FOREWORD

“Subjective Impressions”. NOT objective professional reviews

These are my own items purchased with my own money. No sponsorship. I do this because it is fun, and I love trying out gadgets and discover things. Thanks to HiFiGo for the merciful discounts they gave me for subsequent repeat purchases (because I can’t stop buying). My wallet already dying repeatedly……

I would like to credit my buddy Yannick Khong for his valuable insights and contributions on the subject of USB Dongles. Yannick helped me with sanity checks on my assessments as he did similar research a year ago. Also Jeffrey Fries, Edmund Chan, Syazwan, Chan Hang Meng, Wild Lee & Reza Emmanuel for some more insights on dongle impressions. All of them longtime and active members of ChiFi Audio Reviews FB group.

Dongles usage on my tests are for IEMs and Headphones NOT exceeding 250 Ohm, minimum sensitivity of 91db.

My preferred sound and timbre signature = DF Neutral, Natural Flat – Analogue and Organic tonality.

I describe what I hear, no more no less. No techie measurements involved. There will be no FR measurements or anything like that as I have no access to such tool, nor do I know how to operate them even if I have one in front of me.

Please excuse my haphazard format, I am not a professional reviewer, and I wrote things as I heard them. Also, I will use non-conventional analogies to describe what I hear, sometime I describe them as if I am savoring some food 🙂

Agree to disagree, what is beautiful to my senses could be utter shit to you.

I NEVER use software EQ. So don’t expect my writings to include FR range because I am not proficient in pinpointing those numbers.

My tests do not include anything above 44.1/16bit. Mostly FLAC unless specified

I don’t use UAPP to bypass Android SRC since I have no need for Bit Perfect beyond Android stock 48Khz limit.

DONGLE: Audio DAC/AMP that are built to run without their own battery source are regarded as a Dongle. Usually the size would not exceed beyond the typical USB Thumb Drives. This insanity that I started records the adventure of me acquiring every possible dongles that I can afford to buy and test them with my own preferred equipment in the search for the sound that I crave. I have totally abandoned the need for a dedicated desktop Audio rig or a high end DAP because I believe the limit of my usage can be maxed out with the right dongles

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