[Insider K]

The AP10 I ordered off Ali came in pretty good time. However, the AP7 I also ordered has been "shipped" but not really, 20 days later.

What shop did you order from and how long ago?

 

[pevinkarker]

what black friday price did you got on tanchjim space ?

I bought them before the black friday sale but you can find them on sale now at hifigo for example.

 

[amanieux]

I bought them before the black friday sale but you can find them on sale now at hifigo for example.

tanchjim space seems very small, is it much shorter than the other dongle dac of this caliber ? do you know how it compares for sound quality with moondrop dawn 4.4mm ? thanks

 

[pevinkarker]

tanchjim space seems very small, is it much shorter than the other dongle dac of this caliber ? do you know how it compares for sound quality with moondrop dawn 4.4mm ? thanks

No, sorry. It was a blind buy.

 

[jwong]

What shop did you order from and how long ago?

Bought the AP10 from CKLewis on Nov 4. Same day I bought the AP7 from Cool Electric Audio Store (how could I have gone wrong with a name like that?).

 

[Liberte]

The JM04Pro sounds pretty nice, thanks for the recommendation. I'm not confident in the cable life but it's nice and supple, as a $10 tide me over until the TC35B is replaced it does the job.

I just wanted to add while this dongle sounds good and fits tightly in the USB port, it disconnects from my S20 phone while walking around quite a lot. I think the TC35 is better as there's less weight hanging down on the USB connection without a cable attached. I'll be sticking to non-wired DACs for on the go in the future like the TC35 and the JCally adapters.

 

[moskwiz]

This is a little offtopic but what do you guys think is the best available dongle- or otherwise small MQA-enabled DACamp that has both SE and 4.4 bal outputs?

 

[baskingshark]

This is a little offtopic but what do you guys think is the best available dongle- or otherwise small MQA-enabled DACamp that has both SE and 4.4 bal outputs?

Questyle M15

 

[Brain Damage]

Any one come across this online - the Zorloo ZuperDAC Max:

https://www.zorloo.com/zuperdac-pro...IBi1QlOcB0jTQ3fHKzj-yRDHIDoxq_xUaAi7bEALw_wcB

Looks interesting. I signed up for the early bird offer back in 2019 for the Ztella MQA, which is still a decent dongle. For that reason, I am intrigued.

 

[amanieux]

Hello people, I'm looking for a way to remove the noise that comes from the electrical grounding issue of my laptop. I use IEMs which are made of metal so they can conduct electricity. When I touch my laptop, the noise goes away. Someone told me that the 10$ Apple Dongle will be enough to remove this issue, is this true?

apple dongle or even balanced output will not solve that.

if your source ac plug only has 2 pin (no ground pin), put a wire on the chassis of your source (or the ground part of a usb plug for example and connect the wire to any plumbing or water radiator it will remove the hum,

or put some scoth tape or paint with vanish the metal part of the iem that is in contact with the skin of your ear (the idea is to isolate from electric conduction).

or if your source ac plug has a ground pin (3 pins total) , plug it a 3 pin ac wall plug (most old houses only have 2 pin ac wall plugs) or connect the ground pin of the ac plug of your source to plumbing or radiator

 

[amanieux]

Greetings.

I am looking for a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle for connecting my PC to speakers (Edifier R1280DBs). I have come down to this due to my PC having no 3.5mm ports or optical ports, and my DAC doesn't have a line out.

It will go like this.
PC > USB-C to 3.5mm dongle > 3.5mm to RCA cable > R1280DBs active speakers

May I ask if this is a good idea?

Regarding the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm Dongle, I might not be able to get my hands on the US variant. Would that be a concern with my usage? What else should I be considering?

I am willing to spend up to $60. Please leave suggestions. Thank you!

no need to have the USA variant of apple dongle if you plug it in a PC, the EU law only oblige the dac to limit voltage on mobile device and i confirm that volume is double on my EU version apple dongle connected to my macbook vs connected to my smartphone. i also use my dongle dac to connect my laptop to speaker but to minimize noise level on the speaker amp you'll have to manually set the volume for apple dongle (or any dac for that matter) as high as possible (around 80% for a 1v dac) to get as close as possible to consumer grade line in level : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level but not too high otherwise it will saturate the amp. if you want to use a android phone with a EU apple dongle it will not have enough voltage for your amp to do a clean job unless you use a bit direct mode on a audio android apps such as UAPP (which can be a pain in the ass to use) otherwise get a $10 dongle that can deliver more voltage on android such as this one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001252710276.html , i would not recommend a $5 abigail from notbyVE as mine had shielding issue)

 

[moskwiz]

Any one come across this online - the Zorloo ZuperDAC Max:

https://www.zorloo.com/zuperdac-pro...IBi1QlOcB0jTQ3fHKzj-yRDHIDoxq_xUaAi7bEALw_wcB

Looks interesting. I signed up for the early bird offer back in 2019 for the Ztella MQA, which is still a decent dongle. For that reason, I am intrigued.

Yeah I was also looking at it when it hit indiegogo a week ago. Seems decent on paper. I also have the Ztella MQA which has served me very well (still is), but got me thinking if there are any other 3.5+4.4bal options out there that would be a better overall package (see 2 posts above).. or better designed and something a bit more

 

[amanieux]

just bought jcally ap10 for $40 based on this review ( https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/jcally-ap10.26174/reviews#review-29566 ) saying it was comparable in sound quality and features to xDuoo Link2 BAL

i have 3 questions for you guys :
1/ output power ?
could not find the output power@32 ohms of ap10. has someone got his information ? ( i saw a photo in chinese saying 101mw@32 on 4.4 bal but it seems not very reliable)
2/ sound quality vs dawn ?
my undertanding is that ap10 sound quality was inferior to moondrop dawn 4.4 but i have no idea if it just below or really a lot below in sound quality ? any one have heard both ?
3/ photo of the inside ?
finally i could not find any photo of the PCB board inside ap10. has someone seen it somewhere or is one of the owner brave enough to unscrew the 4 phillips screws and share a photo ?

thanks

 

[Jay Ros]

Hi everyone...

I'm looking for something for the iPhone, to use with Dunu Titan S and Audio Technica MSR7. Around the price of the Moondrop Dawn 3.5mm (right now is around $55USD black friday price).

Not much a fan of very "bright" or "analytical" or "reference" sound. More interested on something warm, bassy, fun.

For what I've read here, the Xduoo Link2 Bal is what I'm looking for, specially for the way some reviews describe its soundstage and imaging. But for the price of the Xduoo Link2 Bal (around $123USD BF price), I'd rather go for the FiiO BTR5 2021 (around $105USD BF price), since sometimes Bluetooth could be useful. I think those $100USD would be my top limit if the DAC is really outstanding. Or is it the Moondrop Dawn 3.5 enough for me?

Thanks!

 

[Brain Damage]

I have the Cayin RU6, which is my end game at the moment with regards to dongle USB dacs. That's the biggest reason I am not taking a plunge at any other options; however, I do like Zorloo and thought I'd share their latest development. Glad to hear the Ztella MQA has served you well too.

PS: I cannot praise the RU6 enough:
- build quality is top quality
- sq is detailed and expansive, yet without the clinical tonality that most ESS dac/amps
- analogue sounding and terrific in terms of musicality: music is not that sterile way often witnessed during digital processing (from most implementations of ESS dac chips).