[ian91]

I thought I would create a thread to discuss the Megatron from VE for those that have it already or for those looking for experiences of others with the product. I purchased it as the pre-orders went out at the price of $50. I believe Venture Electronics are dealing with a supply shortage currently. Indications are that this might ease towards the end of the year.

Specifications:
ESS Sabre ES9018K2
Custom Amp module
303mW@33Ω 4.7 Vrms
4.4mm & 2.5mm BAL, 3.5mm SE
3.5mm AUX LO

This 'mega-dongle' has a small form factor and a large power output and has been created with high impedance earbuds in mind but also does a great job driving low sensitivity IEMs / headphones. From my brief time with the Megatron it has a very organic, warm tone and great detail retreival. Technicalities are good but imaging is not as well rendered as with my most recent acquisition, the Cayin RU6. Battery life/power draw seems to be lasting between 5-6hours from my Samsung Note 9 (4000mAh), similar to the RU6, but at least with my device (and some people have encountered issues here) I am able to pass through charge either from the mains or a portable powerbank to keep the phone alive much longer on-the-go.

This drives my high impedance (150ohm / 300ohm) buds with ease. What was a welcome surprise is how it pairs with low sensitivity IEMs like the Final E range and my ER4B. The ER4B (I have a Chinese reproduction of this) having 1 BA typically produces a very coarse, incisive tone with a slightly quicker decay than I feel is natural on string instruments. The Megatron gives it a more natural decay without loss of detail. In terms of pairing because of this effect on overall tonality I would say this pairs exceptionally well with brighter or more neutral sets to provide a more analogue sound with softer edges. To have this power on the go in a small form factor really sits fills a niche that my DAP and RU6 struggled to.

With lower impedance sets less than about 60ohms or greater than about 95dB sensitivity you will quite easily encounter noise and/or have next to no room to play with the volume so bare that in mind.

For $50 (price is expected to rise in due course) this is proving to be one of the best purchases I've made especially being a lover of earbuds that have proved otherwise hard to drive on-the-go.

I'd also highly recommend checking out the review by @OspreyAndy of the Megatron compared to the other dongles on offer. This links to the Venture Electronic Facebook group so may not be visible to all. He does a great job of capturing the salient features of this device and how musical it is - hopefully he is happy to repost his review here at some point.

Look forward to hearing how people are getting on!

 

[OspreyAndy]

Thanks @ian91 for this thread. In case anyone would be interested to read my impressions on VE MEGATRON, it is also published publicly here on my site: https://andyaudiovault.com/ve-megatron/ since VE FB is not open to public.

 

[NotKunvinced]

Does anyone know why this won't work on my Pixel 6? It works perfectly on my old Motorola G10.

 

[ian91]

Does anyone know why this won't work on my Pixel 6? It works perfectly on my old Motorola G10.

What happens / does not happen when you plug it in? Are you using stock USB cable? What music player?

It might be worth reaching out to VE through the website messaging service to troubleshoot aswell.

 

[NotKunvinced]

What happens / does not happen when you plug it in? Are you using stock USB cable? What music player?

It might be worth reaching out to VE through the website messaging service to troubleshoot aswell.

Nothing happens, no sound and no green light to say there is power available.
It doesn't matter which app I use. I've tried Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube music and Pocketcasts even TuneIn radio. None of them play through the Megatron while connected to my Pixel 6, using the cable that came with the Megatron (nor with any other cable I tried!).

However, every app plays perfectly while using my old Motorola G10 and the same Megatron cable.

 

[ian91]

Nothing happens, no sound and no green light to say there is power available.
It doesn't matter which app I use. I've tried Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube music and Pocketcasts even TuneIn radio. None of them play through the Megatron while connected to my Pixel 6, using the cable that came with the Megatron (nor with any other cable I tried!).

However, every app plays perfectly while using my old Motorola G10 and the same Megatron cable

I'm not sure to be honest but it doesn't sound like the Megatron is at fault here. Rather the USB connection on the Pixel and/or Pixel software limitations on powerdraw.

 

[NotKunvinced]

I'm not sure to be honest but it doesn't sound like the Megatron is at fault here. Rather the USB connection on the Pixel and/or Pixel software limitations on powerdraw.

It does seem to be that the Pixel doesn't recognise the Megatron is connected at all.

 

[NotKunvinced]

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/ri7ibv/issues_with_usb_dacs_on_the_pixel_6_series_an/

The above would seem to add weight to the Pixel being at fault.

 

[paulwasabii]

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/ri7ibv/issues_with_usb_dacs_on_the_pixel_6_series_an/

The above would seem to add weight to the Pixel being at fault.

Pixel beta is rolling out now which fixes some USB DACs for some apps, but the official release will be in June

 

[Tano]

Had the chance of trying the Megatron with some top open back headphones and it sounded amazing. 50 for that is a proper steal. It can compete with dac/amps & DAPs that are 10+ the price.
Very smooth sound and natural sound with tons of power.
Ordered a unit for me. Will share more thoughts once it arrives.

 

[inscythe]

Just adding here. If you want to use Megatron with high sensitivity IEMs, you can just use impedance adapters as it doesn't come with gain controls (this is actually recommended by Lee in his Q&A about Megatron). I've been using it with 30Ω and 75Ω DUNU adapters and they lower the noise floor and I have wider volume range to play with.

On the other hand, I've been running Verum 1 and Hifiman Edition XS too with Megatron on balanced, very pleasant timbre and balance.

 

[baskingshark]

Just adding here. If you want to use Megatron with high sensitivity IEMs, you can just use impedance adapters as it doesn't come with gain controls (this is actually recommended by Lee in his Q&A about Megatron). I've been using it with 30Ω and 75Ω DUNU adapters and they lower the noise floor and I have wider volume range to play with.

I've been running Verum 1 and Hifiman Edition XS with Megatron, very pleasant timbre and balance.

Impedance adapters may change the frequency response unfortunately (other than some unique ones like IFI IEMatch). So that colours and skews the sound a bit, and addresses one issue but unfortunately adds another confounder.

 

[iFi audio]

Impedance adapters may change the frequency response unfortunately (other than some unique ones like IFI IEMatch). So that colours and skews the sound a bit, and addresses one issue but unfortunately adds another confounder.

That's correct. Here's a short info about how that goes and how our iEMatch differs:

https://ifi-audio.com/faqs/the-iematch-is-not-an-impedance-adapter/

Hope this helps, thanks!

 

[inscythe]

Impedance adapters may change the frequency response unfortunately (other than some unique ones like IFI IEMatch). So that colours and skews the sound a bit, and addresses one issue but unfortunately adds another confounder.

Yes, of course the impedance adapters have a possibility of changing the FR, but I'd still prefer that to the high noise floor and just 1-2 steps of volume to play with. Megatron itself isn't the most uncoloured amp around, so maintaining neutrality isn't my priority, just whether the final result is pleasing enough to my ears.

 

[firesign]

I have also ordered a unit, I want to try it with my Ananda.