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Schiit Fulla E DAC & Amp Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 29 16.6%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 91 52.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 49 28.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 6 3.4%

  • Total voters
    175

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Fulla E DAC, Headphone Amplifier and microphone input. A member kindly drop shipped one to me and costs US $109.
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo DAC Review.jpg

I think the packaging and color are absolutely adorable! And I really like the feel of a volume control on top. Connectivity is rather rich despite the tiny package:

Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo DAC Toslink Review.jpg


You have Toslink in addition to USB-C input. No power supply is provided but you need one to use Toslink by itself (or use your computer's USB connection). A microphone input is provided to go with the gaming angle:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo DAC Microphone Review.jpg


During the testing I ran into a problem with the clock sync would get lost at times. I could not figure out what was going on. I contacted Schiit and they sent me another one with the same problem. You can see its manifestation here:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier Toslink Clock Instability at 44100 Clock Measurement.png


Source tone was 1 kHz so we should see a flat line but instead, there was this pattern to clock jumping lower at very precise times. I managed to figure out that whatever sample rate the unit is powered on in, works fine. But if you change it, you get this instability. So if you started with 44.1 kHz and only played that sample rate, all was well. But if you switched to 48 kHz, which some of my tests use, you get the above instability. Power cycling the unit would get it working at 48 kHz but now, switching to 44.1 kHz would cause the problem. I reported this to Schiit and they have confirmed it is a firmware bug. They have a unit with updated fix coming to me to confirm. Company says they have not had any customer complaints about this which is believable as likely people just play 44.1 kHz content.

As an aside, I like Schiit's sense of humor as evidenced in the name the product exposes to USB class:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo Identity Measurement.png


Schiit Fulla E Measurements
Let's start with our dashboard:

Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo Measurement.png

This is decent enough performance for the class, clearing 16 bit hurdle. But as regular readers know, competition is stiff in this price range with many higher performance products (but with different features/pricing):
best small headphone amp dac review.png

best small headphone amp dac zoom review.png


Here is the performance at other output levels:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo THD vs Level Measurement.png


Maximum of 2 volts is going to hurt power rating at high impedance later.

Noise performance is good at 2 volts out and above average at 50 millivolts:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo Dynamic Range Measurement.png


most quiet headphone amplifier hiss review.png


Linearity is very good:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo Linearity Measurement.png


Jitter is not:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo Jitter Measurement.png


Fortunately not likely to be an audible concern.

IMD is again decent for class:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo IMD Distortion Measurement.png


The standard default DAC reconstruction filter is provided:



Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo DAC Filter Measurement.png

Which again results in decent wideband distortion+noise test:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo THD vs Frequency  Measurement.png


You buy this device to use with headphones so let's see power at 300 ohm:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo THD 300 Measurement.png


As I predicted, we don't get much of it before the output clips. We are talking dongle class performance here, not desktop. Fortunately current delivery is good resulting in good bit of power at 32 ohms:
Schiit Fulla E Headphone DAC Amplifier USB Stereo Power 32 ohm Measurement.png


I have not had a chance to listen to it. When I do, I will update the review.

Conclusions
Schiit nails the look and functionality of this little box. It is so good that I think they should consider making a higher performance, slightly larger one. As is, general performance is good sans the low output voltage which limits usage of high impedance headphones to efficient ones. The sample rate bug is unfortunate and keeps me from recommending it.

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vaidd

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Thanks for the review. Is the volume digitally controlled, and as such, it should have perfect channel balance? Also, are you planning on measuring the microphone input?
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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Thanks for the review. Is the volume digitally controlled, and as such, it should have perfect channel balance? Also, are you planning on measuring the microphone input?
I think it is analog. Should have measured channel match.
 

LearningToSmile

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Outside of the clock issue performance seems adequate given the additional functionality of mic input. The poor performance with high impedance loads is probably the biggest concern - common advice outside audiophile spaces towards people who would be the target audience of this device is to only get a DAC/amp if the integrated headphone amp of whatever device they're using is not powerful enough to drive their headphones. So someone might be in this situation, buy this device, and find that it doesn't actually solve their issue.
 

nyxnyxnyx

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this used to be a quite better option before the massive waves of highly competitive products in the 100bucks category. I know performance is not so good but with a mic port, this compact size and the narrative that is more directed at "gamers" instead of "audiophiles".... I think it's still going to be a nice for some, albeit not the best bang for the bucks.
 

Cars-N-Cans

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Thanks for yet another great review!
At least it's not, you know, completely Fulla Schiit.
Still got a few dingleberries as we see from Amir bustin' out the pack of Audio Precision wet wipes, but for the cost and size its not too bad. And yeah, the terrible puns can go on forever... :p

Still in such a small form-factor it would be nice for work or travel. Edit: The only real complaint is not being able to swing much past 2V so out of luck with anything other than low impedance headphones. Would have been nice to see some sort of BTL arrangement or a boost converter, but oh well...
 
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poxymoron

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Thanks Amir. Great to see DACs with different functionality reviewed. Lovely form factor and that Hel looks interesting.
 

Dennis_FL

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Note the typo on the graph (only does it at 44.1)
 

Jim Shaw

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I've had my eye on this device for desktop use when I need to Zoom conference from a Win laptop. I was originally going to buy a WiiM Pro for this until they nixed the headphone jack. I presume (?) the mic input provides power for the mic, also. I have low Z AKG 371s, so there should be plenty of poop to drive them. And enough fidelity for casual music listening. Fulla poop, this Schiit...

Thanks for the review.
 

Matias

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Topping could have nailed it with the DX1 but it lacks mic input... a shame.
 

Jim Shaw

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Still in such a small form-factor it would be nice for work or travel. Edit: The only real complaint is not being able to swing much past 2V so out of luck with anything other than low impedance headphones. Would have been nice to see some sort of BTL arrangement or a boost converter, but oh well...
Just my subjective observation: Those here sporting 300-ohm headphones are pretty solidly in the high-end music camp. They probably aren't in the market for a gaming/conferencing device. And getting high voltage out of a USB-powered device can be a complication that adds circuitry.
I'm just glad to read that the audio quality is good enough for casual music playback.
 

mrmoizy

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It is so good that I think they should consider making a higher performance, slightly larger one.

They do, it's called Hel. I'd be curious how it performs.

https://www.schiit.com/products/hel-1

One thing Schiit touts with the Fulla is its microphone input. I wonder how it performs compared to a regular microphone input on a PC.

Many thanks for the review and testing.
 

Jim Shaw

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Topping could have nailed it with the DX1 but it lacks mic input... a shame.
Yeah. It seems as though Topping has evolved the marketing strategy of selling several boxes rather than all-in-ones. Want a DAC? Buy one. Want to listen on headphones, then buy an amp. Want to use speakers, buy another amp box. Stack them neatly on your desk and connect them together with a bunch of annoying cables and wires... and wall warts.
Want an all-in-one? We have some, but they seem to have a bad reputation.
 

staticV3

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Topping build whatever sells and whatever they're capable of building.
At the moment, that excludes ADCs, DSP, AVRs, headphones, etc.
I highly doubt they intentionally nerf their AIOs or skip customer requested features just for fun.
 

Matias

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Topping build whatever sells and whatever they're capable of building.
At the moment, that excludes ADCs, DSP, AVRs, headphones, etc.
I highly doubt they intentionally nerf their AIOs or skip customer requested features just for fun.
I agree with DSP, AVRs, HPs, etc. But an ADC for mic and/or for reading the position of a pot should be very simple to do. It's not like an entire audio interface with pristine pre-amps and ADC conversion, ASIO drivers, etc. Just mic opens up market for gamers, and it is a HUGE market they are missing out.
 
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TNT

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FFT meas for filter says Sabai in legend.

And, while the stop band eventually goes to a resonable attenuation, the filter isnt stopping alias as it not steep enough in the beginning.

The theorem says: nothing past half Fs.... right?

So -11 dB at 24k (i.e. 2k past Fs/2) isn't anything to celebrate... or to call "nice"...!?

//
 
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