KIWI EARS Allegro

Kiwi Ears Allegro dongle DAC review and comparisons.
.
When I first heard this, I was astounded at how much better the sound quality was than my more costly dongle DACs. Linsoul Audio, one of the largest online portable audio stores, provided me with the Kiwi Ears Allegro, which retails for $59.99 US dollars, for a review. I was told that I could say whatever I wanted in this review, and I'm grateful for that, because this dongle DAC sounds so good that reviewing it would be a relatively simple task.

Kiwi Ears is a relatively young audio brand that has quickly gained popularity in the international portable audio market. Their main product line consists of in-ear monitor (IEM) earphones. To be honest, I never paid much attention to them; however, after touching and listening to the Kiwi Ears Allegro, I realized why people love the brand; and based on the reviews and user comments I've read or seen, I believe this firm is solid and run by true audiophiles.

The packaging (see photo) is small yet tidy, with an excellent USB type C to C cable. It looks excellent with the Allegro, as if they were meant for each other, and I didn't feel compelled to purchase and replace it with a third-party connection. This is very surprising given the price, and the dongle DAC itself is compact, robust, and visually appealing. It evokes childhood nostalgia.



The Kiwi Ears Allegro has no problem driving my IEMs, except for the few difficult-to-drive ones. When paired with the Dunu Falcon Ultra Ti and the Xenns Mangird Top, which are my reference IEMs and used for sound evaluation in this review, the Allegro can go very loud at only 50 percent volume and ear-damagingly loud at around 85 percent volume. I used the 4.4mm connection.

It has the resolution and clarity that ESS Sabre chip-equipped DACs are known for. The tonality is very neutral, and the perceived frequency response is very flat. But the most notable of all is the bass control. This is one of the few dongle DACs I've heard that has excellent bass control, resulting in a very textured bass and sub-bass. The midrange sounds neutral and clean, and the treble is very extended.



Kiwi Ears Allegro vs. Hidizs S9 Pro Plus Martha vs. Rose Technics Roseselsa.

They represent three generations of ESS Sabre chips: the Allegro has the ES9028Q2M, the oldest, the S9 Pro Plus Martha, has the ES9038Q2M, and the newly released Roseselsa has the latest chip, the ES9039Q2M. Let me warn you in advance that any sound differences I point out are, in reality, really small; most people might not notice them.

I did an extensive three-way comparison, and the first thing I noticed was that the Roseselsa was the bassiest, the Allegro was the most neutral in bass, and the Martha was the most bass-light of the bunch. The Roseselsa might be the bassiest, but the bass is less controlled than the bass on the Allegro and could sound boomy at times. The Martha also doesn't have the most controlled bass and could sound boomy at times. It also has the least bass of the three due to its slightly elevated upper mids and treble sound. Again, the differences are tiny, but for me, the Kiwi Ears Allegro wins in this round by a wide margin due to its excellent bass control, making the bass sound very textured and non-boomy.

I heard no discernible differences in the midrange, but at the upper midrange and treble, the Martha was the most forward-sounding, bringing the details closer, the Allegro was neutral, and the Roseselsa has the most polite sounding of the three. I prefer the Allegro and the Martha equally in this round, as they sound more musical for me, but don't get me wrong, they all sound great, and the differences are really small.

In the upper treble region, the Roseselsa was the most polished sounding, the cleanest sounding too, but it sounded a little polite; the Allegro is the least polished sounding; the Martha is in between; it has the best balance of smoothness and liveliness in the upper treble; and I prefer it over the other two, so the Martha is the clear winner for me in this round, but again, the differences are very small.

In terms of sound stage, the Roseselsa has the deepest, followed by the Martha, and lastly, the Allegro. The Roseselsa also has the cleanest and darkest background of the three. Roseselsa clearly wins in this regard.

Of course, the implementation and tuning of the DAC chip also play a role in the final sound quality of the dongle. Therefore, the differences between these three cannot be pinned down to the chip alone.



Vs Moondrop Dawn Pro

I noticed the Dawn Pro has slightly bigger sound stage size, but the Kiwi Ears Allegro has more audible resolution. The Dawn Pro is warmer or more analog-sounding, which I like about the Dawn Pro. The Allegro easily has the better bass by far; it has more textured bass and seems to have a more powerful bass presentation.

Vs Moondrop Moonriver 2

The Allegro has a bigger sound stage and thicker note weight; it also has a cleaner background. They both have excellent bass control, but to make the story shorter, I prefer the Allegro over the Moonriver 2.

Based on the evaluations I've seen or read, the newly released Moonriver 2 Ti has better sound quality than its predecessor, but I believe the old Moonriver 2 is now outdated, since it may be outperformed by much less priced recently launched dongle DACs.



Pros:
.
- a design the evokes good memories
- excellent sound quality
- very afffordable price
- excellent value for money
- great build quality
- volume control
- the included USB cable is the best I've seen

Cons:
.
- I have no complaints with the Allegro, this is clearly a winner.

Conclusion:

I wasn't expecting much from the Kiwi Ears Allegro, but when I first handled it and looked closely, I noticed the machining was flawless, and the Allegro felt quite sturdy. When I tapped my finger nail on the Allegro, I heard a lovely high-pitched metallic pinging sound, indicating a thick metal, as opposed to my previous dongle DACs, which sound plasticky or cheap when tapped. The sound quality is practically perfect. And the value for money is phenomenal, which is why I recommend the Kiwi Ears Allegro above all other dongle DACs that I've reviewed for beginners who are starting to invest into dongle DACs in their audio journey. Thank you again, Linsoul Audio, for sending this fantastic dongle DAC for review.

Happy Listening! Cheers!

Summary
To summarize the review, this is Allegro, a budget dac dongle from Kiwi Ears, coming in at 60$. This is their first attempt at making a dac dongle, and I must say they did it well. Build and design is really good, with a full metal build and unique old school game controller design. There are two buttons for volume control on the top, unfortunately the buttons on the front are just for show. Price wise specs are standard, with ESS9028Q2M DAC chip and up to 155mW power output on balanced. So how does it sound? This sounds quite decent, a bit more on the analytical side. I found this to be quite enjoyable with warmer sounding iems. If you are looking for an all rounder dac dongle with cool looks, this is a great option in my opinion.



Intro
Hey guys, whats up
This is the Kiwi Ears Allegro, a budget dongle dac coming in at 60$. Allegro is the first ever dongle dac released by Kiwi Ears, so it was exciting to check out.
Talking about Kiwi Ears, they are a pretty popular chifi iem brand. I have previously checked out some of their products, among which Quintet and Orchestra Lite was notably good. Getting back to the Allegro, they have gained attention specially because of its nostalgic analog game controller look. Anyways lets get into the review starting off with specs.

Disclaimer: this unit was purchased with my own money and this review is my honest and unbiased opinion, thanks.



Specs
> DAC Chip: ES9028Q2M
> THD+N: 0.0015% (32 Ohms)
> Output Power: 70mW@32 Ohms (3.5mm), 155mW@32 Ohms (4.4mm)
> SNR: 123dB
> Frequency Response: 20Hz~40kHz
> Noise Floor: <1μV
> Supported Formats: PCM (up to 32bit/384kHz), DSD (DSD256, DSD128, DSD64)
> Indicator Lights: PCM (blue), DSD (red)
> PRICE: $59.99 USD

Packaging
Starting off with the packaging of the Allegro, its very simple, maybe a bit too simple in my opinion. The box contains papers, the dac itself and a usb type C to C cable. The included cable is quite nice but they should included a type C to usb A adaptor. I will talk more about the cable in the build and design section.


Build and Design
Moving on to the build and design of the Allegro, this is amazing. The design, as you can see in the pictures is inspired by old school game controller which I find really unique and attractive. The build is also quite solid, full metal construction, aluminum to be exact. It has nice weight, feels more premium for the price. Thanks to the matte finish finger prints are not an issue. The silver color is nice but a beige version of this would give it a more old school vibe. In my use case, I did notice some minor scratches though.
On the fromt of the dongle the buttons are just for show, i wish they had some function. The top side is curved and has two circular buttons for volume up and down. The bottom side is flat and plain. On the back is the kiwi ears logo and a LED indicator. On the right is the 4.4mm and 3.5mm outputs and type C input on the left.
The included cable is really good. Construction of the cable is high quality regardless of the price. The connectors are metal and the pvc covering is done well.


User Experience
Moving on to the user experience of the Allegro, it is as you would expect from a dongle at this price, simple and to the point. Talking about controls, you only get volume up and down. This was not that power hungry, this drained around 10% percent battery every hour of listening from my samsung galaxy S20 and pixel 2xl. Power output is nothing crazy, but can power most iems perfectly except the really power hungry ones. I did find the LED indicator placement to be a bit odd though, because you would not usually look at the back side of the dac. Honestly I can not think of any major cons here.



Sound
Now most importantly how does it sound? This sounds great, talking about sound signature, this is more towards analytical than neutral. Bass performance is very clean and tight but a bit more depth would have been nice. Mids is also clean and transparent type but with brighter sounding iems upper mids might sound a bit thin. Treble is energetic and quite detailed, I find this dongle to pair well with warmer iems. Staging and imaging is accurate. I tried it with a couple Kiwi Ears iems, it was lovely specially with Orchestra Lite.

Tested with:
IEMS: Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite, Kiwi Ears Quintet, Simgot EA1000, Moondrop Aria 2, Thie Audio Hype 2
Headphones: Koss KPH30i, Koss Porta Pro, Aune AR5000



Conclusion
To conclude the review, I can say if you are looking for a unique looking, well built and decent sounding dac dongle, this is a solid option. Personally I like this more from my previous favor ate at sub 50$ budget, Moondrop Dawn Pro. Props to Kiwi Ears, they have done a beautiful job specially with the design. Thanks to you guys for checking out my review, see you in the next one.