Still searching for a good USB-C headphone DAC, I went crazy and bought 4 additional USB-C adapters with charging support in addition to the 3 I've already reviewed (and the Apple one amirm reviewed):
In the interest of time I did not do a full review of the 4 new adapters; however I did record what device name they show up as in Windows, what bit depths and sample rate they support, and did some unloaded and loaded voltage measurements, primarily to determine the output impedance (which is the most interesting metric for an headphone output IMHO).
I put the results in a Google Spreadsheet; here's a screenshot:
(Note: a keen eye will notice that the output impedance results are slightly different from the ones in my full reviews. That's because I re-measured using higher-precision resistors (15 Ω 0.1%) that I bought in the mean time. Also the measurements in the spreadsheet are done from Windows, which might explain the slightly different results compared to the Android measurements.)
The "aceyoon", "Belker" (flat), "Kimwood" and "VIMVIP" adapters all seem be related, since they all appear with the "CHBT Audio" USB device display name. The numbers all are identical, too, which strongly suggests they're the same hardware under the hood. The only exception is the VIMVIP, which has significantly higher output voltage for some reason.
The "Belker" (barrel) is unique, but I'm not going to do a full review of it because the output impedance makes it worthless from the start.
It's worth noting how bad the Moshi adapter is. It's more than twice as expensive as all the others yet it offers by far the worst performance due to its atrocious output impedance, even when compared to "no-name" cheap products.
A good USB-C headphone adapter with charging support is still nowhere to be found, at any price.
In the interest of time I did not do a full review of the 4 new adapters; however I did record what device name they show up as in Windows, what bit depths and sample rate they support, and did some unloaded and loaded voltage measurements, primarily to determine the output impedance (which is the most interesting metric for an headphone output IMHO).
I put the results in a Google Spreadsheet; here's a screenshot:
(Note: a keen eye will notice that the output impedance results are slightly different from the ones in my full reviews. That's because I re-measured using higher-precision resistors (15 Ω 0.1%) that I bought in the mean time. Also the measurements in the spreadsheet are done from Windows, which might explain the slightly different results compared to the Android measurements.)
The "aceyoon", "Belker" (flat), "Kimwood" and "VIMVIP" adapters all seem be related, since they all appear with the "CHBT Audio" USB device display name. The numbers all are identical, too, which strongly suggests they're the same hardware under the hood. The only exception is the VIMVIP, which has significantly higher output voltage for some reason.
The "Belker" (barrel) is unique, but I'm not going to do a full review of it because the output impedance makes it worthless from the start.
It's worth noting how bad the Moshi adapter is. It's more than twice as expensive as all the others yet it offers by far the worst performance due to its atrocious output impedance, even when compared to "no-name" cheap products.
A good USB-C headphone adapter with charging support is still nowhere to be found, at any price.
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