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I've been trying to find a well measuring ,small dongle ( apple dongle size), with microphone passthrough for my android phone.
I've bought the Samsung ones from eBay and Amazon, but theyve all been fake!
The apple dongle doesn't have enough volume on android without doing the tricks we all know with USB audio app players l, and I don't want to deal with that
The mezu pro reviewed here is no where to be found and I think they changed the chipset in the new non pro ones
The Helm bolt has a constant clicking noise unless 192kb/24bit audio is being played
I have the S9, and while it's great, I want something smaller.
Any recs?? Preferably black and non metal so.it doesn't scratch the phone, but those are secondary
I'm using Google dongle with my Pixel, Samsung A24, personal laptop and office laptop.
Headphones: AKG K550 and Zero RED.
Apps: Windows/Foobar2000 (on laptops), Poweramp and Neutron (Android)
Apple Dongle works fine with USB Audio Player Pro (Android) and Apple stuff. Otherwise doesn't work properly.
I've been trying to find a well measuring ,small dongle ( apple dongle size), with microphone passthrough for my android phone.
I've bought the Samsung ones from eBay and Amazon, but theyve all been fake!
The apple dongle doesn't have enough volume on android without doing the tricks we all know with USB audio app players l, and I don't want to deal with that
The mezu pro reviewed here is no where to be found and I think they changed the chipset in the new non pro ones
The Helm bolt has a constant clicking noise unless 192kb/24bit audio is being played
I have the S9, and while it's great, I want something smaller.
Any recs?? Preferably black and non metal so.it doesn't scratch the phone, but those are secondary
OMG. What a coincident experience, your description of the horrors with Samsung dongles, same as my experience. I had watched Julian Krause's youtube review, of Google, Apple and Samsung DACs.
In his review the Apple and Samsung came out tops. So I went ahead and got the US version of the Apple Dongle - direct from Apple US, and shipped it to the UK, so the source is definitely straight from Apple. Have had no issues with the Apple dongle on Windows 10, but curious to know - what sounds better than this, without me needing to spend too much money.
Also decided to get a Samsung dongle, but this has been an overall poor experience.
1. About the same time I also bought a Samsung dongle from ebay - which I had to return, cos it turned out to be fake - the audio quality was immediately suspect, and I returned it. Furthermore it was obvious from the visual inspection that what I received did not look like the original Samsung dongle. Windows also recognised it as some strange name.../brand/model
2. I then bought a 2nd one directly from Amazon, as fulfilled from Amazon, on behalf of Samsung. I've had a bit of a mixed experience, it initially sounded better than the Apple dongle, but in recent times, I've noticed it adds some noise everytime audio passes through it, even on sources where I am 100% sure any noise would be imperceptible, such as highly regarded virtual instruments, which usually have noise reduction applied to their samples. So I've moved back to the Apple dongle. It's fine, the Apple dongle but something about the tone of the Samsung that I liked. A bit too late to return this Samsung dongle. Also kind of exhausted on the issue. I do not recall hearing this noise that only smears passing audio, but is completely silent if no audio is playing through, when I 1st received it, and wondering did it develop a fault. It is never moved around, stays connected to the laptop, or in a drawer at arms length, at my desk. It's never been taken out of the room, so physical damage is out of the question.
This dongle needed me to swap the left and right channels ! and I have to be careful of pops when inserting the headphone into the 3.5mm socket.
There is also a hack required in Windows, otherwise the Samsung interacts with the Windows audio controls, and you get audio stutters. How hard can this be. Had to research this obscure issue myself.
Another anomaly was - this device did not support up to 192Khz as advertised by Samsung.
3. I really wanted a Samsung dongle that worked ok. Saw one for £3.99 from a reliable store, not ebay, not Amazon, and ordered one just before I slept yesterday night. Should arrive within the next 5 days. Fingers and toes and everything crossed, really want to get a genuine Samsung dongle, cos in Julian Krause's reviews, the device measured really good, definitely good enough for listening to Youtube and Spotify. The kind of thing I can always have in my bag of tricks, along with the Apple dongle, and use these as my "reference" or baseline, of what is the minimum acceptable quality in a modern DAC, and then start to climb the ladder of quality modern DACs and Audio Interfaces. in quality, but from a price prudent perspective.
Will remember to post impressions of this 3rd and final attempt.
I am quite shocked, but not surprised when I think of this through. Apple is pretty much everywhere and like I did, easy to buy directly from, with free postage, so the opportunity for counterfeit products to infiltrate the chain, is low. I would have bought direct from Samsung-UK's site, but it was a bit expensive, and/or not available right now the Samsung.com site lists this item as unavailable.
Even worse, the reviews on Samsung's own site here are not encouraging.
Enjoy clear and high-quality audio with the USB C to Headset Jack Adaptor. Seamlessly link your favourite headphones to your Note10, and enjoy hassle-free music.
www.samsung.com
What this obviously speaks to is how we human beings can be influenced. I'm normally a very cautious, logical, prudent spender. But the confidence I had in Julian Krause (none of this is his fault) and the brand name Samsung, the market place names - Ebay and Amazon, made me put a lot of faith in what should have been a simple purchase. Just goes to show, anyone can be influenced. I never checked for reviews of the Samsung dongle, trusted in the Samsung brand, which owns Harman which owns tons of high end audio companies like JBL and AKG. I usually buy any Samsung product with confidence - disk drives, TV's, airconditioners, had so much faith in the brand. Yeah that brand name sold it to me, shows - we have to always be caveat emptor. Always.
I've put in too many hours researching dongle products, to avoid a repeat of any surprises, and it has made me reticent. With good reasons. In spite of fantastic reviews, both of the measured kind and the subjective kind, almost every dongle DAC I have wanted to buy, after much research, is either unavailable to by from a local supplier, which means returns will be challenging, no local customer support, and/or too many uncomfortable comments about the product - all kinds of things - new firmware bricking the product, reliability issues, poor socket connections, cables going bad after purchase, noise, and information such as - does it have an ASIO driver, is difficult to glean.
I have no regrets trying to own a Samsung DAC, cos they are one of the major names in the electronics and audio visual business. I had every cause to trust Samsung.
But now if Samsung could fail me, I have little faith in the much smaller vendors of dongle dacs.. Good measurements are only one half of the equation. I my case, where I use them on a PC, good drivers are important. And the product should be honest about the specs. I found a Creative Labs product I wanted, but on further research discovered that they had overstated the Dynamic range of 130dB, by over 10dB, not the end of the world, but why such a huge discrepancy from a trusted brand. Why?
Then there are other challenges. The Apple dongle does not play nice on Android, unless you have some additional software installed, which i need to pay for..
I come from the world of professional audio interfaces, and this whole dongle thing was a temptation, wow - you mean I can get world beating specs for very little money. Amazing. But so far the dream has not panned out. I may be one of the unlucky ones, but this just sucks, especially cos there are many reviewers out there heaping high praise on these products, and probably making a living advertising them. A bit disingenuous.
For me laptop, dongle, headphone - perfect combination, especially for casual listening - disturbs no one. Must have invested about £40 in total on this "experiment", but far more than this small sum is the disappointment, and the huge amount of research that has accompanied the ambition. Looking back, cos I do not really need a mobile solution for high quality audio, I should not have wasted my time, just go ahead and buy a professional or prosumer audio interface. Probably the key reason I have avoided this other route is, I now prefer to mix audio on IEM's. The whole world will say this is bonkers, but I just got paid to mix the 1st song I ever did on a commercial basis, and the client was very pleased with the result. - All done on headphones, in this case an IEM. What counts at the end of the day are results, not gear.
The professional audio industry, unless one is buying a pretty decent audio interface, does not have assured support for low impedance headphones. Devices from companies like Audient have headphone output impedances over 20 Ohms. far from the current standard on many dongles dacs, of less than 1 Ohm.
Do not want to be a guinea pig anymore, for any dongle dac manufacturers. It should not be this hard. In my case, far more than the promise of esoteric specifications, I just need reliable predictable performance.
Looking at an SMSL C200 - not cheap, but as a much more cost effective alternative to the cheapest high end audio interface I can buy from RME or UNIVERSAL AUDIO, with good support for both low and high impedance headphones., and an ASIO driver.
The words of one youtube reviewer for cameras, in my mind, buy once, buy right.
I've been trying to find a well measuring ,small dongle ( apple dongle size), with microphone passthrough for my android phone.
I've bought the Samsung ones from eBay and Amazon, but theyve all been fake!
The apple dongle doesn't have enough volume on android without doing the tricks we all know with USB audio app players l, and I don't want to deal with that
The mezu pro reviewed here is no where to be found and I think they changed the chipset in the new non pro ones
The Helm bolt has a constant clicking noise unless 192kb/24bit audio is being played
I have the S9, and while it's great, I want something smaller.
Any recs?? Preferably black and non metal so.it doesn't scratch the phone, but those are secondary
I bought three Samsung dongles and all of them were fake.
One from ebay.co.uk, one from Amazon.co.uk, and a third from GB Mobile online store in the UK. All three were fake. So glad to know I am not alone in this. Terrible.
