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Review: Apple vs Google USB-C Headphone Adapters

minimalist

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Note the multitone results, a much more rigorous test.
Yes, you are right. Multitone would be much more interesting. So does anybody have reliable numbers or a link to multitone or at least IMD tests for model A2049?
 

minimalist

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I'd run a loopback at minimum to see what your actual test limits are. I haven't run a USB-C dongle, but I've run tests on the Lightning dongle and it's quite good.
Thanks for helping. After comparing measurements of my Apple dongle, a Behringer UCA202 and an Arcam IrDAC, I came to the conclusion that something must be wrong with my Apple dongle. The other DACs measured fine (within their limits), while with my Apple dongle the noise floor jumped up and down when continuously lowering the volume step by step (0.5dB each step for the hardware volume, 1dB each step for the software volume). To the happy users of the Apple dongle: please ignore my previous findings.
 
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Cycie

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Hi, I've tried looking for the US model A2049 but I believe it would take a lot of extra $ to ship it here. I currently have the lightning to 3.5mm model A1749 and was wondering if this is the same performance?

I'm also curious how the Apple DAC A2049 compares to Chi-Fi products like the $20 USB Fever DAC and $50 FX-audio DAC-X6.

Thanks for any thoughts here.
 

lawk

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I got confused. With USB-C and Lightning. I think the lightning dongle is the same everywhere? A1749? it measures at 1vrms I think.
 
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JimBobSound

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I got confused. With USB-C and Lightning. I think the lightning dongle is the same everywhere? A1749? it measures at 1vrms I think.
I live in the uk and the A1749 I have is 1vrms. I know because it clips my shure KSE1200 energiser at full volume, the KSE clips with anything above 0.7vrms Unless the input stage is dropped -10db.
 

JoachimStrobel

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Has anybody managed to attach that dongle to a R4 running Volumio. It seems to be recognized as a HumanInterfaceDevice and is assigned to the USBHID driver but not seen as Audio output device.
 

leyo96

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Would this adapter paired to an Atom be better than my mobo dac with an atom? MSI z370 gaming pro carbon. Thanks
 

Veri

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Would this adapter paired to an Atom be better than my mobo dac with an atom? MSI z370 gaming pro carbon. Thanks
Probably not I'd just go rear mobo > Atom
 

leyo96

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Probably not I'd just go rear mobo > Atom
So I'd just need a 3.5 to rca cable from the back panel out to the atom, right?
How much a dac like a topping D10 improve audio quality? I have akg712 pro and listen to Tidal hifi in exclusive mode
 

Veri

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So I'd just need a 3.5 to rca cable from the back panel out to the atom, right?
How much a dac like a topping D10 improve audio quality? I have akg712 pro and listen to Tidal hifi in exclusive mode
Atom has a 3.5mm input too :D

How much, hard to say without knowing how good your mobo really is!
 

leyo96

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I know but I feel that aux cables quality is always very poor compared to rca, but I've never test it.

I have to say audio from the front panel is not bad
 

Veri

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I know but I feel that aux cables quality is always very poor compared to rca, but I've never test it.

I have to say audio from the front panel is not bad
If subjectively the audio is not bad at all it's likely a DAC upgrade will be really minor and perhaps not appreciable at all..
 

leyo96

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If subjectively the audio is not bad at all it's likely a DAC upgrade will be really minor and perhaps not appreciable at all..
It's not bad imo, but I have nothing to compare it to.
 

amanieux

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It is one of the dirty secrets of audio that many devices have audibly transparent DACs and that if they are up to driving your headphones to the volume you want (and not all are with high impedance and inefficient headphones) then you really don't need a separate DAC. I use my Sony Xperia XZ Premium phone connecting headphones directly into its headphone jack and the sound quality is excellent. To be honest, when I've compared it with various external DACs I've never felt there was any need to get a separate unit although the volume can be a bit anaemic with less efficient headphones.
i confirm, my sony xz premium dac is very close to meizu pro (slightly more trebble om meizu if i do intense a/b testing but unnoticeable if i just listen without a/b testing)
 

amanieux

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I can confirm that this Apple dongle will not work with Onkyo HF player.
But my Sony Xperia XZ premium can recognize it, not bit perfect tho.
did you had more or less power than xz premium internal dac ? thanks
 
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amanieux

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Edit: should clarify I'm talking about apple dongle

Just went out and bought one of these. It sounds as transparent as I'd expect, and seems to pair well with my etymotic er4b. No weird upper mids harshness like with my shanling m0. Borrowing the USBC to USBA adapter from my hidizs dongle it works wonderfully with my computer as well, which is primarily what I bought it for.. Though for more dynamic tracks UAPP's volume scale is a bit too imprecise, since the dongle is *just* strong enough to really drive my er4b properly. Neutron solved that issue I suppose, though annoyingly it does not bind to the volume buttons properly. Can't have everything, I guess.
same experience with meizu pro dac, uapp has low volume and only 20 steps volume (and exponential so unusable) but neutron has 64 volume steps (linera so usable) and volume is 3x higher, so i guess neutron is doing something right with usb dacs (only problem i have with neutron is that when i switch to any other app with audio such as youtube volume is low and even lower when i switch back to neutron and i have to unplug/replug dac to recover full volume ( i guess usb audio volume management on android is really poorly implemented).
 
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billmr

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Any Idea where to get a windows 8.1 driver for this dac ? or one for my picore player, it works on neither of these for me.

it does work on my kids win10 computer, so the dongle works.

I think it is probably a Thesycon USB audio class driver TUSBAudio ? for windows anyway
 

Mostmax

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Any Idea where to get a windows 8.1 driver for this dac ? or one for my picore player, it works on neither of these for me.

it does work on my kids win10 computer, so the dongle works.

I think it is probably a Thesycon USB audio class driver TUSBAudio ? for windows anyway

You shouldn't need to install a driver for it to work with piCorePlayer. It should be available in Alsa as "USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack..."

I just tested it out on my Pi Zero with pCP (v.6.0.0) (and also with Raspotify running on DietPi) and it is working without issue. Below is a screen shot of my pCP output setting.

piapple1 - Copy.JPG
applealsa - Copy.PNG

appleoutpi - Copy.JPG
 
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amanieux

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The US version has model number A2049 and the EU one is model A2155 (both have the model number written on the cable).
what is the big fuss about being 2v, 1v or 0.5v at max volume when you will be around 0.1v anyway for normal listening level on most iem ?
 
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