USB-C to 3.5mm adapters (DAC) - Let's find the best

[khtd]

Only issue I see on the Qudelix is not that easy to get one, it's not available on Ali or Amazon, at least not here in Mexico City.

It can be bought directly from Qudelix's site - shipping costs for most of the world are 20$. The main disadvantage from buying directly from their site is that they use FedEx for shipping, and FedEx's services incur all kinds of additional fees beyond those required by destination's laws (taxes & import fees) - and those special fees are usually higher than the combined sum of all taxes, import fees & shipping costs paid to Qudelix. The other alternative is to use parcel forwarding services that provide virtual US addresses - this will make it possible to buy on Amazon, and can cost less than the first option.

 

[GiRA]

DC04Pro will run the stock settings which is at Filter No.1 and Turbo mode always switched on. Sad that you can not control it on the hardware itself, imagine having control and setting it to NOS or other profiles while using this power through desktop use only. Sad that they do not gives us these futures from iBasso side.

 

[Matias]

Only issue I see on the Qudelix is not that easy to get one, it's not available on Ali or Amazon, at least not here in Mexico City.

Why don't you buy directly from them?
https://www.qudelix.com/products/qudelix-5k-dac-amp

 

[lushmelody]

Any dongle dac that has microphone support?

CX31993

 

[dgjl]

DC04Pro will run the stock settings which is at Filter No.1 and Turbo mode always switched on. Sad that you can not control it on the hardware itself, imagine having control and setting it to NOS or other profiles while using this power through desktop use only. Sad that they do not gives us these futures from iBasso side.

That is annoying, but it's such a good DAC (the best I've heard, including those often considered the best by Cayin, L&P and Lotoo, which can be over twice the price) that even without the access to filters it's well worth it. And if you are on Apple, you don't have the disastrous Android SRC issue to deal with (UAPP not withstanding), which outweighs anything a filter can make up for.

 

[Lumiyi]

Asked iBasso by email if they plan on releasing the UAC app for iOS and MacOS, or if there's any restriction related to that, and they responded with:

Hello,

iOS APPs do not support HID or USB OTG devices. So, it is impossible to have an UAC APP for iOS.

Sincerely
iBasso Audio

 

[rocketron]

Asked iBasso by email if they plan on releasing the UAC app for iOS and MacOS, or if there's any restriction related to that, and they responded with:

Wonder if you changed the filters on a Android phone would the Ibasso store it for use on a iPhone?

 

[Ichos]

Wonder if you changed the filters on a Android phone would the Ibasso store it for use on a iPhone?

No, the filter selection etc are stored in the host device that runs the UAC application.
The DC03/04 Pro must be connected with the UAC always running in order to use your selections.
Otherwise it will default to the digital filter 1 and high gain.

 

[rocketron]

No, the filter selection etc are stored in the host device that runs the UAC application.
The DC03/04 Pro must be connected with the UAC always running in order to use your selections.
Otherwise it will default to the digital filter 1 and high gain.

Thank you.

 

[GiRA]

Why would iBASSO pick Filter 1 over NOS as default if they do not support hardware change on all devices. Really weird business or decision to make.

 

[dumpsterfire]

Why would iBASSO pick Filter 1 over NOS as default if they do not support hardware change on all devices. Really weird business or decision to make.

Why would they pick NOS?? Most DACs on the market over sample with no NOS option whatsoever, and as far as I know D/S chips can’t do true NOS anyway because they have to convert the signal to 1-bit for processing. Filter 1 is linear fast, which is likely to be the most pleasing for the most amount of people. A NOS emulator filter would not be most people’s preferred choice.

 

[Jay Ros]

Asked iBasso by email if they plan on releasing the UAC app for iOS and MacOS, or if there's any restriction related to that, and they responded with:
Hello,

iOS APPs do not support HID or USB OTG devices. So, it is impossible to have an UAC APP for iOS.

Sincerely
iBasso Audio

I'd love to know how FiIO and Qudelix have working apps for their devices on iOS then. The Qudelix app even works when the device is connected as a USB DAC, not only with bluetooth, so for me the word "impossible" is just an excuse.

Not to mention that Qudelix has an app working on Windows. What's the excuse from iBasso to not have an app on Windows?

Why would iBASSO pick Filter 1 over NOS as default if they do not support hardware change on all devices. Really weird business or decision to make.

No, the filter selection etc are stored in the host device that runs the UAC application.
The DC03/04 Pro must be connected with the UAC always running in order to use your selections.
Otherwise it will default to the digital filter 1 and high gain.

iBasso could implement what Hidizs did with the S3 Pro, three different firmwares so the final user can choose the sound signature they want without the need of an app. We just need to connect the DAC to a Windows laptop, install the firmware into the DAC and that's it.

So, for me iBasso is just being lazy or cheap by not wanting to invest in apps. If there is a real software engineer reading my rant, let me know if I'm wrong, and it's actually impossible to implement an app on iOS and Windows the way Qudelix did, and it's impossible to implement different firmware versions the way Hidizs did.


The DC03 Pro might be really good, but I'm not buying iBasso again since they clearly are not delivering a complete experience for laptop and iphone users.

 

[dumpsterfire]

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. DC03 Pro sounds wonderful, and by all accounts DC04 Pro is even better. Never once while using the DC03 Pro did I think to myself “Man, I really wish I could switch filters or change the gain on this.” It’s really not an issue. I’ve had the iBasso DX320 and DX240 DAPs and they do allow filter switching. I switched through each filter once then landed back on linear fast for both. I’m sure if I had the 170, which uses the exact same DAC chips as the DC03/04 Pros, I’d stick with filter 1 anyway.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Asked iBasso by email if they plan on releasing the UAC app for iOS and MacOS, or if there's any restriction related to that, and they responded with:

Hmmm.....all of my IOS dongles use OTG cables.

 

[Ichos]

Why would they pick NOS?? Most DACs on the market over sample with no NOS option whatsoever, and as far as I know D/S chips can’t do true NOS anyway because they have to convert the signal to 1-bit for processing. Filter 1 is linear fast, which is likely to be the most pleasing for the most amount of people. A NOS emulator filter would not be most people’s preferred choice.

Excaltly, a D/S DAC chip can't be real NOS.
In D/S DACs the NOS is yet another filter, wether it sounds more natural and with less ringing is up to the user to decide.
On the CS43131 I prefer the NOS over the other filters, for classical music that is.