Review: Apple vs Google USB-C Headphone Adapters

[SiW]

I can confirm that this Apple dongle will not work with Onkyo HF player.
But my Sony Xperia XZ premium can recognize it, not bit perfect tho.

Assume this is on Android?

 

[wiggum]

I have just bought a DAP again. My Sony smartphone won't last forever and I am resigned to the fact that when it needs to be replaced whatever comes next probably won't have a headphone jack. My work issue IPhone 8 has a dongle and it's a pain in the backside. I had an old Pioneer DAP but when I dusted it off and charged it up the screen had died. I saw a dealer off loading the Shanling m3s and bought one. Very nicely made, compact device and the volume goes way higher than my Sony smartphone. However its a bit of a backwards step really.

If your Sony smartphone was built in the last few years(with Qnova battery management), it should last for the next few years assuming there is no physical damage.

 

[tomli747]

Assume this is on Android?

Yes

 

[andreasmaaan]

Can this be made to work with a PC?

 

[amirm]

Can this be made to work with a PC?

Of course. THat is how I tested it.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Of course. THat is how I tested it.

I see! So you just used a usb adaptor directly from the laptop’s USB port to the dongle? And it worked with ASIO4ALL as the driver?

 

[amirm]

I see! So you just used a usb adaptor directly from the laptop’s USB port to the dongle? And it worked with ASIO4ALL as the driver?

Correct.

 

[yue]

The sound was OK but bass is week and dynamic range just not there. Here my reference is more powerful desktop and battery operated portables.

This is weird. On the measurement graph it does not clip throughout for 300 ohm, thus the greater the volume the better thd+n you have. I don’t understand what you mean by “the dynamic range is not there”. Also, I don’t understand why people complain about weak bass if the power is not sufficient— high and normal frequency waves consume much more power than low frequency waves do at same amplitude. If power is not sufficient, mid or high are the first to suffer, rather than bass.

 

[andreasmaaan]

This is weird. On the measurement graph it does not clip throughout for 300 ohm, thus the greater the volume the better thd+n you have. I don’t understand what you mean by “the dynamic range is not there”. Also, I don’t understand why people complain about weak bass if the power is not sufficient— high and normal frequency waves consume much more power than low frequency waves do at same amplitude. If power is not sufficient, mid or high are the first to suffer, rather than bass.

Most music contains much more bass than mids or treble, i.e. the power levels required at low frequencies are far higher for music.

 

[yue]

Most music contains much more bass than mids or treble, i.e. the power levels required at low frequencies are far higher for music.

You need 10x more bass amplitude to make it more powerful than a 10x higher frequency wave, based on kinetic energy of the wave equation.

Thus when talking about bass, a 100hz wave needs to have 10x the amplitude to make it more powerful than a 1000hz wave.

Also, human ear is more sensitive to the power of a 1000hz wave. So audibly that bass needs even higher amplitude to compete!

Music with that much bass seems a disaster to me. I never see music with that much bass

 

[dc655321]

Music with that much bass seems a disaster to me. I never see music with that much bass

While I would not presume to argue with the physics (how could I?), I would be curious to know what music you listen to that does not follow an generally "pink noise" profile (i.e. 1/f envelope).

Here's the spectra of some tracks from my library (from least to most bass-heavy). IMO, none of these are disasters :

The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings

Tool - H.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Fact 67

 

[andreasmaaan]

You need 10x more bass amplitude to make it more powerful than a 10x higher frequency wave, based on kinetic energy of the wave equation.

Thus when talking about bass, a 100hz wave needs to have 10x the amplitude to make it more powerful than a 1000hz wave.

Also, human ear is more sensitive to the power of a 1000hz wave. So audibly that bass needs even higher amplitude to compete!

Music with that much bass seems a disaster to me. I never see music with that much bass

An amplifier isn’t interested in kinetic energy.

If the bass is 3dB higher in amplitude than the mids/treble, it requires twice the amplifier power.

If (as is more typically the case in music) it is 10 to 30dB higher in amplitude, it requires at least ten times the amplifier power.

The graphs @dc655321 posted give a good picture of this.

 

[andreasmaaan]

@yue the thing is, when the power is insufficient for the desired listening level, distortion is the result.

So distortion and what you describe as insufficient listening level are really the same thing.

But yes to your first question: if the device can produce enough power at your loudest desired listening level, there’s no need for an additional amp

 

[andreasmaaan]

That’s one way to look at it, yeh. Although with the exception of some tube designs, most devices clip very fast and hard when pushed over the limit, so the line between your case A and your case B is going to be extremely thin.

 

[peder2tm]

I agree with yue's question. As you can see from the THD+N vs power plot the dongle does not clip at max volume, but amir still mentions that "the bass is weak". If there was no bass at maximum volume I guess we should see this on the THD+N plot as well?
The only explanation I can come up with is that the THD+N changes dramatically when tested with a real load (rather than the dummy 300 Ohm resistor) at max volume.

 

[Graph Feppar]

Somebody please measure the phase!

I just read the Archimago article and he found out Apple uses mimimum phase filter, that means it should have non-linear phase in passband.

 

[amirm]

I agree with yue's question. As you can see from the THD+N vs power plot the dongle does not clip at max volume, but amir still mentions that "the bass is weak". If there was no bass at maximum volume I guess we should see this on the THD+N plot as well?
The only explanation I can come up with is that the THD+N changes dramatically when tested with a real load (rather than the dummy 300 Ohm resistor) at max volume.

The measurements are continuous. Bass in music is impulsive. So it is possible to get music to play loud at mid-frequencies and when the bass comes, it depletes the power supply caps resulting in distortion. In other words, dynamic power is at stake with real music. I am thinking about how to test for this in measurements.

 

[amirm]

Somebody please measure the phase!

I just read the Archimago article and he found out Apple uses mimimum phase filter, that means it should have non-linear phase in passband.

It does use minimum phase. Here is the impulse response:

Apple is on the left, the right is Google.

 

[garbulky]

Wow this is all sorts of nuts isn't it. That kind of performance out of something so cheap and tiny from...Apple?! Now I wonder how it actually sounds... I may order one of these to try!

 

[Graph Feppar]

amirm , your majesty, can I haz phase response graph pleeeease?