This is a review and measurement of the Schiit Fulla DAC and headphone amplifier. It is the version 1 and is on kind loan from a member. If you are interested in V2/current version, I have purchased that, and the review will be forthcoming.
The Version 1 is a diminutive unit, a bit larger than the typical "thumb drive" sized USB DACs. It is made from folded metal like the larger Schiit products.
There are some sharp corners especially around the volume control knob that I wished were rolled off. Speaking of the volume control, it has rather low level of travel but it works and is convenient to have.
Format wise, this is an older DAC so limited to 96 kHz sampling rate as reported by Roon:
Yes, the USB identifier indeed says "I'm Fulla Schiit." Would be quite funny if the performance is great. Let's see if that is so in our measurements. If you are not familiar with my tests, I suggest reading my tutorial on audio measurements here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/understanding-audio-measurements.2351/.
Measurements
All measurements are performed over only input over USB. The device is class compliant so I did not have to install any drivers to test it (in exclusive mode through Roon player).
I should say that this being an older device, I am limiting my measurements to a smaller subset of the usual. For comparison, I also show its performance against king of bargain USB thumb drives, Speaka (see https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-speaka-usb-dac-and-headphone-amplifier.2423/), Audioquest Dragonfly Black and king of performance in this category, the SMSL Idea.
Let's start with jitter and noise with levels matched with SMSL Idea:
As we see, the Schiit Fulla is not competitive with competing products in this category. It has clear set of jitter spikes on 1 kHz boundaries (USB micro-frames?), and significantly higher noise floor. Fortunately the former is limited to -110 dB so not a big audible concern.
I have been asked to also show the results of this test at 44.1 kHz so here it is, comparing it to 48 kHz above:
As we see, even though our main tone changes to a different frequency, the distortion/jitter/noise profile remains essentially identical. So there is no reason to test both sample rates.
Moving on, let's see how the -90 dB sine wave looks like as a test of linearity and noise:
Here, I am giving the Schiit Fulla V1 an advantage with higher output level. Neither seems like a winner. Performance is OK but noisier than most desktop class DACs.
Let's look at THD+N distortion versus level:
SMSL Idea wins by a good margin with the Schiit Fulla mixing in with the rest.
Finally, let's look at output impedance:
We get a nice 0.7 ohm impedance which is pretty good. This means the unit will not change the frequency response of your headphones.
Subjective Listening
I didn't bother comparing the unit to any other. Instead, I just listened to the unit. Using my Sony MDR-V6 headphones with the music on pause, the volume control was pretty scratchy. Turning it up and down would make a clear static sound as the wipers moved. Switching to Sennheiser HD-650, I could not hear it anymore.
Listening to my reference clips, the Sony MDR-V6 sounded quite satisfying. There is plenty of power to drive them. Switching to the high impedance Sennheiser HD-650, the sound became anemic with barely enough power to drive them. This is not atypical for this class product.
Conclusions
The Schiit Fulla V1 DAC and Headphone amp follows the same well travelled path as other Schiit DACs I have tested. Measured performance in critical tests such as Jitter and Noise is simply not competitive. Better job can be done even if it is hard to make a case for the differences being audible.
On the other hand the volume control as small and cheaply made as it is, is quite handy to have. Most USB thumb drive DACs either don't have volume control or have some kind of up/down digital control.
From subjective front, listening with more efficient/lower impedance headphone is quite pleasant. So if that is what you have and can find this unit on the cheap in second hand market, you won't see me hounding you for purchasing it
.
-----
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).
The Version 1 is a diminutive unit, a bit larger than the typical "thumb drive" sized USB DACs. It is made from folded metal like the larger Schiit products.
There are some sharp corners especially around the volume control knob that I wished were rolled off. Speaking of the volume control, it has rather low level of travel but it works and is convenient to have.
Format wise, this is an older DAC so limited to 96 kHz sampling rate as reported by Roon:
Yes, the USB identifier indeed says "I'm Fulla Schiit." Would be quite funny if the performance is great. Let's see if that is so in our measurements. If you are not familiar with my tests, I suggest reading my tutorial on audio measurements here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/understanding-audio-measurements.2351/.
Measurements
All measurements are performed over only input over USB. The device is class compliant so I did not have to install any drivers to test it (in exclusive mode through Roon player).
I should say that this being an older device, I am limiting my measurements to a smaller subset of the usual. For comparison, I also show its performance against king of bargain USB thumb drives, Speaka (see https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-speaka-usb-dac-and-headphone-amplifier.2423/), Audioquest Dragonfly Black and king of performance in this category, the SMSL Idea.
Let's start with jitter and noise with levels matched with SMSL Idea:
As we see, the Schiit Fulla is not competitive with competing products in this category. It has clear set of jitter spikes on 1 kHz boundaries (USB micro-frames?), and significantly higher noise floor. Fortunately the former is limited to -110 dB so not a big audible concern.
I have been asked to also show the results of this test at 44.1 kHz so here it is, comparing it to 48 kHz above:
As we see, even though our main tone changes to a different frequency, the distortion/jitter/noise profile remains essentially identical. So there is no reason to test both sample rates.
Moving on, let's see how the -90 dB sine wave looks like as a test of linearity and noise:
Here, I am giving the Schiit Fulla V1 an advantage with higher output level. Neither seems like a winner. Performance is OK but noisier than most desktop class DACs.
Let's look at THD+N distortion versus level:
SMSL Idea wins by a good margin with the Schiit Fulla mixing in with the rest.
Finally, let's look at output impedance:
We get a nice 0.7 ohm impedance which is pretty good. This means the unit will not change the frequency response of your headphones.
Subjective Listening
I didn't bother comparing the unit to any other. Instead, I just listened to the unit. Using my Sony MDR-V6 headphones with the music on pause, the volume control was pretty scratchy. Turning it up and down would make a clear static sound as the wipers moved. Switching to Sennheiser HD-650, I could not hear it anymore.
Listening to my reference clips, the Sony MDR-V6 sounded quite satisfying. There is plenty of power to drive them. Switching to the high impedance Sennheiser HD-650, the sound became anemic with barely enough power to drive them. This is not atypical for this class product.
Conclusions
The Schiit Fulla V1 DAC and Headphone amp follows the same well travelled path as other Schiit DACs I have tested. Measured performance in critical tests such as Jitter and Noise is simply not competitive. Better job can be done even if it is hard to make a case for the differences being audible.
On the other hand the volume control as small and cheaply made as it is, is quite handy to have. Most USB thumb drive DACs either don't have volume control or have some kind of up/down digital control.
From subjective front, listening with more efficient/lower impedance headphone is quite pleasant. So if that is what you have and can find this unit on the cheap in second hand market, you won't see me hounding you for purchasing it
-----
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
If you like this review, please consider donating funds for these types of hardware purchases using Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/audiosciencereview), or upgrading your membership here though Paypal (https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...eview-and-measurements.2164/page-3#post-59054).