Jcally JA04

Summary
To summarize the review, this is the Jcally JA04, a cheap dongle dac from the brand Jcally. This comes in at around 10$. This is a compact metal built dongle, which survived more than 1 year of use, so I can say this is pretty durable. Sound is good considering its price tag, this has a transparent, a hint bright sound signature. If you are in the market for a cheap dongle dac, this is a good option.



Intro
Hey guys, Whats up
This Jcally JA04, this is a cheap/ entry level dac dongle coming in at around 10$. Jcally is a chinese audio brand, not the most popular internationally but they make nice cheap audio products, mostly dad dongles I believe. Besides the JA04 I have also used the AP10, which was also good. Lets get into the review starting with its specs.

Specs
>DAC Chip: ALC5686
>THD-H: 0.003%
>Power Output: 65mw 320
>Support: USB Exclusive
>Sampling rate: up to 32bits-384KHz
>SNR/DNR: 125dB/-113dB
>Case Material: Aluminum



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

Packaging
This comes in a very basic packaging, which is expected at this price.


Build and Design
Moving on the build, this is made of aluminum. It is very light weight and small in size, I almost lost it a couple of times . In terms if design its also simplistic. On one side is the Jcally logo and on the other side are some specs. Although the design is compact, I personally prefer the classic style of dongle dacs with a cable in between the dac and the type C plug.


User Experience
Going over to the user experience, this is as basic gets, just plug and play . Battery consumption or drainage is quite low. The type C connection is not the most sturdy, but gets the job done. Although power output is standard, volume was plenty sufficient with most iems. This does get slightly warm with long use, but it is not bothersome. If you are wondering, I have been using this to test entry level to budget iems for more than a year.

Sound
Now most importantly, how does it sound?
I will keep this simple, this sounds good considering the price. At this price point this obviously will not blow you away, but this serves the purpose for a 10$ dongle, if you are just starting out you can spot some improvements compared to headphone jacks on phones. This has transparent, somewhat bright sound signature. Bass is strong but not prominent. Mids are clean and crisp. Treble is energetic and fairly detailed. Technicalities is good enough, sound stage and imaging is ok, resolution, dynamics and sound separation is average.



Conclusion
So to conclude, is it worth the price and would I recommend it?
Sort of, thing is I would recommend 15$ to 20$ to get something a bit better, where the improvements are more significant. But if you want something cheap that just gets the job done, this is a good option