DAC Chip: Apple MFi C101 (Single)
PCM 48kHz, SNR: Undisclosed, Power: 1 Vrms Adaptive, iOS Lightning, 3.5mm SE (Microphone: YES), Metal Chassis & 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

• Clear crisp neutral flat timbre with uncolored tonality
• Well controlled dynamics, full bodied with smooth airy presentation
• Good Micro and Macro details retrieval, very transparent
• Balanced Mids with detailed textures and definition, natural toned Male/Female vocals
• Sparkly Treble with crisp decays, great extensions
• Smooth Mid-Bass, tight, fast with crisp decays
• Sub-Bass exhibited audible seismic response with mild decays.
• Crisp and vivid guitars, piano, percussions (chimes, bells) and drums and taps
• Well-rounded soundstage width with good depth and placement
• Great holographic spatial imaging with sharp precise placement/layers
• Amazing speed and dexterity on complex passages and transients
• Super clean background, zero floor noises
• Clean layers and well-defined separation lines
• Drives Magnetic Planars and BA at 75/100 volume, full bodied and great dynamics.
• Excellent synergy with DD and BA
• Forgiving on Lo-Fi and lower quality sources

💔CONS

• Driving power for great fidelity maxed out below 100Ω and with no less than 96d sensitivity.
• No volume adjuster

VERDICT

UGREEN iOS MFi. Another stellar budget iOS dongle . The use of original Apple C101 with neat implementation exhibited fidelity level I deemed as stellar. It is totally neutral and natural sounding with great balance between musicality and technical prowess. I believe the stringent standards as applied by Apple for MFi does help the accessory makers in being consistent and stable. I am saying this because I am hearing the same quality exhibited in the other MFi certified dongles of TACHJIM Stargate and JCally JM08L. I spent hours and hours comparing the three of them extensively with my finicky TIN HiFi P1 and Etymotic ER4SR. What I heard was similar fidelity level and with just very tiny nuances that separate them. For JM08L and UGREEN iOS, they are practically identical in every way – being “warmer” of the three while The Stargate slightly sparkier. I reckon that the CS Chip being used (for the Stargate) instead of the native Apple C101 attributed to this minor differences. I will not be surprised that the next iOS dongle based on Apple MFi will sound quite similar, again the quality benchmark for Apple products is markedly more stringent in just one standard = Apple.

⭐⭐⭐½ ($12.00)

Best Pairing: Technically competent IEMs between 8 to 75Ω

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