X today, we took the SDG1062X to be able to generate in both units 40MHz sinewave

Thanks

Ok, comparing the 1062x and the 2042x, the only differences I see besides bandwidth is the larger samples per second and higher vertical resolution of the 2042x.

I guess I'm not sure which is more important. What are some specific instances where the extra 20 mHz of bandwidth might be needed? I can see the value of the higher sample rate/resolution, but not sure which unit's limitations matter more.

I guess if some specific reason to want the higher bandwidth were put forth, I could be persuaded to reconsider.

Also, current plan is to get it on Amazon since I can get out quick with Prime. Should I consider other possibilities?

Yeah, the SDG2kX range is currently their flagship series AWG specs wise, so you'd probably be better off with it and due to any possibility you might want to  it and get to 120 Mhz. 
Info here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/the-siglent-sdg2042x-thread/

Saelig offer EEVblog member discounts so they might be the cheapest for you US guys, but you need to check this for yourself.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/equipment-discounts-from-saelig/

[simone.pignatti]

I don’t want to spam other threads, please share this video where you think it is convenient. Thanks.

https://youtu.be/leQ2XTJ9xkk

[pascal_sweden]

Did you properly terminate the outputs of the wave generators? This explains why the amplitude is lower than expected!

[tautech]

Did you properly terminate the outputs of the wave generators? This explains why the amplitude is lower than expected!

There is no mention that both units have been self Cal'ed or even if they are both within factory calibration period.
Furthermore there should have been investigation if the same small amplitude error was still present with 50 signal source and scope termination.

[simone.pignatti]

Did you properly terminate the outputs of the wave generators? This explains why the amplitude is lower than expected!

There is no mention that both units have been self Cal'ed or even if they are both within factory calibration period.
Furthermore there should have been investigation if the same small amplitude error was still present with 50 signal source and scope termination.

Hello, yes the setup was:
- HiZ generators output
- 1MOhm Oscilloscope inputs

We have just took new measurement with different setup:
- one generator at time
- same cable
- same oscilloscope channel
- 50Ohm generator output
- 50Ohm oscilloscope input

SDG2042X results:
1MHz = 3.95V
10MHz = 3.92V
20MHz = 3.89V
30MHz = 3.86V
40MHz = 3.83V

SDG1062X results:
1MHz = 3.98V
10MHz = 3.98V
20MHz = 3.96V
30MHz = 3.93V
40MHz = 3.89V

Cheers!

[alank2]

The only thing I like about the 1000 series is the deeper black in the display because it doesn't have a touch screen!

For me, the small difference in price for the better specs would make me want the 2042X over the 1000X series.

[billfernandez]

I'm very happy with my 2042X as a general purpose signal generator.

[Emi]

Hi, but  are these AwGs hackable like  DSO in bw a/o other function?

[rf-loop]

Hi, but  are these AwGs hackable like  DSO in bw a/o other function?

You can read this and you know more.

[julian1]

I've got one, and I love it. The touch screen is neither here nor there - I guess it adds $5 to the manufacturing cost. I use it occasionally when I can't immediately (eg. within 5 seconds) figure out how to navigate or bring up some setting with the keypad input - but it's clearly obvious from the screen UI. The touch is not required to use the instrument efficiently.

When I was researching different units, I felt the 2042 and the 'upgraded' versions - offered the best performance for the price - in terms of bandwidth, bit-depth, and the fact that both channels offered identical specs (cf the equivalent Rigol)