MEIZU Hifi Pro USB-C Phone Dongle DAC Review

[amanieux]

Oh and shielding around the PCB and chips is one thing but unless you properly filter the outputs, EMI can easily reach your drivers through the meter-long, "basically antennas", unshielded copper wires between your Amp and your IEMs.

are not all iem/headphones cables shielded (including the cheapest ones ) ?

 

[staticV3]

are not all iem/headphones cables shielded (including the cheapest ones ) ?

I know not a single headphone, IEM, or aftermarket cable short of DIY projects and bespoke cable manufacturers which is shielded and I have taken apart and modified a fair share of headphones and IEMs before.
Do you want me to list them?

 

[amanieux]

I know not a single headphone, IEM, or aftermarket cable short of DIY projects and bespoke cable manufacturers which is shielded and I have taken apart and modified a fair share of headphones and IEMs before.
Do you want me to list them?

no i believe you, but then why don't we get EMI all the time with headphones and iem ?

 

[staticV3]

no i believe you, but then why don't we get EMI all the time with headphones and iem ?

Because given enough space on the PCB of the DAC/Amp, the manufacturer can decide to add filters to the audio outputs which can suppress EMI reaching your drivers. Full disclaimer though: I don't know yet how these filters work, though I have experienced their effectiveness in a prototype of the 9038S G3, to which the designer added more filters at the cost of higher output impedance. This change greatly suppressed EMI when compared to the 9038S G1 and G2 where is was really horrible.
Oh and of course the efficiency of your drivers and how they're placed in correlation to your eardrums play a huge role as well. The amount of unwanted signal "power" that enters your cables fundamentally doesn't change with IEMs and headphones (excluding the filtering thing). What does change is how effectively your drivers translate that signal into audible noise. Highly efficient IEM drivers placed directly in front of your ear drums will "pick up" way more EMI than big ol', inefficient headphone drivers, which are not only placed relatively far away from your ear drums, but may also leak part of the audible EMI if they're placed in an open enclosure.

 

[JiwaKelam]

@amirm how about this meizu compared to an avarage realtek motherboard audio output? does it sound better? i planning to buy this to improve my pc audio output and i using ath msr7b headphone which not too heavy to drive. and also do you use an converter from type c to type a to connect into the pc? my PC doens't have usb c port does the converter will works with mizu hifi pro?
for converter : https://www.ugreen.com/product/usb_c_female_to_usb_a_male_adapter-en.html
thanks in advance

 

[staticV3]

@amirm how about this meizu compared to an avarage realtek motherboard audio output? does it sound better? i planning to buy this to improve my pc audio output and i using ath msr7b headphone which not too heavy to drive. and also do you use an converter from type c to type a to connect into the pc? my PC doens't have usb c port does the converter will works with mizu hifi pro?
for converter : https://www.ugreen.com/product/usb_c_female_to_usb_a_male_adapter-en.html
thanks in advance

The adapter should work fine. On PC I'm using a less fancy USB 2.0 adapter without issues. Don't panic if your PC doesn't see the Meizu dongle when you plug it in. Even with it plugged in, the dongle only "activates" when you plug in a headphone

 

[JiwaKelam]

The adapter should work fine. On PC I'm using a less fancy USB 2.0 adapter without issues. Don't panic if your PC doesn't see the Meizu dongle when you plug it in. Even with it plugged into your PC, the dongle only "activates" when you plug in a headphone

thanks for response, really appreciated.. do you feel improvement when you use meizu if compared to audio output from motherboard?

 

[Veri]

thanks for response, really appreciated.. do you feel improvement when you use meizu if compared to audio output from motherboard?

I use mine with older dell work laptop, and it sounds very good.

 

[amanieux]

thanks for response, really appreciated.. do you feel improvement when you use meizu if compared to audio output from motherboard?

meizu hifi will likely improve laptop internal dac sound, but will you be able to notice the difference without doing a/b testing ? it depends on your gear and on your ear. i, for example, cannot make the difference between uncompressed and mp3 in a blind test plugged from my laptop or phone with a grado 325e or a sennheiser hd58x https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality, i hear that my laptop dac and my phone dac do not sound the same but i am not able to tell if one is better than the other as it depends on the song. i will soon receive a meizu hifi pro and check if i can then hear a bigger difference with this external dac and write back on this forum because i am always wondering if all the audiophile reviewers we are reading before buying audio gear are golden ears/trained sound professionals that can hear minute sound subtleties most of us will never hear

 

[JiwaKelam]

meizu hifi will likely improve laptop internal dac sound, but will you be able to notice the difference without doing a/b testing ? it depends on your gear and on your ear. i, for example, cannot make the difference between uncompressed and mp3 in a blind test plugged from my laptop or phone with a grado 325e or a sennheiser hd58x https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality, i hear that my laptop dac and my phone dac do not sound the same but i am not able to tell if one is better than the other as it depends on the song. i will soon receive a meizu hifi pro and check if i can then hear a bigger difference with this external dac and write back on this forum because i am always wondering if all the audiophile reviewers we are reading before buying audio gear are golden ears/trained sound professionals that can hear minute sound subtleties most of us will never hear

interesting , in my experience almost over 6 years in this hobby i never had get big impactful of improvement from dac amp unless better power and better black background if compared to my phone or my pc , except my recorder sony pcm d100 which is not a dap also not dac amp but it has beautiful sound output , and then many audio brand makes dongle dacs which makes me interesting again because its cheap , does it give better experience? i still dont know because i havent tried it , i still confused about how this work in this little thing can gives improvemrnt or not beside converter for type c to 3.5mm because apple phone innovation

 

[amanieux]

what android audio settings do i need to change or drivers do i need to install on android in order to use the meizu hifi pro work on android phone ? when i install nothing or change no default android audio settings, i get sound on the meizu jack but it is the exact same level as my phone jack as if it was using the phone inernal dac and not the meizu dac (very easy to notice as i nedd to be at 100% volume on my internal phone jack to get decent listening level but only 27% on the meizu dac/amp inside "neutron" app to get the same listening volume. when i install "neutron" audio app i can use the meizu dac full volume but audio levels drops by a factor of 4 when i switch from neutron to youtube app. thanks

 

[staticV3]

what android audio settings do i need to change or drivers do i need to install on android in order to use the meizu hifi pro work on android phone ? when i install nothing or change no default android audio settings, i get sound on the meizu jack but it is the exact same level as my phone jack as if it was using the phone inernal dac and not the meizu dac (very easy to notice as i nedd to be at 100% volume on my internal phone jack to get decent listening level but only 27% on the meizu dac/amp inside "neutron" app to get the same listening volume. when i install "neutron" audio app i can use the meizu dac full volume but audio levels drops by a factor of 4 when i switch from neutron to youtube app. thanks

There is no Android setting to be changed and no driver to be installed.
When you plug the dongle into your phone and your headphones into the dongle, then your phone's internal DAC and Amp are bypassed 100%.

I use UAPP to control the UAC2 hardware volume of various dongles, so maybe give that a try.

 

[Zek]

Has anyone used Meizu as a stand alone dac, ie connected to an integrated amplifier and speakers?
Your opinion is welcome.

 

[amanieux]

There is no Android setting to be changed and no driver to be installed.
When you plug the dongle into your phone and your headphones into the dongle, then your phone's internal DAC and Amp are bypassed 100%.

I use UAPP to control the UAC2 hardware volume of various dongles, so maybe give that a try.

if no drivers are required then has anybody an explanation why sound volume on meizu hifi pro is divided by 5 when i don't let "neutron"app manage the meizu dac ? is there a free alternative to uapp ? is meizu dac compatible with sony xperia xz premium ? thanks

 

[Karu]

Anyone knows the background for this? Using the Apple USB 3 Lightning adapter to get the signal out and charge at the same time.

Adapter + meizu pro + BQEYZ KC2 - setup not recognized and sound from iPhone/iPad only

Adapter + meizu pro + Hifiman HE400i - works fine

Adapter + tempotec sonata hd + BQEYZ KC2 - works fine

(edit: PC + meizu pro + BQEYZ KC2 also works fine)

Same behavior with the old camera adapter.

 

[staticV3]

Anyone knows the background for this? Using the Apple USB 3 Lightning adapter to get the signal out and charge at the same time.

Adapter + meizu pro + BQEYZ KC2 - setup not recognized and sound from iPhone/iPad only

Adapter + meizu pro + Hifiman HE400i - works fine

Adapter + tempotec sonata hd + BQEYZ KC2 - works fine

Same behavior with the old camera adapter.

View attachment 60836

Try experimenting with headphone->meizu, then meizu->adapter and vice versa

 

[Karu]

Thanks, didn’t make a difference in this case

 

[WoodyLuvr]

Meizu HiFi Pro DAC HeadAMP with a ddHiFi DD DJ35A (2.5mm Balanced Female to 3.5mm Male adapter). Very impressed with this little device; so powerful and clear as a whistle in such a small form factor. Very pleased; thank you all on this thread for the great recommendation!

 

[amanieux]

does meizu hifi pro have a power saving mode ( activated by default) not powering the ti opa1622 amp to save battery life and only relying on the CS43131 dac output of 2x30mW ? i notice that to get similar normal sound level on my 43 ohms iem in am at 90% in my internal phone dac (sony xz premium) and 75% on the meizu pro. as i believe my phone dac is no more than 20mW of power so i really don't understand why i get so little power out of the meizu hifi pro. has someone any idea of what is happening ? thanks.

 

[ZolaIII]

if no drivers are required then has anybody an explanation why sound volume on meizu hifi pro is divided by 5 when i don't let "neutron"app manage the meizu dac ? is there a free alternative to uapp ? is meizu dac compatible with sony xperia xz premium ? thanks

Try with HiBy Music, Sony should just work fine.