Dosmix Headphone Dongle Review

[AudioSceptic]

I have the last (I believe) iPhone that still has a headphone jack input so I haven't been all that too concerned about 'dongle shopping' -- yet. I regularly plug in my HD650 and DT880 (250 ohm) to the phone with no problems, maybe other than the battery running out faster.

The last iPhones with a headphone socket were the 6s, 6s Plus, and the first SE. I now use a 7 because of the larger storage (256 GB), and with the Apple adapter it sounds just as good as the 6s does, into DT880 32Ω, Grado SR80e, and Beyer T51i.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I would much rather have those braided cables instead of Apple's silicone crap, which has the worst durability of any cables I have ever owned by a large margain.

The Apple cable does seem very thin. Mine's still OK, but I'm extra careful with it.

 

[mikehoopes]

I would much rather have those braided cables instead of Apple's silicone crap, which has the worst durability of any cables I have ever owned by a large margain.

Apple mainstreamed brittle white plastics and non-graduated strain reliefs. I’d call it planned obsolescence, if I thought mechanical engineers had any influence in Cupertino.

Despite its good performance, it was the lowest rated product in the Apple Store app, back when they still displayed user reviews.

 

[MZKM]

Apple mainstreamed brittle white plastics and non-graduated strain reliefs. I’d call it planned obsolescence, if I thought mechanical engineers had any influence in Cupertino.

Despite its good performance, it was the lowest rated product in the Apple Store app, back when they still displayed user reviews.

There are rumors the new Apple charging cables will be braided:

One can hope for the dongle (without increasing the cost).

 

[uga]

I'm giving my incompetent 2 cents here.

Imho the name of the problem here might be: "TPR22" spec sheet is totally misleading (read wrong) vs its real features.

Inside the box there is a WHS9415 dac-amp chip and apparently nothing else. No downstream amp I mean, unlike on the Meizu.

I dug I bit around
The WHS94xx family includes 4 chips.
9420 has the same specs as 9415 with the addition of ANC circuitry. Fair enough.
This distinction is interesting insofar as online I found this : 1543460058893017551.pdf "WHS9420 USB Interface Audio Codec Device Specification"

Page 22: Single Ended Output Performance, at the bottom:
- Full Scale Output Performance (PCMI): 0,95- 0,99 Vrms
- Output power (32Ohm load) 27 - 30mW
- Supported loads 4 - 32 Ohm <----- VEEERY different from 16-600 in'i ?

Put like that, the TPR22 has simply never been what it is apparently marketed for, that is, a dac amp dongle supporting headphones (too)

I personally use it to drive my E5000 (14Ohm) on which it produces great SPL, and very resolved sound already at 28-30/100 volume scale. With no perceivable distortion artifacts noise etc.

Yes, the volume scale appears absolutely "worng".
My suspect was that the chip's volume control is exclusively linear vs logarithmic.
After reading Amir's findings, may it be a wrong wiring or sort of ? It looks like someone set a "volume endscale" of 2V onto a chip which is only able to deliver 1V - that would sound "consistent" with Amir's finding it going nuts just about after halfscale (?)

As I said, my 2 cents nothing more

 

[uga]

I don’t understand their specs:
The “Dual WHS9420” has better DAC specs (110dB) and is 2Vrms, I wonder how expensive a dongle using that will be.

Not precisely. (See my previous post)
The 9420 admits 2 operation modes: a single ended mode and a differential mode.
AFAIU, 9415 = 9420 single ended mode, without ANC

 

[AndrewDavis]

How could you buy something before a review in ASR?

Right??!? My M.O. is to buy something (that I don't need) immediately after reading a positive "golf panther" review.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Right??!? My M.O. is to buy something (that I don't need) immediately after reading a positive "golf panther" review.

Even if you do not need the item you contribution for well designed products is valuable.

 

[Racheski]

There are rumors the new Apple charging cables will be braided:
View attachment 74027

One can hope for the dongle (without increasing the cost).

Tim Cook is secretly monitoring ASR apparently.

 

[Veri]

So meizu pro dongle wins?

Am I missing something here. Meizu HiFi Pro dongle measured much better, isn't it?

Right.

 

[John Nick]

And speaking of dongle. Have you reviewed Generation 3 of the E1DA 9038s? @amirm

 

[mikehoopes]

There are rumors the new Apple charging cables will be braided:
View attachment 74027

One can hope for the dongle (without increasing the cost).

 

[mikehoopes]

Awesome, they increased the cost, while removing what nominal strain relief previously existed. These cables fail at the interface between shell and sheath.

This is what strain relief used to look like:

 

[uga]

Awesome, they increased the cost, while removing what nominal strain relief previously existed.

"They" is "who" in this case ?

 

[mikehoopes]

"They" is "who" in this case ?

Apple, apparently. Adding a woven overlay doesn’t really address deficiencies in strain relief.
The above picture is another vendor I found on Amazon (“Aluka”).

 

[uga]

Apple, apparently. Adding a woven overlay doesn’t really address deficiencies in strain relief.
The above picture is another vendor I found on Amazon (“Aluka”).

How much is an Apple dongle ? The dosmix thingie is < 20$, I can forgive some chi-QC level if this caps its life to like 1 year max who cares

 

[BillG]

How much is an Apple dongle ?

$9USD, and it's excellent for the price. I'm using one as a USB DAC for my PC, and I'm very happy with it in that role...

 

[Jimbob54]

Right.

Apparently the "pro" meizu has been discontinued

 

[AudioSceptic]

How much is an Apple dongle ? The dosmix thingie is < 20$, I can forgive some chi-QC level if this caps its life to like 1 year max who cares

Both versions (Lightning and USB-C) are £9/€9/$9. It's the only Apple cable or accessory that's so keenly priced.

 

[Veri]

Apparently the "pro" meizu has been discontinued

If that's true, I hope they made the non-pro async instead of the original sync setting which mades the sound break up every now and then. Personally not bothersome for me but others found it quite annoying.