DAC Chip: Cirrus Logic CS43131 + OPA1622 (Single)
PCM 32bit – 384khz DSD128, SNR: -120dB, Power: 30mWX2 32Ω , USB Type-C Male, 3.5mm SE (Microphone: Unspecified), 90mm, 4g, Aluminum Chassis with SPC Cable

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Listening Equipment: Etymotic ER4SR, ER2XR, Shure KSE1500, TIN HiFi P1, Monolith M565C

LISTENING EQUIPMENT USED IMPARTED HUGE INFLUENCE TO SOUND IMPRESSIONS & RATING

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💚PROS

• Polished neutral, natural, and crisp timbre, uncolored
• Airy sparkly dynamics, well controlled articulation
• Great coherence with pristine clarity all over, very transparent
• Balanced Mids with rich textures and definition, crisp Male/Female vocals
• Silky smooth Treble with polished finesse, depth, extension, and textures
• Fast, impactful Mid-Bass with crisp decay
• Richly textured Sub-Bass with great decay
• Excellent details retrieval, Macro and Micro. Well nuanced
• Realistic guitar, piano, cello, and bass guitar tones, vivid yet smooth
• Realistic sounding percussions (chimes, bells) and drums and taps
• Tall soundstage with great depth and placement.
• Great imaging, razor sharp precision with holographic spatial staging
• Completely black background, zero floor noises
• No signs of coarseness or grainy edges, at any frequency
• Great sibilance resistance even on peaky songs
• Very forgiving on Lo-Fi and lower quality sources
• Flexible synergy with wide variety of IEMs and Headphones
• Beautiful, lightweight, and beautiful ultra-compact construction

💔CONS

• Tall soundstage but slightly narrow staging
• Slightly less organic than the topmost performers, mildly dry
• Could use a bit more driving power.
• On overly complex passages, exhibited congestion and the presentation gets narrower.
• No longer in production

VERDICT

Meizu HiFi Audio Pro. I was fortunate that my good buddy Yannick was generous to hand me this legendary unit that played vital role in paving the way for hi fidelity in ultra-small package. At the turn of 2020 USB DAC/Amp dongles started to turn heads and among them this Meizu unit stood tall and proud. If you manage to grab one, then consider yourself incredibly lucky to still have it. The sound quality of this Meizu is nothing short of stellar and despite being “old” now, it exhibited the finesse that was lacking in JCally JM20 – another CS43131 that I have tested in this #donglemadness. The presentation is audibly more polished and refined compared to JM20. However, this Meizu is not without caveats. For one it exhibited some sloppiness when handling fast complex passages and things started to get slightly muddy and narrower. Secondly the driving power is less than commanding. Everything else, it is a very respectable unit even now. For those seeking similar sound, there is still hope in the form of iBasso DC03 which runs on dual CS43131 offering further improvements in speed, wider staging, and better driving power. Or you can also get JCally JM20 which is almost identical sounding (slightly less refined and polished)

⭐⭐⭐½ (DISCONTINUED)

Best Pairing: Flexible IEMs between 8 to 75Ω

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