ONIX Alpha XI1 - Smallest & Most Affordable ONIX DAC - High-Power Portable USB DAC/AMP

[Lépine]

I've never heard a difference in toslink, usb, or power cables. Only analog cables make any difference in sound. I have LCD-X the newest version, I doubt with that headphone you can hear ANY difference. I have the much superior MX4 that is near flagship level and it is impossible to hear digital cable differences.

 

[Lépine]

I have spent my share on insane pure silver wires including $4000 Kimbers. No way a usb sounds any different from any other usb if it isn't broken.

 

[zie5522]

curios about this ddhifi tc28c pro, from the pictures are the power port also charging the hiby r4 or just powering the dongle?

It powers both the dongles and your phone.

I've never heard a difference in toslink, usb, or power cables. Only analog cables make any difference in sound. I have LCD-X the newest version, I doubt with that headphone you can hear ANY difference. I have the much superior MX4 that is near flagship level and it is impossible to hear digital cable differences.

Usb cable for dongles also draw power. Those might make differences.

 

[Lépine]

It powers both the dongles and your phone.

Usb cable for dongles also draw power. Those might make differences.

No it doesn't. I have USB cables that have separate power wires in isolated diaelectric channels. I have flat wire USBs, I have silver and copper litz wire USB. Not one of them sounds any different from any other wire. The only thing that makes a difference in USB is the available source power output and noise level, not the transmission cable.

 

[zie5522]

No it doesn't. I have USB cables that have separate power wires in isolated diaelectric channels. I have flat wire USBs, I have silver and copper litz wire USB. Not one of them sounds any different from any other wire. The only thing that makes a difference in USB is the available source power output and noise level, not the transmission cable.

Have you tried them all with onix alpha? Or other dongles?

 

[Lépine]

Hundreds of dollars in shielded, corning glass fibler, Sony, Astell Kerns, Wire World, Hiby, Cayin, AudioQuest, etc. There is no miracle Digital Cable. They may loose sync at different higher speeds, but digital cables, they all sound exactly the same for speeds they support. And I have tried them on dongles as well as the high end DACs. Only sync speeds differ at the extreme. I've wasted my money on lots of digital cables, there's no need for others to do the same. If you have a line noise problem, use optical, otherwise USB has a much superior sync speed.

This is some kind of silver alloy braided mesh shielded USB-A cable. Makes no difference to my Chord, but it's a sunk cost.

 

[NinjaGirayaZ]

I've never heard a difference in toslink, usb, or power cables. Only analog cables make any difference in sound. I have LCD-X the newest version, I doubt with that headphone you can hear ANY difference. I have the much superior MX4 that is near flagship level and it is impossible to hear digital cable differences.

Just as there are people who doubt and don't hear any improvement even with analog cables, and say it's a total placebo. No two ears sound the same, perceptions differ. I feel differences in both in the same way, both digital and analog.

 

[Lépine]

My opinion on wires comes down to, Just worry about analog wires if you can hear the difference. 100% Silver = bright details, 50/50 hybrid, or 100% Copper = warm smooth fuller; these are your basic tone controls.

 

[Edgore 17]

Alguien me recomienda comprar el Hiby
R3 II? que tal quedaría con este Dac

 

[seyuu]

I recommend for you guys to purchase Shanling L3 silver usb cable as an upgrade to Onix original stock usb cable. In my opinion it brings Onix to a higher level in terms of sound. Tried it today with my balanced LCD-X connected to Onix with with L3 silver usb-c cable - it added a bit more definition, more control, more clarity, better separation and soundstage. It is not a huge improvement, but definetely worth. I really enjoy Onix with my headphones

How's the build quality on L3 cable?

 

[zie5522]

Hundreds of dollars in shielded, corning glass fibler, Sony, Astell Kerns, Wire World, Hiby, Cayin, AudioQuest, etc. There is no miracle Digital Cable. They may loose sync at different higher speeds, but digital cables, they all sound exactly the same for speeds they support. And I have tried them on dongles as well as the high end DACs. Only sync speeds differ at the extreme. I've wasted my money on lots of digital cables, there's no need for others to do the same. If you have a line noise problem, use optical, otherwise USB has a much superior sync speed.



This is some kind of silver alloy braided mesh shielded USB-A cable. Makes no difference to my Chord, but it's a sunk cost.

For powered dac its kinda understandable. For dongle which sucks power from host, i think there could be differences. Its about the vbus for powering the dongle and amps inside.

 

[Deckard001]

I recommend for you guys to purchase Shanling L3 silver usb cable as an upgrade to Onix original stock usb cable. In my opinion it brings Onix to a higher level in terms of sound. Tried it today with my balanced LCD-X connected to Onix with with L3 silver usb-c cable - it added a bit more definition, more control, more clarity, better separation and soundstage. It is not a huge improvement, but definetely worth. I really enjoy Onix with my headphones

Better than that of iBasso?

 

[Lépine]

For powered dac its kinda understandable. For dongle which sucks power from host, i think there could be differences. Its about the vbus for powering the dongle and amps inside.

Nope don't think so, but some wires look cool even if they don't sound any different.

 

[Ben86]

I hear differences in sound with all my usb cables, each of them sound different. This is my experience from 5 years testing different usb cables with different gear. These differences are not huge, but very subtle in certain frequencies. I can also hear the difference when the power cord has incorrect phase connection with power socket. I can easely hear differences with headphone cables.

Talking about Ibasso CB19 usb c cable: when I connect it to power bank with 5V 3A output - Onix sounds the best. When I connect it to other power bank which has less power output 5V 1A - Onix sounds not as great as with 5V 3A power bank. I can hear that clearly each time.

And I can clearly hear that Shanling L3 silver usb-c cable has more impact in SQ than stock Onix usb-c cable. Also this L3 is better built than Onix stock cable.

That is my opinion and I trust my ears.

 

[smegel]

I have spent my share of insane pure silver wires including $4000 Kimbers. No way a usb sounds any different from any other usb if it isn't broken.

Nope don't think so, but some wires look cool even if they don't sound any different.

Got to split the difference.

It depends. There are a couple of factors.
If you have an issue w your source, it will propagate.
If your cable isn't well made / shielded, you will have noise.

These cables are short in length. So it will limit the impact of outside factors, but power seems to be the one factor that can cause issues.
For example. I plug my IEMs into the 3.5mm port on my macbook pro. Great sound.
I then unplug and plug them into my desktop port extender (dock) connected to my macbook pro.
Lots of noise and sounds like carp. While I can run USB-C and ethernet without any problems... it can't drive two external monitors or my external camera (hdmi to USB-C) link.

Even though the cable is the same... what's upstream has the greater impact.


That said... I seriously doubt you could identify USB cables in an ABX test.