How about CB1200AU dongles? Are they limited to 1 Vrms max?If power is the main criteria for the best cheap USB-C headphones dongle, then JM20-Max is certainly an interesting dongle to measure.
Any other CS43131/43198-based dongle should be able to output more than 1V… but the measurements shall speak!
As for WalkPlay (or similar) HW-based PEQ dongles, it’s an interesting feature… but I don’t think it is perceived as critical, so JM20-Max it is!
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Best cheap USB-C headphone dongles?
- Thread starter starfly
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Based on the Hi-Max alleged spec of 65mW @ 32 Ohm, yes, they should be above 1Vrms.
The EPZ TP13 (CB1300AU) is reported at 31.25mW with no indication of impedance. If it is 32 Ohm, that would be exactly 1Vrms.
Besides these 3 CBHT chips (CB5100-Pro bridge, CB1200AU/CB1300AU SoC), I’m not aware of any other WalkPlay-enabled chip (I tried several…).
Not my measurement. I asked the source for a graphic, but none was available. I'm sure someone will reproduce and document here eventually, given that the source provided verifiable data before.
HissingFree
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Hi-Max has indeed been measured:
reference-audio-analyzer.pro
Measurement's report Hi-Max cb1200au - Reference Audio Analyzer
report for a pro. Graph Frequency response, Impedance, power, Spectrums distortion, estimate the change in frequency characteristics when working with standard headphones. Detailed data with precise characteristics features.
How come I couldn't find this in my Google search? Perhaps they incorporated auto translation recently?Hi-Max has indeed been measured:
Measurement's report Hi-Max cb1200au - Reference Audio Analyzer
report for a pro. Graph Frequency response, Impedance, power, Spectrums distortion, estimate the change in frequency characteristics when working with standard headphones. Detailed data with precise characteristics features.
Indeed, its output impedance is 2.5 Ohm.
The max output of the Hi-Max CB1200AU dongle is only 1 Vrms under no load and 0.84 Vrms (22 mW) under 32 Ohm.
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Also, interestingly, the Jcally JM30 Pro has also been measured at RAA.
Despite it being based on CS43131, its output is voltage-limited at 1.37 Vrms regardless of load impedance. Not ideal if this is to be used as a DAC.
I guess the JM20 Pro is the same thing in a different form factor.
Despite it being based on CS43131, its output is voltage-limited at 1.37 Vrms regardless of load impedance. Not ideal if this is to be used as a DAC.
I guess the JM20 Pro is the same thing in a different form factor.
That's kinda strange, as if the impedance auto-sensing was locked into low gain mode.
The dongle doesn't seem to have hardware switches, so it has to do autosensing, unless you have to set the gain mode via an application, that would explain the results.
Hello,
I received today 3 dongles purchased on Alliexpress. After some not so scientific testing this afternoon, below are my findings:
I did the same test on my Windows 11 PC and the results were the same.
What came as a surprise is the CX31993+MAX97220. It has noticeable noise, has the least headroom and the sound seems completely muffle.
It is supposed to be the most powerful of the three so my unit might be defective.
Also, where the two others are quite steady in term of power draw, the CX31993+MAX97220 fluctuates quite a lot when the music becomes busy with a lot of bass. On the Sennheiser, it was fluctuating between 95 and 115 most of the times, but there were also times at 300mW.
For me the clear winner is the CX-Pro with the CX31993 as it has no noticeable noise, seem to have more headroom, and consume the least power by far.
I would also be happy with the CB1200U dongle.
I consider ordering an other CX31993+MAX97220 to see. I might also order a JA11/JM12 with KT02H20 chip and a JM20Pro with CS43131 but those are more expensive, respectively 15€ and 30€.
I received today 3 dongles purchased on Alliexpress. After some not so scientific testing this afternoon, below are my findings:
I did the same test on my Windows 11 PC and the results were the same.
What came as a surprise is the CX31993+MAX97220. It has noticeable noise, has the least headroom and the sound seems completely muffle.
It is supposed to be the most powerful of the three so my unit might be defective.
Also, where the two others are quite steady in term of power draw, the CX31993+MAX97220 fluctuates quite a lot when the music becomes busy with a lot of bass. On the Sennheiser, it was fluctuating between 95 and 115 most of the times, but there were also times at 300mW.
For me the clear winner is the CX-Pro with the CX31993 as it has no noticeable noise, seem to have more headroom, and consume the least power by far.
I would also be happy with the CB1200U dongle.
I consider ordering an other CX31993+MAX97220 to see. I might also order a JA11/JM12 with KT02H20 chip and a JM20Pro with CS43131 but those are more expensive, respectively 15€ and 30€.
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staticV3
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Pro tip: don't upload images with transparent backgrounds.Hello,
I received today 3 dongles purchased on Alliexpress. After some not so scientific testing this afternoon, below are my findings:
It may render black text illegible:
My bad, i edited, i hope it's better.
HissingFree
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Yep the exact same experience I had, that CX31993 + MAX97220 in Jcally JM06 Pro had very obvious background noise with sensitive headphone, even more than my integrated laptop jack, that also has background noise but not as much. What is weird is that it has less volume, in my case at least in that regard I measured 1.45V or something like that, no complaints in that regard, it should produce higher volume and in my case it produces more volume than either integrated jack or Jcally JM12.
Interesting that you don't notice background noise with CB1200U, as per recent testing in reference-audio-analyzer.pro, it seems to have quite high noise floor around 10uV or so. Though Crinacle Zero seems to have lower sensitivity than many other IEMs, including Salnotes Zero that I own (74mv vs 52mv required for 94db SPL), so hissing may be revealed by more sensitive IEMs.
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With the CB1200U, if I really focus and am in a very quiet room, I can hear a tiny little bit of noise. So it's slightly more than the CX31993, but nowhere near the CX31993+MAX97220
Yes I find that very weird regarding the power of the CX31993+MAX97220. On my laptop I could even reach 100 volume on my HD6XX without problem, whereas I could only reach 75-80 with the CX31993 and 90-95 with the CB1200U before it becomes unbearably loud.
I am curious to see the power consumption of the KT02H20 and CS43131.
HissingFree
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Yeah CX31993+MAX97220 is king when it comes to high background noise lol. That being said, some members here swear they can't get any noise at all with this combo, even with sensitive IEMs, my theory is that they changed the firmware or something with newer revisions, seeing how with Jcally JM12 I have zero background noise with stock and JA11 firmware but very high background noise with KTmicro firmware. so clearly, firmware can do a lot in this regard.
HissingFree
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Does a standard CX31993 crackle in the rumble polarity test? it's the flaw I find with Jcally JM12 KT02H20 dongle.
No crackling with my Grave audio DA06 (CX31993), but i hear a faint crackling playing it with Kuang Pai Player 3 (CS43131+ES9601k).Does a standard CX31993 crackle in the rumble polarity test? it's the flaw I find with Jcally JM12 KT02H20 dongle.
Too lazy for checking Ugreen HiFi Pro, JM20 and Sonata BHD.
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My CX31993 does crackle noticeably in that specific test. My legitimate Samsung dongle does not crackle. My JM12 with JA11 firmware does crackle very subtly in UAC2 mode, in UAC1 mode it crackles heavily.Does a standard CX31993 crackle in the rumble polarity test? it's the flaw I find with Jcally JM12 KT02H20 dongle.
I can't be 100% sure if the dongle or the OS is fully to blame TBH, but that's my result.
EDIT: JA11 crackles heavily despite switching back to UAC2. I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this at the moment...
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HissingFree
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In my case, it crackles whether Windows or Android using the same test.
multiformous
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I was able to stop my JM12 crackling with the polarity test clip by flashing TinHiFi firmware instead of JA11 firmware. You can still use the KT USB tool to adjust EQ and save it to the dongle, but you can no longer use 44.1kHz sampling rates! Apparently stock VE ODO firmware also doesn't allow 44.1kHz, either.
But yeah, all my dongles except the Samsung dongle (Apple, CX31993, Meizu Hifi) crackle to some extent with that polarity test clip -- JM12 with JA11 firmware being the absolute worst offender.
Just tried with the three dongles, on both Android phone et Windows PC with both Crinacle IEM and HD6XX.Does a standard CX31993 crackle in the rumble polarity test? it's the flaw I find with Jcally JM12 KT02H20 dongle.
I cannot hear any crackling with the CB1200U or the CX31993+MAX97220.
With the CX-Pro CX31993 I can hear very faint crackling if i am really careful and look for them. It's even less noticeable on the HD6XX.
Interestingly, if the amplitude is the same, they appear more frequently on the windows PC compared to the Android phone.
Now there is so much noise with the CX31993+MAX97220, it could really be that the crackling is there but hidden in this noise.
I hope my unit is defective, or that not all CX31993+MAX97220 implementations are this bad in term of noise. Because if they are, I could never recommend such a product. Even playing music you can hear the noise in calmer moment.
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