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DAC Chip: Undisclosed (Single)
PCM Unspecified, SNR: Unspecified, Power: Unspecified, 3.5mm SE (Microphone: Yes), Rubber Chassis & Cable

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Listening Equipment: Etymotic ER4SR, ER2XR, Shure KSE1500, TIN HiFi P1, HZSOUND Heart Mirror

LISTENING EQUIPMENT USED IMPARTED HUGE INFLUENCE TO SOUND IMPRESSIONS & RATING

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💚PROS

• Natural flat timbre with uncolored tonality
• Well controlled dynamics, full bodied with airy presentation
• Well nuanced Micro and Macro details
• Balanced Mids with rich textures and definition, natural toned Male/Female vocals
• Smooth Treble with good decays, good extensions
• Strong Mid-Bass, tight, fast with good decays
• Good Sub-Bass seismic responses with mild decays.
• Crisp and realistic guitars, piano, percussions (chimes, bells) and drums and taps
• Decently wide soundstage width with good depth and placement
• Decent holographic spatial imaging with proper placement/layers
• Tidy layers and well-defined separation lines
• Drives Magnetic Planars and BA at 80-90/100 volume for normal listening level.
• Excellent synergy with DD and BA (below 50Ω)

💔CONS

• Weak driving power beyond 100Ω
• Details retrieval are just average.
• Speed is just average and may exhibit congestion on complex passages
• May exhibit some floor noise.
• SUPER prone to picking up RF signal interferences.
• Very flimsy rubber build. Usable but need to be mindful not to snap the connectors.

VERDICT

Plextone Type-C. Officially this is the CHEAPEST dongle tested so far at $2.60. It’s cheaper than our average Starbucks morning coffee. The biggest surprise was how it was able to drive my Magnetic Planar TIN HiFi P1 and Monolith M565c (80-90 volume) and not sounding thin. In fact, I would even describe it as full bodied, with engaging dynamics – no distortion. Similarly, my ER4SR BA was quite enjoyable as well. However, being this cheap the biggest flaw was the build. It is literally made of rubber and does not have any sort of shielding at all. Which means when connected to a phone it will pick up every RF signals now and then. Switching to Airplane mode solves this issue. While tonality wise it sounded correct, the biggest drawback is the dynamics hygiene. Coherence was evidently lacking compared to the top 10 dongles. With some grainy textures exhibited here and there especially when used with highly resolving IEMs/Headphones. Speed was lacking too, and the sound exhibited that digital compression on complex passages. But hey this is probably the only dongle in existence that qualify as “disposable after use” DAC/Amp.

⭐⭐ ($2.60)

Best Pairing: Anything below 100 Ohm and no less than 105db of sensitivity

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