We measure audio equipment for free!!!

[Coffee_fan]

Good day Amir, I am new to the forum but have lurked on and off for years. I have a couple of Tannoy XT-6 Revolution that I would love to have them tested. I could drop them by your place and pick them up later without rush.

 

[amirm]

Good day Amir, I am new to the forum but have lurked on and off for years. I have a couple of Tannoy XT-6 Revolution that I would love to have them tested. I could drop them by your place and pick them up later without rush.

Hello there. Only a person from our neck of the woods would pick the alias "coffee_fan."

Thanks for the offer. Please start a conversation with me and we can take it from there.

 

[NoobAmplifier]

Forgive me if this has already been accomplished, but has anyone measured the 3.5mm out on a MacBook Pro or Air?

I'm kickstarting my audiophile habit after a 20 year hiatus and have good headphones and and an amp, but am unsure of the gains going from laptop out to external DAC.

Bonus question: From a clarity perspective, anyone know what volume setting is best if using 3.5mm out? Full volume? Middle?

Thanks!

 

[Coffee_fan]

Forgive me if this has already been accomplished, but has anyone measured the 3.5mm out on a MacBook Pro or Air?

I'm kickstarting my audiophile habit after a 20 year hiatus and have good headphones and and an amp, but am unsure of the gains going from laptop out to external DAC.

Bonus question: From a clarity perspective, anyone know what volume setting is best if using 3.5mm out? Full volume? Middle?

Thanks!

The MACs tend to have a pretty good DAC. I have a Chord Hugo and it sounds better than the MAC Dac, but not by a "huuuge" amount. In other words, IMO, the MAC DAC is that good. On the other hand most if not all MACs have the 3.5mm out work both as an analog output as well as an optical Toslink output. So you can either use the DAC or bypass it depending on which cable you plug in.

 

[amirm]

Forgive me if this has already been accomplished, but has anyone measured the 3.5mm out on a MacBook Pro or Air?

I have a Macbook some place. But it is a chore to set it up for measurement so I have not yet tried.

 

[NoobAmplifier]

The MACs tend to have a pretty good DAC. I have a Chord Hugo and it sounds better than the MAC Dac, but not by a "huuuge" amount. In other words, IMO, the MAC DAC is that good. On the other hand most if not all MACs have the 3.5mm out work both as an analog output as well as an optical Toslink output. So you can either use the DAC or bypass it depending on which cable you plug in.

Yes, I keep reading that the DACs on Macs are "pretty good" but I'd love some actual numbers.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised to learn the audiophile community doesn't have these numbers at the ready as they are so ubiquitous. Imagine walking into a coffee shop and seeing a dozen people with the same external DAC feeding their headphones, but being unable to find measurements of the unit online.

I guess I could simply buy a new DAC and see if I can tell the difference (only thing that matters really), but that seems to undermine the point of all reviews and measurements.

@amirm I appreciate what you've built here, and understand this is a challenging ask. Thank you.

 

[KxDx]

Just sent you a msg. I will have two DAC's I'd like to send you for testing this summer.

 

[Morphon]

Any chance you could do a review of one of the dongles powered by the Realtek ALC4042? I think it's a single-chip solution that can decode 32/384 and from my playing around with them, they seem to produce a fairly loud output (especially when fed to the line-in on an amp). They're super cheap, so if you wanted to give one a test I could PayPal you the cash to order one from Amazon. I'd love to see how they measure, especially when used as just a DAC.

 

[amirm]

Any chance you could do a review of one of the dongles powered by the Realtek ALC4042? I think it's a single-chip solution that can decode 32/384 and from my playing around with them, they seem to produce a fairly loud output (especially when fed to the line-in on an amp). They're super cheap, so if you wanted to give one a test I could PayPal you the cash to order one from Amazon. I'd love to see how they measure, especially when used as just a DAC.

Can you provide a link to one on Amazon?

 

[MZKM]

Can you provide a link to one on Amazon?

This one is the Amazon’s Choice at $13 (16 reviews):
https://www.amazon.com/Headphones-Adapter-Converter-Realtek-ALC4042/dp/B07YWKHZLD/

This one is the most popular at $25 (204 reviews):
https://www.amazon.com/Soditer-Headphone-Adapter-Headpone-Earphone/dp/B07LC9SCGC/
Actually, this one is $18 and has 1150 reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-Converter-Adapter-Desktops/dp/B06XP5R449/
I have 0 clue what in the world their “Auditory Feat” graph is representing:

 

[Morphon]

Can you provide a link to one on Amazon?

Absolutely. Here’s one. There seem to be quite a few that come and go. The two I’ve been playing with are no longer available, but have the same single-chip DAC/AMP.

https://www.amazon.com/USB-3-5mm-He...hild=1&keywords=alc4042&qid=1590795040&sr=8-3

 

[amirm]

Absolutely. Here’s one. There seem to be quite a few that come and go. The two I’ve been playing with are no longer available, but have the same single-chip DAC/AMP.

https://www.amazon.com/USB-3-5mm-He...hild=1&keywords=alc4042&qid=1590795040&sr=8-3

OK, I purchased it.

 

[Morphon]

OK, I purchased it.

Awww yeah! If you hate it I’ll refund you.

 

[RickSanchez]

I have 0 clue what in the world their “Auditory Feat” graph is representing:
View attachment 66172

Even better: it's not a feat, it's a "feast".

 

[MZKM]

Even better: it's not a feat, it's a "feast".

Ah, so real it’s palpable.

 

[hmscott]

@amirm - it's great reading the test results here and I am enjoying the site too.

I looked for the FiiO M15 test but I didn't see one yet. Would you like to test my FiiO M15 - 2nd batch shipped to me a couple of weeks ago?

When I get my A90 / D90 later this week I wouldn't mind freeing my M15 up for testing for a couple of weeks (?).

I also have an "extra" BTR5 I could send to you for testing - I thought mine had died at one point and ordered another one still unboxed - my original BTR5 came back to life.

Thanks again for the great site

 

[amirm]

Sure. Just start a conversation with me and we will take it from there.

 

[nrabbit]

I can't seem to start a conversation as the PM tool seems to think I'm spam for some reason, but I'd like to send in a polk s15 bookshelf speaker.

 

[amirm]

I will start one with you.

 

[RickSanchez]

I can't seem to start a conversation as the PM tool seems to think I'm spam for some reason, but I'd like to send in a polk s15 bookshelf speaker.

I have a pair of these myself, definitely curious to see how they measure and how well they may or may not respond to room EQ.