MEIZU Hifi Pro USB-C Phone Dongle DAC Review

[juliangst]

Does this UGreen dongle have the same DAC as the USB C dongle L7 has measured? I‘m still in desperate need for a good 2V lightning dongle

 

[Jimbob54]

Ive noticed when I use this with my Moondrop Chu (with inline mic) the mic sounds comes through over the music even when using UAPP to play. Is this right or is something not wired/ connected properly? Any way to disable the mic input when playing music? @staticV3 perhaps?

 

[staticV3]

Any way to disable the mic input when playing music? @staticV3 perhaps?

With a headset plugged in, you should see four hardware volume sliders in UAPP:

The first two are L/R output, the 3rd is the ADC, and the 4th is the monitor function, which feeds the mic input into the headphone output.
Set that to zero and it'll be disabled.

 

[Jimbob54]

With a headset plugged in, you should see four hardware volume sliders in UAPP:
View attachment 247306
The first two are L/R output, the 3rd is the ADC, and the 4th is the monitor function, which feeds the mic input into the headphone output.
Set that to zero and it'll be disabled.

Brill! Cheers

 

[confucius_zero]

No. I call those "thumb drive" DACs.

how the times have changed...

I believe I've gone full circle in returning to this "dongle" after discarding E1DA 9038D, Sonata HDPro/3/5, Musehifi M1, IBasso DC03/DC03Pro, Hiby FC3, Abigail, Audirect Atom2, Colorfly CDAM1, xduoo link2, ak pee51, lotoo pawS1...

Kinda happy I kept 2... I found that Ugreen has made a limited release of this cs43131+opa1622 setup after its discontinuation by Meizu so I snatched one albeit at premium for backup

 

[Jmudrick]

how the times have changed...

I believe I've gone full circle in returning to this "dongle" after discarding E1DA 9038D, Sonata HDPro/3/5, Musehifi M1, IBasso DC03/DC03Pro, Hiby FC3, Abigail, Audirect Atom2, Colorfly CDAM1, xduoo link2, ak pee51, lotoo pawS1...

Kinda happy I kept 2... I found that Ugreen has made a limited release of this cs43131+opa1622 setup after its discontinuation by Meizu so I snatched one albeit at premium for backup

I got the UGreen as well... at $39 still a happy camper.

 

[confucius_zero]

still a happy camper.

awesome mate, enjoy listening to yours in good health

 

[aarond]

Hello my Ugreen Hifi Audio Pro (CX43131 + OPA1622) just came today, firstly I noticed that the Ugreen used more than 2-time volume compared to Apple Dongle Type-C A2049, 45% vs 25% on laptop and 90% vs 50% on Ipad. I paired them with Senny IE200. Is this numbers normal? I'm so confuse.

 

[staticV3]

Hello my Ugreen Hifi Audio Pro (CX43131 + OPA1622) just came today, firstly I noticed that the Ugreen used more than 2-time volume compared to Apple Dongle Type-C A2049, 45% vs 25% on laptop and 90% vs 50% on Ipad. I paired them with Senny IE200. Is this numbers normal? I'm so confuse.

Yes. Every DAC with UAC2 hardware volume has its own volume curve. That means that "45% vs 25%" is not a valid comparison and does not indicate output power in any way.

 

[aarond]

Yes. Every DAC with UAC2 hardware volume has its own volume curve. That means that "45% vs 25%" is not a valid comparison and does not indicate output power in any way.

Oh I see, you remind me the Shanling UA2, my first hifi dongle, after updated new firmware then the volume level changed a lot. I have asked Shanling about that, and they explained to me about the change of volume curve, so maximum volume of UA2 before and after still the same. Thank you so much sir.

 

[donjoe0]

I believe I've gone full circle in returning to this "dongle" after discarding [...] Hiby FC3

Do you remember what you found unacceptable in the FC3 by any chance? So far I just don't like the power it's putting into full-sized headphones, which hurts the bass and even the low-mids and stage depth, but other than that I've yet to find anything major to dislike. I see it as a candidate for the position of "best DAC to plug into a bigger amp" in my collection so far, though that is honestly influenced a lot by those special Df-metric measurements done by SoundExpert / HypeTheSonics, where it comes out as better than desktop DACs from Chord and a bunch of others.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Lost mine recently in a kayak accident, the boat flipped, i lost a Pixel 6 Pro and the dongle, but kept my Sennheiser PX100.
Clearly, the sea (by which i mean the river Ruhr in Germany) is a harsh mistress.

Ordered another Meizu Pro for 32€, the price is not great and not terrible:

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/4000828212055.html

Edit, these are not the same as the one Amir has measured, they just try to sucker less experienced people into buying by using the same keywords. They got me.

 

[donjoe0]

Ordered a replacement for 32€, not great, not terrible:

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/4000828212055.html

Cool, thanks for the hint! I just found out today I messed up trying to get better price/performance by buying a higher-powered CX31993 implementation called JCally JM6 Pro. Turns out not only did they muddy the treble by adding the MAX97220 amp, the female 3.5mm is also too short and doesn't "click" when you insert the jack all the way, and doesn't even connect properly to some jacks, so you won't have a permanent R signal with some jacks. JCally seemed like a prolific enough brand to not be that bad, but this particular model is a failure, I'll be looking for a replacement (not sure yet between Tempotec, some CS43131 or some CX31993).

LE:
Oops, maybe I wasn't pushing hard enough or it needed some break-in - right now in my last-ditch attempt to go through multiple 3.5mm jack cables I have, every single one fits and clicks securely into place. That leaves the noise susceptibility and the mushy/veiled upper treble, and I'm not about to replace a $15 dongle just for that - it was never meant as a quality DAC, just as the bottom of the barrel if-all-else-fails solution for my USB-C-only phone.

 

[Veri]

(not sure yet between Tempotec, some CS43131 or some CX31993).

Would go for the CS43131, honestly.

 

[mc.god]

Ordered another Meizu Pro for 32€, the price is not great and not terrible:

https://de.aliexpress.com/item/4000828212055.html

Jokes aside, the "pro" version in your link (CX31993+MAX97220) has nothing to do with the unit measured in tihs thread, that has CS43131+OPA1622 and is out of production for a long time.
I don't know how it performs but for a bit more probably I would go fo something like this .

 

[donjoe0]

the "pro" version in your link (CX31993+MAX97220) has nothing to do with the unit measured in tihs thread, that has CS43131+OPA1622 and is out of production for a long time

Yeah, the key word there is "mBlu". If you see mBlu or Lifeme it's the Conexant-centric design, doesn't matter if it also says Meizu and Hifi in the name. They're trying to make people believe it's the same as the highly acclaimed CS chip one.

for a bit more probably I would go fo something like this .

Wow, real nice. Didn't know there was a cheaper Tanchjim Space with most of the same audio quality.

 

[Jimbob54]

View attachment 287707



Jokes aside, the "pro" version in your link (CX31993+MAX97220) has nothing to do with the unit measured in tihs thread, that has CS43131+OPA1622 and is out of production for a long time.
I don't know how it performs but for a bit more probably I would go fo something like this .

The Space is indeed a nice bit of kit. Minor gripe but probably done for good (and safe) reasons- the hardware volume controlled by the on device buttons is independent of the hardware vol you might access through UAPP etc and always starts at bare minimum with each connection. So you have to do a bit of volume jiggling each time to hit the sweet spot.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Jokes aside, the "pro" version in your link (CX31993+MAX97220) has nothing to do with the unit measured in tihs thread, that has CS43131+OPA1622 and is out of production for a long time.

If you see mBlu or Lifeme it's the Conexant-centric design, doesn't matter if it also says Meizu and Hifi in the name. They're trying to make people believe it's the same as the highly acclaimed CS chip one.

So i've been had then. Awesome.

 

[donjoe0]

The Space is indeed a nice bit of kit. Minor gripe but probably done for good (and safe) reasons- the hardware volume controlled by the on device buttons

The Lite doesn't have volume buttons though (sadly, as I much prefer DAC-amps that do, and adjust their own amplifier through them).

 

[TheBatsEar]

So i've been had then. Awesome.
View attachment 287870

Offered Amir to order one for measurement. Haven't seen this combination (CX31993+MAX97220) measured with a quick Google search, so maybe we have a good replacement. The spec sheets indicate roughly the same performance, but a bit less max voltage.

In case you find a good CX31993+MAX97220 measurement, link it here, no need to measure it twice then.