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

[Blueshound24]

I like the most realistic sound the best and out of the many usb dacs people have recommended here I find the dacport hd to be quite easily the type of sound I'm looking for. It sounds quite emotional despite not having the thickest note weight but it's certainly a bit more fuller then some of the popular ones mentioned here. The detail and technicality are also preserved so I believe this is the best all around dac I have ever tried. It's just soo well balanced and I believe it is versatile enough for people with all kinds of needs aside from the ones looking for a very warm and thick sound. I personally prefer really thick and male vocal focused sound signatures but sometimes I find those type of sound signatures comprising too much on detail, clarity and speed so in the end I end up settling for the best middle ground which I believe sounds something like the centrance dacport for my tastes. Exceptional usb dac and am soo happy that I finally fixed it's useless usb port after having to go to many people to repair it. That's the biggest con I'd say a useless fragile port.

Does the dacport HD work as a standalone DAC as a source to a separate amplifier as well?

Edit for clarity.

 

[Nabillion_786]

Does the dacport HD work as a standalone DAC as a source to a separate amplifier as well?

Edit for clarity.

I haven't tried that yet

 

[OspreyAndy]

Does the dacport HD work as a standalone DAC as a source to a separate amplifier as well?

Edit for clarity.

Not a good idea to use DACport HD as a DAC AUX feed to other amps, you see, the beauty of DACport HD is the Class A amp, feeding it out to another amp will be double amping and can result in micro jitters especially if the receiving amp has a limit of 2 Vrms. I personally use something like Abigail, Avani or CX-Pro dongles to feed my amps, works perfectly fine for me

 

[polymathic]

Nope.... Did hear about it however and heard good things. How does it sound compared to any of the ones I mentioned?

I only listened to the Apple dongle among those. I'm thinking of getting a RU6 to compare. The Gold Bar has so much power, and the built in filters are interesting, giving the option to make things a little warmer. It also allows the introduction of a subtle cross-feed, which I use a lot for jazz from the 50s and 60s, where excessive channel separation places instruments in left or right channel only.

 

[Blueshound24]

Not a good idea to use DACport HD as a DAC AUX feed to other amps, you see, the beauty of DACport HD is the Class A amp, feeding it out to another amp will be double amping and can result in micro jitters especially if the receiving amp has a limit of 2 Vrms. I personally use something like Abigail, Avani or CX-Pro dongles to feed my amps, works perfectly fine for me

Is this the one you mentioned? "CX31993 CX-PRO DAC Headphone Amp"

Also, would the M15 work as a standalone DAC to a separate amplifier?

How about the Apple dongle?

What determines if said dongle would work or not?

TIA

 

[OspreyAndy]

Is this the one you mentioned? "CX31993 CX-PRO DAC Headphone Amp"

Also, would the M15 work as a standalone DAC to a separate amplifier?

How about the Apple dongle?

What determines if said dongle would work or not?

TIA

Yes, thats the one CX31993.

M15 of course will work as AUX feed as well, just run it on low gain mode, volume at 70/100. Apple dongle works as well, just don't use the exceedingly weak Euro model.

It is simple, the requirement for Line in for Amps are mostly clean feed at the highest possible threshold of sound, so you check the SNR rating of the said dongle and always pick the ones that offer the highest at over 110dB of SNR. That's why using lower powered dongles at around 1 Vrms will work great, or even 2 Vrms if they have clean enough SNR at max volume

 

[BigZ12]

The iKKO ITB03 is sounding good with usb-c --> lightning (iPhone 14 Pro Max).
But my God, the BT range with LDAC is atrocious

 

[Nabillion_786]

Not a good idea to use DACport HD as a DAC AUX feed to other amps, you see, the beauty of DACport HD is the Class A amp, feeding it out to another amp will be double amping and can result in micro jitters especially if the receiving amp has a limit of 2 Vrms. I personally use something like Abigail, Avani or CX-Pro dongles to feed my amps, works perfectly fine for me

I just got the lotoopaws2 but it does not work from my phone but only on the laptop any reason why? A big shame. It's supposed to work from a phone and all my other usb dacs work. The phone is also the latest Rog phone.

 

[OspreyAndy]

I just got the lotoopaws2 but it does not work from my phone but only on the laptop any reason why? A big shame. It's supposed to work from a phone and all my other usb dacs work. The phone is also the latest Rog phone.

On Android phones this issue is always related to OTG feature not activated properly. Just Google for your phone how to use developer mode to check for OTG

 

[Nabillion_786]

On Android phones this issue is always related to OTG feature not activated properly. Just Google for your phone how to use developer mode to check for OTG

Thanks for your response and btw my early impressions are from the pc it is not as good sounding compared to the dacport. Despite the dacport sounding slightly thinner it is more realistic and emotional which is soo beautiful to listen to. I am crying however since after I just repaired the broken micro usb port I ended up semi breaking it again. This is an ongoing saga of me trying to get this thing stable. If I go the professional route they would probably charge an arm and a leg and even then I am having troubles on finding a reputable person in the UK.

Btw am I supposed to update the firmware of the lotoopaws2 (if that even is a thing) to make it sound better? Because to be honest I'm not that impressed with it when compared to dacport or even cayin ru6. This one honestly is sounding bang average right now with masked details. Do you think it's an underpowering issue because for some reason I hear weird crinkling and then the sound stops sometimes. This is from my old laptop so you think that's the issue? Cayin and dacport were fine but this one and dragonfly red had a similar issue.

 

[BigZ12]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004996266223.html
Quite "insane" price for Fiio KA3?! Real?

 

[Ichos]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004996266223.html
Quite "insane" price for Fiio KA3?! Real?

The seller has 0% positive feedback.

 

[BigZ12]

The seller has 0% positive feedback.

Saw that now. Best to avoid

 

[OspreyAndy]

@Nabillion_786 Yes, updating the S2 is a must thing to do if you ask me. Another thing, as with anything audio, the synergy factor of partners attached to them determines if you will like it or not. Lotoo PAWs are still the smoothest sounding dongles and that is something that is highly appreciated as well, depending on the subjective preferences of the users

 

[AlexCBSN]

I just got the lotoopaws2 but it does not work from my phone but only on the laptop any reason why? A big shame. It's supposed to work from a phone and all my other usb dacs work. The phone is also the latest Rog phone.

It has happened to me as well. Solved either swapping the cable around (like literally using it backwards and or End to end swap) or else check the developer options as Andy says, the S2 cable works "backwards" for me