Effective May 2022, #donglemadness is now officially ended. I will no longer add new contents and will cease all activities related to Dongle reviews. This site will still exist, thanks to a sponsor willing to pay monthly site fees to keep it alive, and it will remain alive for as long the subscription is maintained. To all of you who has been so supportive of my adventures, Thank You from the bottom of my heart.
118 DONGLES REVIEWED & RANKED
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
| #donglemadness Best of The Best |
| CEntrance DACport HD Cayin RU6 (2022), Questyle M15 (2022) Lotoo PAW S2 (2022), xDuoo Link2 BAL (2022), Ovidius B1 |
⭐⭐⭐⭐½
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐½
⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐
| ACMEE Magic Sound VI (2022) DSD.3D SigmaTel Glotao Type-C JCally JA02 TempoTec Sonata HD II Vention Type-C Gold Vention Type-C Plextone Type-C |
EQUIPMENT & PLAYLIST USED
DISQUALIFIED DONGLES
| ZOOAUX |
| iNassen |
UNRANKED DONGLES
| E1DA PowerDAC V2.0 (Overheated and self destructed within the first 30 minutes) |
SPECIALTY CLASS PURIST DAC/AMP REVIEWS
| Venture Electronics MEGATRON (2022) |
Andy.EF AudioVault 
Hi Andy. I am a beginner in the scene and I got a question. As a small step, would it benefit me to get the Apple Dongle for my AKG K371?
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No. Apple Dongle is super weak for something like AKG K371. Get something like Avani or Xumee from Amazon
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I’ll try to get a hold of the Avani or Xumee but if they can’t ship it to my country, I’ll just get the iBasso DC05 since a Singapore based online shop can actually send it to my country. Amazon somehow has a hard time sending stuff to my country
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If you are in Singapore then Avani. Even CX-PRO 31993 is already much better than Apple dongle. JCally JM20 too
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I’m not from Singapore. I live in Brunei. I can order the iBasso at store.treoo.sg and have deliver it to my country within a week. Items from AliExpress usually arrive in 3 months. Which is a looooong wait hahahaaha
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If you can get stuff from Singapore get the creative sxfi instead of dc05 or the sonata e44 both are better than dc05
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Sadly, both the E44 and SXFI are not available at both stores. From what I found, the two sites are the only ones that can actually ship the stuff to my country hassle free. I can go for the FiiO KA3 but it is not within my budget.
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Soo excited for your Link2 bal review. This year has quite a few releases, UA5 being the other DUAL DAC.
I am curious on how the link2 bal will fare against the e44. Both being dual dac and infact using the same dac ship.
Looking forward to your review mate.
I must appreciate your efforts. This year especially, your reviews have gone up a another level. Reviewing power and SQ separately with a desktop setup as a reference is a brilliant idea that you have come up with. It really helps people understand synergy as some dacs have good SQ but not enough power so only sound good with efficient loads (IEMS).
Anyway thanks mate for this.
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Thanks. We will find out soon enough yes. Lol. I am enjoying the journey as much as the gear itself. Cheers
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Ruff…yes i second that appreciation for Andy in this area of audio…i believe nobody else is so deep on dongles.
I am also excited which one beat e44 lol. I got two of them price being $65 on Linsoul. I dont think xduoo link 2 bal is 2.2 times worth than e44 but only Andy can tell
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Can you give me a conparision for sound quality between this an the hidizs s9 pro(and sonata e44 and maybe 2 new entries on 5 stars), I’m planning to use this with sony ier z1r and thieaudio monarch mkii so power isn’t a problem
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I mean the fiio ka3
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“Dongles that actually perform on par or better than some Mid-Tiered DAPs”. Can you list me some mid-tiered DAPs so I can imagine how good are the 5-stars?
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My base references are Cayin N6ii E02 Module and Cayin N3 Pro, both of which I used extensively last year as reference for 2021 #donglemadness
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