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

[Zachik]

Anyone tried ANY of the dongles with the Samsung Tab S6 by any chance?
Browsing through Ali Express on Black Friday, some cheap ones explicitly listed Samsung phones (and tablets?) as NOT compatible...
I am looking for 3.5mm SE, and power is not a concern as I am going to use it with IEMs and/or my Sennheiser HD380. Only concern is compatibility with Samsung Tab S6.

Thanks!

 

[alex5908]

Hello everybody,
I've received iBasso DC01 today and am having an ambiguous impression about it.
It's 40 percent more powerful than MEIZU DAC (non-PRO version) but drains almost the same amount of "juice" from my phone battery. In 3.5 hours it drained 17% of the battery charge which I consider to be very good. I use the phone with 5000mAh and in airplane mode.
The mids are crystal clear and the highs are natural and long sounding. The main problem for me is the base. It's fast and punchy and does not bleed onto other frequencies but not enough for me quantitatively as I am a bass-head.
It's just the first impression. I will compare it with Meizu DAC thoroughly using "back-to-back" method at the week-end. Besides I am going to compare the SQ of it with Vivo flagship music phone (XPlay6, which is second best after NEX) with ES9038Q2M on-board. Vivo NEX and XPlay 6 are considered to be the best music phones in Russia.

 

[janx]

Hi all,

Does anyone now know the difference between:

- Meizu Hifi DAC
and
- Meizu Pro Hifi DAC

The latter is being advertized as having an OPA amp, what is the first one using?
Anyone already compared the two?
Price difference is pretty big, 44$ vs 22$ (!)

Also, are there DACs in the range up to 50$ you would prefer over those two?

E.g.
- IBasso DC02 (AK 4490 DAC)
- Musiland MU2S (probably similar to Meizu concerning usage of similar DAC?)
- XDuoo Link (ESS 9118 DAC)
- Cubilux HC-1 (ESS 9118 DAC)

Regards!
Jan

 

[snip3r77]

How much is it drawing ?
Can you try on iPhone dongle ?
Thanks

 

[staticV3]

Hi all,

Does anyone now know the difference between:

- Meizu Hifi DAC
and
- Meizu Pro Hifi DAC

The latter is being advertized as having an OPA amp, what is the first one using?
Anyone already compared the two?
Price difference is pretty big, 44$ vs 22$ (!)

Also, are there DACs in the range up to 50$ you would prefer over those two?

E.g.
- IBasso DC02 (AK 4490 DAC)
- Musiland MU2S (probably similar to Meizu concerning usage of similar DAC?)
- XDuoo Link (ESS 9118 DAC)
- Cubilux HC-1 (ESS 9118 DAC)

Regards!
Jan

-Here's a technical comparison of the two:
https://www.0db.co.kr/index.php?mid=REVIEW_0DB&category=184&document_srl=1005449

-the Pro version fixes a bug whereas the DAC would cut out for a few ms a few times per song when playing raw, unresampled 44.1 kHz files.

-I'm pretty sure the only USB C DAC that beats the Meizu on a technical level is the 9038S/D but it is pretty impractical for mobile use and not at all made for sensitive IEMs.

 

[cleg]

And now xDuoo Link

 

[staticV3]

And now xDuoo Link

Its THD+N and SNR look pretty bad compared to the Meizu. Power is about equal but the hardware volume buttons are pretty nice I guess.

 

[cleg]

Its THD+N and SNR look pretty bad compared to the Meizu. Power is about equal but the hardware volume buttons are pretty nice I guess.

they have a pretty different signature, so I think that figures in specs are much less important than overall representation. moreover, THD and SNR differences of these dongles are far beyond the audible margin. crosstalk of Link isn't great, but still acceptable for this tier
I'm not trying to protect xDuoo Link, Meizu DAC is great, I just think that this figures aren't really important in this case

 

[staticV3]

they have a pretty different signature, so I think that figures in specs are much less important than overall representation. moreover, THD and SNR differences of these dongles are far beyond the audible margin. crosstalk of Link isn't great, but still acceptable for this tier
I'm not trying to protect xDuoo Link, Meizu DAC is great, I just think that this figures aren't really important in this case

True, there's only so much that can be objectified with measuring equipment.

 

[cleg]

True, there's only so much that can be objectified with measuring equipment.

I've heard so many so-so gears with perfect measurement, and some not so good measuring, but nice-sounding gear… Of course, measurements could be useful, but many people forget that measurements don't substitute listening.
Moreover, personally I think that many measuring figures are always beyond the audible limit, but people ofter overestimating that figures (e.g. SNR 110 won't be distinguishable from SNR 115)

 

[superuser1]

How much is it drawing ?
Can you try on iPhone dongle ?
Thanks

I apologise i dont have the iphone dongle.

 

[digititus]

I've heard so many so-so gears with perfect measurement, and some not so good measuring, but nice-sounding gear… Of course, measurements could be useful, but many people forget that measurements don't substitute listening.
Moreover, personally I think that many measuring figures are always beyond the audible limit, but people ofter overestimating that figures (e.g. SNR 110 won't be distinguishable from SNR 115)

The measurements tell you how competently engineered the products are. I personally put far more emphasis on this aspect than somebodies opinion on YouTube or HeadFi. No offense intended.

 

[cleg]

The measurements tell you how competently engineered the products are. I personally put far more emphasis on this aspect than somebodies opinion on YouTube or HeadFi. No offense intended.

It's a discussable question, I partially agree but partially don't. Anyway, I think it's an offtopic here, so I don't think it makes sense to flood more here

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

Hello everybody,
I've received iBasso DC01 today and am having an ambiguous impression about it.
It's 40 percent more powerful than MEIZU DAC (non-PRO version) but drains almost the same amount of "juice" from my phone battery. In 3.5 hours it drained 17% of the battery charge which I consider to be very good. I use the phone with 5000mAh and in airplane mode.
The mids are crystal clear and the highs are natural and long sounding. The main problem for me is the base. It's fast and punchy and does not bleed onto other frequencies but not enough for me quantitatively as I am a bass-head.
It's just the first impression. I will compare it with Meizu DAC thoroughly using "back-to-back" method at the week-end. Besides I am going to compare the SQ of it with Vivo flagship music phone (XPlay6, which is second best after NEX) with ES9038Q2M on-board. Vivo NEX and XPlay 6 are considered to be the best music phones in Russia.

Cool that you have received your DC01. So you can compare it to the Meizu then, that would be interesting.

I guess the power consumption of the DC01 is pretty good, I didn't do any audio listening on my new phone yet and it has an insane stand-by time of about three days, so anything compared to that seems like a massive power drain. That might also explain why the bass is less powerful, because it doesn't draw enough power. Have you compared the sound when you connect it to a PC? I've read somewhere that it sounds differently.
Last time I compared it to my X7/AM3D and that did seem to have more powerful bass, but I haven't thoroughly compared it yet.

 

[digititus]

It's a discussable question, I partially agree but partially don't. Anyway, I think it's an offtopic here, so I don't think it makes sense to flood more here

Hardly off topic, so I'd like to continue. Measurements are very relevant to the content of this thread, especially when some of these very cheap devices measure so well. Just because you think "that measurements don't substitute listening" doesn't make it fact. Most people will not get a chance to listen before they buy. Also, one reply is hardly a flood