[originalsnuffy]

So has nobody else gone from an older iPhone that has used the lightning to 3.5mm dongle switched to a USBC iPhone and used the Apple USBC to 3.5mm dongle?

With my IEMs I feel that the 15ProMax and the Apple USBC to 3.5mm dongle sounds louder earlier and just seems to sound better.

I think it’s kind of wild that with my Aful Performer 8’s all I need is 6-12% volume out of this dongle.

There are definitely posts on this forum that state the USBC apple dongle sounds better than the lightning dongles. I only have on USB dongle and a ton of the older lightning dongles. I never listened to the old ones as I had fancier dongles. But I did pick up on Apple dongle because it was cheap. I use it at the gym with some $11 IEMs recommended by the Wirecutter (NYTimes). It sounds very good actually.

I still am waiting for a better for the USB DoP / DSD issues with the iphone 15. There is a hint from somebody on this thread that the ipad with USB C may have a similar issue but that has not been confirmed.

 

[hermesani]

I use the Mojo 2 with mine, and it's great. Leverage USB-C to USB-C.

Same. Do try out the Audioquest Cinnamon USB-C to USB-C. I was for the longest time a skeptic about cables making a difference until I A/B with the Apple stock cable. It wasn't a night & day difference but I noticed a slight improvement in the overall resolution and timbre of my headphones in particular my HD800S when it comes to classical music. Trumpets seemed brighter, picked up the subtle breaths in between vocals, string instruments' vibrato coming to life. Even such a subtle difference is something that could drive any of us to upgrade a DAC worth more than the cost of the Audioquest cable, which I bought for just $100.

 

[Mon44]

Violectric Chronos works very well with iPhone.

 

[elfary]

So has nobody else gone from an older iPhone that has used the lightning to 3.5mm dongle switched to a USBC iPhone and used the Apple USBC to 3.5mm dongle?

With my IEMs I feel that the 15ProMax and the Apple USBC to 3.5mm dongle sounds louder earlier and just seems to sound better.

I think it’s kind of wild that with my Aful Performer 8’s all I need is 6-12% volume out of this dongle.

After six and half years with an iPhone 7 Plus and the Apple Lightning to 3.5 as a source, a couple of weeks back i moved to an iPhone 15 Plus and Apple USB-C to 3.5 dongle.

I can confirm that at the same volume step Apple USB-C dongle is way louder than Apple Lightning dongle. I did some measurements with a dosimeter and the difference seem to be in the 5-6 dB(a) range, which by audio standards is double SPL.

I did not go full volume to check whether it's a volume mapping thing and/or a max output power one.

European iPhone 15 Plus, European Apple USB-C dongle and Shure SE535, Westone W30 and Shure SE215 earphones.

Subjectively, Apple USB-C dongle sounds even better than the already great Lightning dongle: a tad cleaner, fuller and more open. Impressive, really.

On a side note, i own a superb sounding android dongle (ZooAux) and it works with iPhone 15 but with a major caveat: even at 1 step of volume SPL goes close to 80 dB(a) and 2 volume steps get you past 86 dB(a) with any modern pop recording with high intrinsic volume. The same rings true for Samsung USB-C to 3.5 dongle.

Hence people with big cans could give some Android dongles a shot.

For people with sensitive balanced armature/dynamic IEMS Apple USB-C is the go-to source: awesome sonic performance, ludicrous power drain and cheap price tag.

In any case, Apple could do with a customizable volume mapping like Samsung superb Sound Assistant enables on Samsung smartphones.