[originalsnuffy]

Does anyone know of a better dongle than Apple's for around 100€? Important: It should be small and light, e.g. Shanling UA2+ (https://en.shanling.com/product/423). Or how do you rate Apple's dongle? I have an iPhone with a USB-C port.

I suggest buying the Apple dongle for $10 (or so) as step one. Then save up for the dongle you really want. Besides the Apple dongle I have a FIIO-Q3 MQA which has AKM chips and THX amplification. It sounds great but is bulky. It can be found cheap. My premier unit is the Cayin RU7. It runs a nice balance between smooth sound and detail. It is designed around DSD, which is groovy. Unfortunately right now DSD output from the iphone 15 is a bit messed up, but hopefully either Apple or the software vendors will come up with a fix.

 

[Polky74]

Simply the best DAC/DAP you can buy for 3k euros...

 

[Deckard001]

Simply the best DAC/DAP you can buy for 3k euros...

So Colorfly M1P or DC04 PRO for hd600 and k701 over ear? Still confused what to choose..!or something else? Or again a more stable dac/amp solution.

I need your personal and only personal opinion or anyone else that has both!

I do not want to exceed the price limit of 100 euro.

Thank you and very mice collection really!

 

[originalsnuffy]

So Colorfly M1P or DC04 PRO for hd600 and k701 over ear? Still confused what to choose..!or something else? Or again a more stable dac/amp solution.

I need your personal and only personal opinion or anyone else that has both!

I do not want to exceed the price limit of 100 euro.

Thank you and very mice collection really!

I would suggest more information from you so others can help out. Android or IOS? Do you want the unit to have a battery inside it or not? Do you have opinions on ESS vs Cirrus vs R2R (and other exotic choices).

 

[BX700]

Would either of those drive the identified headphones? Fiio KA13 has possibly the highest output in a small form factor, same chips as the DC04. Not many with AKM chips like the Colorfly, but this Kuang Pai bottom left of pic. make both a dual AK4493SEQ dongle and a high output dongle.

 

[Deckard001]

So Colorfly M1P or DC04 PRO for hd600 and k701 over ear? Still confused what to choose..!or something else? Or again a more stable dac/amp solution.

I need your personal and only personal opinion or anyone else that has both!

I do not want to exceed the price limit of 100 euro.

Thank you and very mice collection really!

I would suggest more information from you so others can help out. Android or IOS? Do you want the unit to have a battery inside it or not? Do you have opinions on ESS vs Cirrus vs R2R (and other exotic choices).

Hello, Android and Windows devices.

The only choice of battery that I wanted to have is mojo 2 but the price is too high for my budget.
So I was looking long now if there is any portable dongle solution not so pricey so as to match the good sound that many describe about Mojo 2.

I only have a ifi Go Link and I am thinking of an upgrade. But I am looking for something portable with max dimensions these of Mojo.

My previous set up was an arcam rdac and Heed Canamp so as to drive my HD600 and K701. But I do not want the Dac/Amp of my desk to be connected to Charger and take so much space.

So I was looking for a portable solution and if I needed more power I was thinking of connecting the dongle to my external amp as I read that is possible to do with an rca cable.

That's my story! No preference about chip option as I see that the implementation has to do more than a chip in the circuit.

Thanks for all

 

[BX700]

So you're wondering if there's a single device out there that will meet your criteria (high power, smallish, decent SQ, under100 Euros). That should be simple - there'll only be a few to choose from. Of course if you're going to use a separate amp then you can choose any dongle/device whatsoever.

Powerful dongles and cheap portable DAC/AMPs.

Most powerful dongles I can think of are the Fiio KA13 and the Penon Tail, others will know better.

 

[baskingshark]

So you're wondering if there's a single device out there that will meet your criteria (high power, smallish, decent SQ, under100 Euros). That should be simple - there'll only be a few to choose from. Of course if you're going to use a separate amp then you can choose any dongle/device whatsoever.

Powerful dongles and cheap portable DAC/AMPs.

Most powerful dongles I can think of are the Fiio KA13 and the Penon Tail, others will know better.

Apparently there's an upcoming Fiio KA17 which has 650 mW output on its desktop mode (more than the 550 mW of the KA13).

Retailing at $149 USD according to this article. https://www.ecoustics.com/.../fiio-ka17-k9-pro-skylight.../

Has parametric EQ apparently.


Specs:
- Dual flagship ESS ES9069Q DACs
- THX AAA 78+ amplification
- XMOS XU316 USB SoC
- Supports 32-bit/768kHz, MQA, native DSD512 Hi-Res audio files
- 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm ports
- High and low gain options
- 8 DAC Filters
- SPDIF Output
- Parametric EQ

 

[BX700]

It's like "where's the catch?". Eclipses all the conventional dongles: spec, features, price.

 

[Deckard001]

Really seams the almost ideal dongle especially as it had parametric eq. But a core issue is how it sounds compared to other dongles of the category.

 

[BX700]

Apparently it sounds a touch warmer than you might expect from a Fiio/ESS dongle. Someone heard it (link). The only possible question I had was the experiences some people had with the Shanling UA4: the noise floor, which someone attributed to the ES9069Q2M chip. Not really concerned though: different company, different configuration, and they haven't released it yet - could fix issues.

 

[baskingshark]

It's like "where's the catch?". Eclipses all the conventional dongles: spec, features, price.

I suspect the power draw will be tremendously high on the KA17. If you are using desktop mode with a phone, it will likely burn the battery rapidly. Can't cheat physics after all, the power has to come from somewhere.

 

[sodesuka]

probably relatively high output impedance like ka13

 

[marekm]

I suspect the power draw will be tremendously high on the KA17

Hence the additional "Power In" USB-C socket

A power-bank should be bundled with this dongle

 

[Ichos]

I suspect the power draw will be tremendously high on the KA17. If you are using desktop mode with a phone, it will likely burn the battery rapidly. Can't cheat physics after all, the power has to come from somewhere.

In order to use the desktop mode, you have to enable it from the corresponding switch and then connect a separate power adapter to the extra USB type C input. In such working condition the KA17 will not draw extra power from the phone. Otherwise it is like a regular USB DAC dongle.

I have one for testing but it is too early.