[wyrdnemesis]

normally you'll have to wait till 31st if you order these 2 days

Ordered an iBasso DC01 from Penon Audio a few days ago - should have realized that shipping would be delayed with 10-12 days due to the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. Had to cancel and reorder from Amazon. Bummer...
Been listening to plenty of music with Ztella MQA recently and it's been an enjoyable experience. I'll withhold judgement until I get the iBasso, but so far, so good - Ztella seems like a very capable addition to the dongle DAC family...

 

[noobandroid]

just tried with kinera tyr which has built in mic, it works with the note 10+ and boy is the mic loud

my guess is in line mic without volume buttons will work, cause tyr is single button cabled iem

 

[malfario]

I received my Ztella a few days ago and I must say these sound really good paired with my Blons 03.
I was at first decided to get the Atom Pro from Audirect given its lower price tag, but I finally went with the Ztella albeit being more expensive given its form factor and confirmed compatibility with Pocophone F1 (I never got my E1DA 9038s to work with this phone, so compatibility was a real concern for me).
The power draw is minimal from my phone, and the DAC gets just a tad warm to the touch.
I'm yet to get some MQA records to see for myself if the technology makes a real difference from hi-res FLAC, but so far I've been really happy with this little but powerful DAC.

 

[malfario]

Oh, I forgot to thank everyone in this thread for your great input on this device. Cheers!

 

[noobandroid]

this couple days I've been pushing the ztella to the thermal limit day in day out, mqa all hours of the day, seems to hold but does get some stutter once the heat gets on a couple hours

 

[wyrdnemesis]

I got the iBasso DC01 today and have been listening for some time (streaming from Tidal and Qobuz, as well as playing hi-res files from my personal collection). I've been curious to compare the iBasso with the Ztella MQA, given the different chips that they employ (AK 4493 for the iBasso and ESS Sabre 9281 for the Ztella) and consider the different audio textures. Tested the DACs with a pair of QT2 and **** earphones on an Android 10 device (PIxel 3a XL) and on an iPad. I expected that the Ztella would hold a slight edge, but surprisingly (or maybe not), the iBasso came out as the stronger contender. The clarity, instrument separation, and sound detail and depth felt more natural to me and simply better (for lack of a more precise technical term) with the iBasso. The Ztella MQA adds some 3D imaging of sorts to a wide soundstage and the instrumentation feels slightly colored towards a light echo at times. The iBasso also has a wide soundstage with well-defined vocals that come to the front, unlike Ztella which tends to recede vocals a bit (something that I do not like particularly). Both DACs get quite warm after some time with the iBasso being the warmer. I read in a few places here and elsewhere that the iBasso might have issues with UAPP, but this has not been my experience - it works well with UAPP and with Android audio players like Poweramp. No compatibility issues to report for either device on the iPad OS. Both drive low impedance IEMs competently. I seem to prefer them both to my other portable DAC - an AudioQuest DragonFly Black 1.5. The iBasso is the most affordable of the three and, a bit surprisingly, is the best of this lot, in my opinion.

In terms of MQA playback, I still seem to find the iBasso rendering a more natural and more appealing sound in comparison to the Ztella MQA, even though Ztella is the one that fully unfolds the MQA. Could be just me, but I think I've found my favorite ultra-portable DAC solution with the iBasso DC01. The Ztella MQA comes in second, as I prefer it over the DragonFly.

 

[janx]

It is interesting that so many people hear some echo with the Ztella. Am wondering if someone could measure that? Maybe they added some additional echo on purpose? I was actually even thinking whether they artificially increased the stereo effect to widen the soundstage. It is so strong that it is nearly unbelievable that it is part of the source material. Don't get me wrong. I like the sound. But for me it is hard to believe that all other dac/amps are so incapable to create such a soundstage.

 

[TimeSnow]

It is interesting that so many people hear some echo with the Ztella. Am wondering if someone could measure that? Maybe they added some additional echo on purpose? I was actually even thinking whether they artificially increased the stereo effect to widen the soundstage. It is so strong that it is nearly unbelievable that it is part of the source material. Don't get me wrong. I like the sound. But for me it is hard to believe that all other dac/amps are so incapable to create such a soundstage.

I definitely wouldn't label it 'echo' but I also think there's something going on to artificially increase that out of head thing. Which I also like.

 

[noobandroid]

to me idgaf, just as long as its entertaining to long hour sessions, i dont care them technicalities

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

I definitely wouldn't label it 'echo' but I also think there's something going on to artificially increase that out of head thing. Which I also like.

My experience is that as the audio quality of a source or ear/headphones increases, the audio starts to sound more three dimensional, probably because the positional audio queues in the source material are better preserved. I don't have the impression that the Ztella is adding anything artificial here, that would also go against the audiophile idea of it. This should be easy to check though, with just some dry audio clips.

 

[fgribas]

My guess for the "echo" is the default oversampling filter used by the Ztella, as well as the MQA filters used on MQA albuns.

Different filters have different amounts of pre-ringing and post-ringing. This can produce "echo", or "reverb" effect.

All the DACs we know (unless the specific NOS DACs, which stands for 'non-oversampling DAC') internally oversamples everything lower than the max rate to its max rate. If we listen to a 192k song on a Ztella, it internally oversamples to 384 before hitting the analog circuit. And the processing power of such a small device is very very low, if we comparte to the processing power of a modern Intel PC for example.

A fair comparison between DACs should be using a good software + good hardware for oversampling. Like a PC with HQPlayer, which is my case. When you send data to the DAC at its max rate, you can skip the internal oversampling, and you choose which filter you like. HQPlayer for example has something like 30 different filters.

And each person prefer a different sound. There are filters with lots of pre-ringing, some pre-ringing and no pre-ringing at all. If I'm not wrong the MQA filters have no pre-ringing at all, which I find out a little artificial, and I personally like some amount of pre-ringing.

OK but we are talking about a mobile device, so it shouldn't require a large computer to make it sounding good. But that's the way it is. Good oversampling comes at a cost: processing power. The default oversampling filters on a portable DAC (and even on UAPP using a limited smartphone processor) will never be as good as on a dedicated and large equipment. But they can be quite good. And they are, indeed. People are loving the current mini DACs.

Each vendor may choose a filter that some like and some dislike. The ESS chip already has some filters embedded that the DAC controller may choose to use. And by the way, that's how a DAC is certified as "MQA renderer". The data stream has a flag that indicates which filter to use. On the first MQA renderer DACs (like Dragonfly Red which I also have), the USB controller chip was responsible for this task. Now it's embedded on the ESS chip.

And just for information: on my PC when I listen to MQA content, I prefer the software first unfold (which in fact doubles the data rate) + my personal filter option on HQPlayer instead of the MQA filter. On mobile, however, the full MQA chain (including MQA filter) is quite pleasuring to hear, given there's no better option for a better oversampling.

 

[vanhalen26]

Great reviews. I was going to pick up a Dragonfly red or maybe even the new cobalt, but irrespective of price it sounds like many feel this is superior and I’m reconsidering. Anyone else do any comparisons to the Dragonfly?

I have three main go to headphones and a headphone amp but no DAC. I now have tidal and have been looking at DACs.

For a UE 18 IEM, would I get any additional benefit if I used my amp with the Ztella? I have the Tomahawk which is great quality and really small. To my ears the amp improves Tidal when playing out of my iPhone.

I also have a HD650 and HD800. For those I’d assume pairing the Ztella with an amp is almost a must do.

When I read about the Dragonfly, reviews said it did not do a complete unfold of the MQA files. The technical aspect was over my head, but I’m wondering if the Ztella does a complete or partial unfold.

Finally - just repeating a question from a page or two back? Was there a discount for new customers or does anyone have an extra discount code they could PM?

Thanks for any help on my questions!

 

[janx]

I also have a HD650 and HD800. For those I’d assume pairing the Ztella with an amp is almost a must do.

Thanks for any help on my questions!

HD650 works well with the Ztella alone already

 

[TimeSnow]

Great reviews. I was going to pick up a Dragonfly red or maybe even the new cobalt, but irrespective of price it sounds like many feel this is superior and I’m reconsidering. Anyone else do any comparisons to the Dragonfly?

I have three main go to headphones and a headphone amp but no DAC. I now have tidal and have been looking at DACs.

For a UE 18 IEM, would I get any additional benefit if I used my amp with the Ztella? I have the Tomahawk which is great quality and really small. To my ears the amp improves Tidal when playing out of my iPhone.

I also have a HD650 and HD800. For those I’d assume pairing the Ztella with an amp is almost a must do.

When I read about the Dragonfly, reviews said it did not do a complete unfold of the MQA files. The technical aspect was over my head, but I’m wondering if the Ztella does a complete or partial unfold.

Finally - just repeating a question from a page or two back? Was there a discount for new customers or does anyone have an extra discount code they could PM?

Thanks for any help on my questions!

Far superior to the Red. Makes the Red seem very old... In a bag way.

 

[yatbond]

Great reviews. I was going to pick up a Dragonfly red or maybe even the new cobalt, but irrespective of price it sounds like many feel this is superior and I’m reconsidering. Anyone else do any comparisons to the Dragonfly?

I have three main go to headphones and a headphone amp but no DAC. I now have tidal and have been looking at DACs.

For a UE 18 IEM, would I get any additional benefit if I used my amp with the Ztella? I have the Tomahawk which is great quality and really small. To my ears the amp improves Tidal when playing out of my iPhone.

I also have a HD650 and HD800. For those I’d assume pairing the Ztella with an amp is almost a must do.

When I read about the Dragonfly, reviews said it did not do a complete unfold of the MQA files. The technical aspect was over my head, but I’m wondering if the Ztella does a complete or partial unfold.

Finally - just repeating a question from a page or two back? Was there a discount for new customers or does anyone have an extra discount code they could PM?

Thanks for any help on my questions!

I have HD800. I don't think you will be happy with the result. I have to push volume all the way to max.