Not so hifi dongle DAC

 Many music enthusiast will know what is a DAC (Digital Analogue Converter). This is a device to covert digital signal into analogue so that it can be heard by our ears. Human ears cannot understand digital signal so anything we hear is analogue wave form. Lets not get into technical detail on it but generally most of the devices we use today has DAC in it. Can be a laptop, a smart phone, TV, BluRay player, media player, etc. As all our devices have DAC inside and why do we need another one ? Various reason, some DAC cannot decode certain types of digital format, some cannot support higher resolution, some just plain without much to offer but just can produce the sound as is.

Generally as music lover we want to hear the high fidelity that music can offer and therefore external DAC comes into the picture. There are many different kind of DAC from small to big size hardware. Also many different implementation as well but I won't go there. As today many people go portable as smart device is readily available and  music streaming is also common this days. Somehow most manufacturer of smart phones also decided that the usual 3.5mm jack of earphone is no longer needed. Many a times we have some nice IEM but can't be use with the phone. So the only way is to get some kind of converter. The converter sometimes is also called pigtail converter as is usually small and just short cable. This little converter is actually a DAC as well which it convert the digital signal to analogue so the ear phone can produce the sound for our ears.

This create a bottle to the audio especially hi-res audio. So to take advantage of the many hi-res audio streaming, this comes the dongle DAC. If you compare the dongle DAC and the pigtail converter, it look almost similar. This little dongle DAC only weigh few grams. So why the bothersome of getting this little DAC ? 

Look closer to this we can see the hi-res audio label for this little DAC. With this , now I can enjoy hi-res audio without the bottle neck. It can even support up to DSD512. Pretty impressive for such a small device. The good news is also this DAC cost about RM250 or so. I think is pretty affordable. 

So what I need now is just an earphone. I have mine JVC wood IEM. It sure doesn't a lot now with this simple DAC. Not just for hi-res , even CD quality streaming sounds very good with the DAC to my IEM. Although is a little bigger than the pigtal converter but is still pretty easy to tug into the pocket when I go into train or even going for a run. Simply amazing to have this. 

To gain a little more out of this DAC, you can use it as traditional DAC together with your computer. Easily this can be hook into your hifi system to listen to your favorite songs on streaming. For myself I have contacted it with the Surface 7, playing from spotify. Of course there is no hi-res but is still pretty good with it has to offer. 

Now does this output to the amplifier if is just 3.5mm jack. This can be solve with cable from 3.5mm to RCA. You can simply get this for less than RM15 or so. I am using the AudioQuest evergreen which is a little costly but it does improve the sound even more. So with the RCA , just simply connect it to your amplifier and voila you have hifi streaming with the dongle DAC. 

Apple Music this link to a video for what I have use it for apple music with the ipad with the same solution but additional converter needed for the apple lightning connection. Enjoy the music.