Monoprice DAC & Amp Dongle Review

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Monolith by Monoprice USB DAC (29512) portable DAC and headphone amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by a member and is on sale for US $60.

I like the volume control on the right. Other than that, there is not much else to it.

Monolith by Monoprice USB DAC Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard:

I must say, that is one odd looking noise floor! Company specifies output voltage of 2 volts but we are shy of that at 1.85. This is critical for headphone amps as that also sets the max power into high impedance loads. I don't know where their 117 dB spec comes from (datasheet for ES9018K2M chip???). We are nowhere in the same universe with SINAD of 82 dB.

Another major deviation is in dynamic range:

96 dB is OK for the application but why spec 122 dB that requires state of the art desktop DACs to achieve?

The high distortion is reflected in IMD tests:

I expected jitter to be bad and it is:

Filter performance is OK:

At this point I decided to measure power instead of more DAC tests:

These are middle of the road power levels so not bad.

I don't have listening tests for you. It is past midnight and I need to go to sleep. With the above power levels, I expect that performance to be OK.

Conclusions
It is clearly measurements were not performed properly to find and fix the many flaws in the implementation. Shame as I thought the "Monolith" was supposed to be the premium sub-brand for Monoprice. There are many other choices that surpass the performance of this dongle. Probably the worst thing about this device is hugely inflated specifications. While that is kind of the norm for no-name companies, I expect better from Monoprice.

I can't recommend the Monolith by Monoprice USB DAC.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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[Moderate Dionysianism]

What is the "E1DAC" at the 7th spot for 300 Ohm power and with zero @33 Ohm?

 

[respice finem]

"inflated" specs = headless IMHO.

 

[poxymoron]

Inflated specs, a very risky strategy seeing as these specs are now being debunked by Amir and others.

 

[amirm]

What is the "E1DAC" at the 7th spot for 300 Ohm power and with zero @33 Ohm?

It should say E1DA. It is a balanced only dongle and at the time, I did not have a 32 ohm load to test it in that mode.

 

[GeekyBastard]

 

[bidn]

Maybe a better name would have been: Monocrap?

 

[Vovgan]

The previously reviewed portable FIIO BTR7 with the just recently updated built-in EQ firmware is the real game changer. End game for me until a similar device is discovered that can apply EQ to both Bluetooth and wired input (BTR7 implemented EQ on the Qualcomm Bluetooth chip so not working for usb).
Until such device is found I’ve lost all interest in other DACs/headphone amps. Portability with power and eq is the real game changer that I’ve been looking for.

 

[staticV3]

End game for me until a similar device is discovered that can apply EQ to both Bluetooth and wired i puts. Until such device is found I’ve lost all interest in other DACs/headphone amps.

Qudelix 5K.

 

[Sokel]

Some say that the Savitech SA9227 driver (I only found it here) solves some performance issues.
I know @amirm does not like installing stuff but it could be the reason for such a huge gap in measurements.

 

[respice finem]

Maybe a better name would have been: Monocrap?

This. The brand suffers as a whole, not only the device affected. Building a brand image takes years, ruining it can happen very quickly.

 

[Trell]

Some say that the Savitech SA9227 driver (I only found it here [edit: link removed]) solves some performance issues.
I know @amirm does not like installing stuff but it could be the reason for such a huge gap in measurements.

Some say? Why ever should an owner of a device install a Windows driver not listed on the manufacturers home page, and not even knowing if this is the correct driver for the device at all?

 

[martijn86]

Monoprice should change their spec-sheet. There can be variance in methods of testing, but this is nowhere near what they promise. Monoprice knows that they target a demographic that cares about quality components without too much mark-up. This is just false advertising, misleading, and since they didn't deliver on their promises, justifies the customers to get their money back if they so wish. Thanks for testing Amir!

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

'loses'

 

[solderdude]

What is the "E1DAC" at the 7th spot for 300 Ohm power and with zero @33 Ohm?

Review and Measurements of E1DA 9038S BAL Portable DAC & Amp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the E1DA 9038S portable balanced DAC and headphone amplifier. It is the brainchild of the member @IVX. He kindly sent me a sample for review. The cost is stated as "TBD($70)." He will have to tell us if the price is finalized or not. The 9038S...

www.audiosciencereview.com

It does around 300mW in 32ohm and 0.5W in 16ohm
Balanced headphones ONLY, you'll destroy it when attempting to drive SE headphones using an 'adapter'.

 

[Matias]

The large rise in noise and distortion around 8 kHz the multitone graph suggests something very wrong with the USB connection.

@amirm any chance of testing it in another port?

 

[Atanasi]

The FFT looks like the effect of some lossy encoding.

 

[DonR]

Wow! Jitter looks almost audible. ouch.

 

[Spocko]

Thankfully, there are several good choices in the affordable USB/DAC dongle market

 

[Kevinfc]

I picked up a FX Audio DAC-SQ for about $60. It’s USB powered, has a remote, a display and better measurements. The only advantage this product has is that it’s pocketable.