[moskwiz]

Thanks for the input. The Spectra X was definitely good, but then again, it was pretty much the first proper signal my ears had ever experienced so nothing to compare it to thus far.
Is the chip in the Spectra that much better than the two chips in the iBasso? ESS 9018Q2C vs 2x CS43131?

Edit: what about the E1DA 9038D? Probably superior in every way to DC03? Read somewhere here that it's very similar in sound with the Ztella?

 

[MelodyMood]

I just come across this Thread. I am facing the same issue. Need to upgrade my phone and none of good quality is available with 3.5mm Jack. What a shame? These companies should be banned for not providing the basic requirement for their profit of selling of BT headsets. I might need to update my phone soon and don't want to buy some mediocre phone with poor processor and poor quality display. If at all any other phone with 3.5mm is available, they are very heavy that it is impossible to carry them on day to day basis. Now I am left with option to either buy Samsung S10/S10+ or recable my collection of Earbuds with C Type Plug or solder C Type plug into Earphones. 1st thing I am very unsure and may be true also that C Type earphones or connector impact the sound quality really badly. And then talking on phone is not that feasible using these connectors.

I read the above posts and also going through some more similar ones. My question is, is it possible to solder the USB C Type plug and replace 3.5mm and still get good or same sound quality? 2nd, is there any DAC (like you shown above) which can be used and I can simple plug my 3.5mm plug into that but it is not easy to remove them otherwise every now and then I will be losing them . But wtih permanent fixture, I will need to buy at least 10 DAC/C Type plug so that I can fix them into my all earbuds.

What are the options I may have? I am ready to buy 10 DAC also if they are not too costly ($8-10) and my 3.5mm Plug can fit/fix into them so tightly that they seems to part of the earbuds so I don't lose them easily. Pls suggest.

 

[MelodyMood]

Something like this may be good but not sure about the sound quality. And also not sure if my 3.5mm plug can be fixed into these so tightly that it does not come out and provide excellent sound also. I don't want to buy one DAC of worth $100 or so and use that for all earbuds. Chances are very high that whenever I change my earbud and use any other one from collection, I will forget the DAC and once out of the home, I won't be able to listen to music or attend any call at all for the entire day.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000645749193.html

 

[wopossum]

or recable my collection of Earbuds with C Type Plug or solder C Type plug into Earphones. 1st thing I am very unsure and may be true also that C Type earphones or connector impact the sound quality really badly. And then talking on phone is not that feasible using these connectors.

I'm sorry in advance. I don't want to be mean but stop reinventing the wheel, please. You are going to ruin things if you're going to resolder all of your earphones, it will make them different than they were. Type-C exists for a purpose. It means it's better in terms of data transmission and most likely that's the same with audio, the only difference with 3.5 and Type-C is that 3.5 is an analog input/output and Type-C is digital.
You just need to buy yourself a DAC that you would like to have and then use it daily. Then you can move on from that and decide what do you want next. 3.5mm jack shouldn't pop out easily, at least with my experience with some cheap Type-C converters, it doesn't happen.

TL;DR:

Buy yourself a DAC that you like. Buy yourself a phone that you would like that would have Type-C. Everything will be fine.

 

[wopossum]

Thanks for the input. The Spectra X was definitely good, but then again, it was pretty much the first proper signal my ears had ever experienced so nothing to compare it to thus far.

Is the chip in the Spectra that much better than the two chips in the iBasso? ESS 9018Q2C vs 2x CS43131?

Edit: what about the E1DA 9038D? Probably superior in every way to DC03? Read somewhere here that it's very similar in sound with the Ztella?

Everything you mentioned is great on its own. DC03 is one of the best DACs in 2020 for the price that it has. At the end of the day, it's not only this chip that produces the sound, other components matter too, and IBasso were really successful in this term. Personally, I would get the DC03 just for fun since it doesn't cost as much as your previous DAC, you will be able to tell how much it's worse (if it's worse anyway). You are able to sell if afterwards if you won't like the sound or build quality. You should consider getting E1DA if you're going to use your DAC with some really high impedance headphones such as planars.

 

[wopossum]

ESS 9018Q2C vs 2x CS43131?

E1DA 9038D

If you were going to compare them only by their chips, then here you go:

(clickable links)
Spectra X(150$ ?) - Sabre ESS 9018Q2C - 32-bit 384kHz DSD-11.2MHz(DSD256) –115dB THD+N
IBasso DC03(50$) - Cirrus Logic CS43131 32-bit 384kHz (DSD256) –115dB THD+N
E1DA 9038D(100$) - Sabre ESS ES9028Q2M - 32-bit 384kHz DSD-22.6MHz –120dB THD+N

Also just an interesting fact: x2 CS43131 were used in HiBy R3 Pro. 9018Q2C was used in Fiio M7 and x2 9028Q2M in HiBy R6.

 

[moskwiz]

Everything you mentioned is great on its own. DC03 is one ...

Alright thanks! Went with your advice and ordered the DC03. Will post here my relative thoughts vs Spectra X once I get it =)

 

[wopossum]

Alright thanks! Went with your advice and ordered the DC03. Will post here my relative thoughts vs Spectra X once I get it =)

That's great! Let us know! Don't forget to download the drivers(just in case if you'll be using it with your PC sometimes). https://ibasso.com/dcseries2/

 

[MelodyMood]

I'm sorry in advance. I don't want to be mean but stop reinventing the wheel, please. You are going to ruin things if you're going to resolder all of your earphones, it will make them different than they were. Type-C exists for a purpose. It means it's better in terms of data transmission and most likely that's the same with audio, the only difference with 3.5 and Type-C is that 3.5 is an analog input/output and Type-C is digital.
You just need to buy yourself a DAC that you would like to have and then use it daily. Then you can move on from that and decide what do you want next. 3.5mm jack shouldn't pop out easily, at least with my experience with some cheap Type-C converters, it doesn't happen.

TL;DR:

Buy yourself a DAC that you like. Buy yourself a phone that you would like that would have Type-C. Everything will be fine.

I think C Type is more for Data transfer but it will surely has bad impact on Audio Quality. Sound Quality of Analog is much better than Digital. Also, talking on phone using Connector/DAC would also be big concern. I don't think it will be as smooth and good like 3.5mm Jack. I have big collection of Earbuds with 3.5mm Jack and don't want to stop using it. Not too sure about the Dac. Also, currently I do not have phone with C Type Audio so not sure if I should buy one just for testing the DAC.Connector? Samsung S10/S10+ is the only option left as of now. Let's see.

Even if 3.5mm Plug does not pop up easily with the earbuds, I will still need to buy same number of DAC/Connector as number of earbuds I have. I am still no sure how and why they can remove 3.5mm Jack without any solid reason and why there is no case filed again them for doing this.

 

[superuser1]

I will still need to buy same number of DAC/Connector as number of earbuds I have

Three words: Don't do it!

 

[Mouseman]

I think C Type is more for Data transfer but it will surely has bad impact on Audio Quality. Sound Quality of Analog is much better than Digital. Also, talking on phone using Connector/DAC would also be big concern. I don't think it will be as smooth and good like 3.5mm Jack. I have big collection of Earbuds with 3.5mm Jack and don't want to stop using it. Not too sure about the Dac. Also, currently I do not have phone with C Type Audio so not sure if I should buy one just for testing the DAC.Connector? Samsung S10/S10+ is the only option left as of now. Let's see.

Even if 3.5mm Plug does not pop up easily with the earbuds, I will still need to buy same number of DAC/Connector as number of earbuds I have. I am still no sure how and why they can remove 3.5mm Jack without any solid reason and why there is no case filed again them for doing this.

So a couple of things - your phone and music are digital. It's getting changed back to analog at some point, whether in a separate DAC or a dongle or the one remaining phone that has a 3.5 jack. The manufacturers are taking that out to get thinner, more durable phones, by the way. They're not changing back, so we've all had to adapt.

Many/Most DACs have superior sound to the ones in the phones, so you're going to end up with better quality. You could also go wireless with a 5k or ES100 and avoid the jack altogether. And you only need one solution, at least to start. You certainly don't need a DAC for every set of ear buds or IEMs. So please put the soldering iron down.

 

[dgjl]

Out of curiosity anyone checked or read something about helm audio bolt?

Just been trying the Helm Bolt out. For context, I was comparing it to the LG G7 Quad DAC, using Westone W60 IEMs and streaming Qobuz FLAC and HiRes through UAPP. Across a range of genres (rock, folk, classical, jazz, etc.) the Helm Bolt was a disappointment. I don't have much of the jargon, but the sound on the Helm was consistently flatter, lower energy, less detailed and less musical, also lacked 'sweetness' and 'warmth'. The Helm sound was bright, loud on my IEMs, wide, clean and clear, but brash. Basically, as said, a disappointment - though no doubt a marginal improvement on standard phone DACs. IMO the Helm DAC doesn't compete well with the LG's Quad DAC and the Quad DAC isn't as good as the Dragonfly Cobalt which is my preferred DAC. As such, compared to the Dragonfly Cobalt the Helm is a non-starter (as you'd expect considering the price).

My ambition here was to find a low power DAC that's smaller and less battery draining than the Cobalt so I could move on from the LG, which is getting a bit dated, but that's going to take some more research - if it's even possible.

The Helm is going back to the shop...

 

[moskwiz]

I think C Type is more for Data transfer but it will surely has bad impact on Audio Quality.

I thought that too, but yeah then realized that listening to music on a smartphone means a DAC is involved anyway, and phone's built-in DAC's are mostly crap compared to even pretty cheap dongle-DAC's. I have a Oneplus 5 with a 3.5mm jack and been comparing it to a Type-C DAC.. there is no competition. My headphones sound astonishingly better on the DAC than on the phone's own 3.5mm.

There's a host of different ones available and many should also support mic passthrough and volume control. So it's actually a blessing in disguise =)

 

[cleg]

My video about DC03, in my opinion — one of the best price/quality offers in dongles world

 

[kkugel]

I think C Type is more for Data transfer but it will surely has bad impact on Audio Quality. Sound Quality of Analog is much better than Digital. Also, talking on phone using Connector/DAC would also be big concern. I don't think it will be as smooth and good like 3.5mm Jack. I have big collection of Earbuds with 3.5mm Jack and don't want to stop using it. Not too sure about the Dac. Also, currently I do not have phone with C Type Audio so not sure if I should buy one just for testing the DAC.Connector? Samsung S10/S10+ is the only option left as of now. Let's see.

Even if 3.5mm Plug does not pop up easily with the earbuds, I will still need to buy same number of DAC/Connector as number of earbuds I have. I am still no sure how and why they can remove 3.5mm Jack without any solid reason and why there is no case filed again them for doing this.

Man I think you don't understand portable audio at all, I recommend doing some reading on what DACs do and why the quality of cables or connectors for digital audio almost does not matter. Doesn't make sense to compare sound quality of analog vs digital since sound is always analog in some part of the chain.