ONIX Alpha XI1

Introduction
Today I'm having another dongle dac for review and that is the Shanling Onix Xi1. Onix is a British audio company, established in 1979 and they have been collaborating with Shanling since 2003 to make all sorts of audio products. The Alpha Xi1 is the first and latest dongle dac/amp from Onix. It is currently selling for 109$ on online retailing websites.

Disclaimer: I bought the Onix Alpha Xi1 with my own money. Everything I said in this review is my subjective opinion only.

Specification

Unboxing

The box that the Alpha comes with is quite small and minimal. Open it up is the dongle itself, a usb C to A adapter, below it is the cable and some papers.

The case comes in a separate package, which I bought along with the Alpha. It costs around 20$.

Build quality


The Alpha has an aluminum body with a fake leather cover on the bottom and an oled screen along with the volume button and multifunctional button up top. The buttons have good tactile feedback to them. Around the settings button, there’s also a status indicating light.


The case for the Alpha is made from fake leather too, but I like the quality of it. It’s stiff, can protect the dongle and it fits very snuggly, so you don’t have to worry about it slipping out.


The size of the Alpha is really big. It’s one of the biggest dongles I've used. It’s even in a similar size as the DC Elite right here, and half the size of the Chord Mojo.

So that’s basically it for the design. Next is the settings and the functionality of the dongle.

In the default mode, for the volume button, press the left side to turn down the volume and right side to turn up the volume.

For the other button, you press it once to play and pause the playback, double press it to turn the screen on and off, hold it for 2 seconds to enter, and exit the settings menu.

If you leave the dongle plugged in and it doesn’t play anything, there will be a small music note floating through the screen.

When the screen is on, you can see some rough information regarding the dongle and the playback. They include the volume level, the gain, the filter that you’re using, the format and the sampling rate. The color of the status indicating light also shows the sampling frequency of the playback.

Going into the settings menu, so like I said, you can hold the small button for 2 seconds to enter the settings menu, or you can control all of that through an app called Eddict Player. That app lets you play your local music file while controlling the dongle at the same time.

There are 9 things that you can adjust. First is the gain level, which is either low or high, next is the PCM filters and there are 5 options for you to pick. They are slow or sharp roll off, low delay slow or sharp roll off and non oversampling mode. The differences between the filters are quite minimal, but the low delay slow roll off filter is the most warm while NOS is a bit more neutral.

The next option is Key mode, which lets you control the function of the volume button, so that you can either control the DAC Volume, the System volume or for change the listening tracks.

The 4th option is to control the fonts, next is to control the left right balance, (Wait a tiny bit), the brightness, the screen saver time. This mode is used to control how long until the screen will turn off. You can either set a specific timing, or set it so that it’ll always be on.

Next setting is the orientation of the screen and the idle time. So if you don’t play anything through the dongle, this control the time that the dongle will go into sleeping mode. When there is something start playing again, the dongle will “wake up” again with some short delay. I believe this is to control the battery drain of the dongle when you don’t use it. Since i use the Alpha with my laptop 99% of the time, i just set the idle time to never turn off.

* One thing I do have to mention is that I've heard reports regarding the compatibility issue with the Onix Alpha with its stock cable. Some said that they cannot use the Alpha with the Samsung A series phones or with a few daps from Hiby. They have to use 3rd party otg cable like the Ddhifi tc09s or the Ibasso CB19 for it to work.

I believe Onix is also addressing this issue. I personally don’t have any issue regarding this, but I'd still mention it regardless.

Sound impression

Onto the sound impression. For this review, I set the Onix Alpha to Non oversampling mode and high gain.

I pair the Alpha with a wide variety of iem to give me a more precise impressions, like the Penon Serial and Simgot EA1000 for the bass texture and overall timbre, the Shortbus Glamdring for the treble and sound stage, and many more for other parts off the midrange and technical performance. I also use TGXears Totem as that is the hardest to drive transducer I got.

The Onix Alpha to my ears has a bit of a warm leaning, organic type of sound.

The bass is extended, has good oomph and transient speed. It’s not sluggish, however, it doesn’t feel very clear cutted, a bit blurry between the notes.

The midrange is quite lush and smooth. Note weight is heavy. It’s easy to perceive the coloration that the Alpha brings to the midrange here.

The treble is also smooth, has good sparkles and air to them. There seems to be some upper treble taming or smoothening effect, which can help cut back the sibilance and edginess.

Technicality wise, it’s very open, similar to many recent dac/amps, good width, decent depth and height, with decent imaging and layering.

For the overall “timbre” signature, the Onix Alpha leans more heavily towards the analog side, rather than the hifi side. I'd put it at around -2.5 to -2 mark.

Synergy wise, like I said, the Alpha is a very warm colored dongle dac/amp, which affects heavily on how many iem it can synergize with. For example, the EPZ 530 is a bright V-shaped iem, really technical, borderline metallic, so it synergized really well with the Alpha. However, something overly warm like the Penon Quattro won’t be a good pairing with the Alpha. So overall, I'd say the Alpha can synergize well with neutral and bright types of iem

Comparison
1/ Hiby FC6

The first dac/amp that i’ll compare is against the Hiby FC6. Forgive me as I've just sold the FC6 the other day, but my memory of its sound is still fresh and I'll be doing this review based on my memory.

I’ll talk about non sound related stuff first. The FC6 uses a Darwin Architecture, R2R technology DAC chip, while the Alpha uses two Delta Sigma dac chips from Cirrus Logic. The FC6 only has a 3.5mm single ended port with 31 volume steps while the Alpha has both 3.5 and 4.4 balance ports, 100 volume steps along with higher power output. It also has many more features in the setting menu.

For the sound, both of these dongles are on a warmer side.

To my ears, the Alpha Xi1 is like a less warm, less organic version of the FC6 as well as having better technical performance. The stage sounds more open and holographic on the Alpha, while the FC6 feels more intimate. The separation and layering is better too. The FC6 seems to be focusing on the musicality of things. Overall, the FC6 feels more relaxing than the Alpha Xi1.

One of my main problems with the FC6 is the bass region. It feels warm and weighty, but also quite sluggish. This is quite evident in many edm or metal tracks, where I'd usually want to have the most nimble bass response. I know this has got to do with the iem i’m using too, but even with a planar iem, the bass texture just feels weird with the FC6. It feels like a diamond in the rough, lacking that bit of refinements to it, not fully flesh out yet.

So when listening to the Alpha Xi1, it shows me a quicker bass response. Less weight, yes, but now it’s more controlled and less blurry. It just feels more technical.

The midrange is way more lush, vocals pushed more forward on the FC6. The Alpha also has a colored midrange, but it feels more balanced in comparison. But I'd say if you want a more “romantic” or midcentric type of sound then the FC6 is a better choice.

The treble sounds like it has more rolloff on the FC6, but it is smoother than the Alpha. The Alpha has a more linear treble response. Both of these dongles have that “smoothening” effect on the upper treble, taming down the metallic and harsh feeling.

I consider the FC6 to fall in the -4 to -3.5 range on the analog to hifi scale, which means the FC6 is definitely more analog sounding than the Alpha Xi1.

2/ Chord Mojo

The 2nd source I'll compare is with the Chord Mojo.

With Chord Mojo, I found that the Xi1 to have a very similar overall sound signature, or sound DNA. They both have a warm overall sound to me, with of course, the Mojo to still sound a bit better in terms of bass texture, micro nuances and texture in the mids, the smoothness in the treble. Going by percentage, I'd consider the Alpha to be around a maximum of 75% of the Mojo. With other sound characteristics like the midrange and their coloration, the stage presentation, they’re very similar to one another. I may give the slight edge to the Alpha in terms of stage’s width, but that’s it.

When listening to an easy to drive IEM like the Simgot EA1000, the differences can be spotted, but it’s not by much. However, when switching to something like Penon Serial and TGXEars Totem, the difference gap is bigger, noticeable in the bass texture.

With the Penon Serial and listening to “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind and Fire, there’s no doubt that the bass hits become tighter, deeper, more completed and cleanly separated.

Or with the TGXears Totem, the whole bass dynamics just liven up more along with better stage reproduction.

Considering that the Chord Mojo is almost 600$ at the point of its release and Alpha is a 8 years newer product and only cost around 100$, it’s a wonder for the Alpha to be this good in terms of sound performance in comparison.

Of course, these two have a lot of different uses between them, as the Mojo uses a FPGA chip with class A amplification, while the Alpha uses a more traditional delta-sigma dac chip. The Mojo has a battery and the Alpha does not; the Mojo is bigger, the Alpha is smaller. It’s kinda funny how the Alpha is literally half the size of the Mojo actually. The button of the Mojo feels better, more tactile than the Alpha. The Mojo uses lights to convey the mode and volume that it’s in while the Alpha has an Oled screen. The Mojo has 2 3.5 single ended ports that you can use at the same time while the Alpha has 1 3.5 port and 1 4.4 balance port. That feature on the Mojo has helped me a lot on my iem reviewing journey.

3/Ibasso DC07 Pro

The final comparison that I'll do is with the DC07 Pro.

The Alpha is 1.5 times bigger than the DC07 Pro. The Alpha uses 2 CS43198 chips while the DC07 Pro has 4 CS43131 chips. The included cable is of course better on the DC07 Pro. Both dongles have their dedicated app on Android phones. On paper, the Alpha has maximum power output of 500mW at 32ohms, while the DC07 Pro has 480mW, so it’s not a large difference. The DC07 Pro is more efficient, drawing less battery from the phone during use.

The Alpha has a volume button and control keys, while the DC07 Pro has a control knob. Those are basically some main differences between the two.

On to the sound, these two are on a very opposite end of the spectrum. The Alpha is very warm and colored while the DC07 Pro focuses on sounding neutral and clean. The Alpha sounds more analog, while the DC07 Pro is more Hi-fi.

For the bass, the Alpha has more oomph, more rounded feeling, but the DC07 Pro feels more clean.

Midrange wise, the DC07 Pro is drier in comparison. It doesn’t have much, if any, coloration to the tone and timbre, as opposed to a lusher, more organic midrange and more frontal vocal presentation. The Alpha sounds more veiled than the DC07 Pro, or vice versa, the DC07 Pro is more revealing than the Alpha.

Treble wise, the DC07 Pro is more resolving, it has more shimmering in the overtones, yet it doesn’t sound harsh. The Alpha feels not as detailed.

Soundstage wise, I'd say the DC07 Pro feels deeper yet the Alpha has better width and more holographic feeling. The separation and the imaging is a step better on the Alpha (shocking!), even if it’s only by a small margin.

So overall, although the DC07 Pro is a good product, it’s undeniable that the Alpha has way higher price to performance ratio. The DC07 Pro is literally double the price of the Alpha.

I’d say if you’re 1/ mindful about your budget and want to have the most bang for buck dongle currently out there 2/don’t mind the size of a dongle 3/don’t worry about the compatibility issues that you may have with your phones or source, which again, Shanling is already addressing it 4/ like the coloration that the Alpha might add into your music experience

Then yes, the Alpha is a more logical option between the two. The DC07 Pro is your other choice if you want a more resolving and hifi type of sound.

Conclusion

In conclusion, for their first dongle dac/amp, the Alpha Xi1 really is a great product from Onix. It’s not without its flaws of course and nowhere near being a perfect dac/amp. Its size along with the warm, analog sound that it’s going for won’t be up to liking for many people out there. Some may already said that the Alpha is overhyped. However, I believe the hype is justified and with the price just at 109$, the Onix Alpha Xi1 has raised the bar on what a dongle dac/amp should bring to the table.

That’s it for my review and thank you for reading.