Hi-Res Lossless Music CX Pro USB C to 3.5 mm Audio Adapter HiFi 32bit 384KHz CX31993 Dongle Headphone Amp USB C DAC Compatible with iPhone 15 Pro Max Plus, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Pixel 7 iPad Air Mini

I reviewed this DAC by listening tests, inspecting the USB traffic, and profiling with an oscilloscope. Yep, it does receive 384kHz at 32bits, although you may be hard-pressed to find audio recorded at that quality.The signal appears quite clean when viewed on the oscilloscope-the filtering is good, notably better than the same from my T480. The Thinkpad's output is my personal baseline for consumer audio, and this manages to beat it, so it earns the check in my book.The sound feels bright but not aggressive, has a and the adapter can throw a LOT of bass before starting to feel muddy. It has a slight V-shaped curve, (1.2dB Stdev) which means the listening experience is pleasant, but it doesn't alter the sound much.The adapter comes in a metal tin surrounded by cheapo foam. I can't complain, it got here in one piece. I'm happy that it's not that terrible stamped plastic that hurts your hands almost as much as the environment.The housing feels nice (it is real metal) although the cable feels floppy and unprotected. I added some heat-shrink tubing to hopefully serve as stress relief, but if it does break before I lose it, I don't think I'll be particularly upset. The value is good, it's definitely worth the $12 that I paid for it.

This is one of 6 CX31993 dongles I've purchased. A couple of those were also CX31993/MAX97220 DAC/dongles. It's also the first one I bought and I fell in love with it. That started the hunt for the best CX31993 dongle.The quality appears top-notch. No flaws spotted on the connector housings, jacks or gold-plated connectors. The twisted wire cable looks nice, seems strong and is nice and flexible.The sound on it is amazing. The soundstage is wide for sure, but it's also deep, and picking out individual instruments, voices, percussion and details are easy. It also has a great sense of "air" throughout; the sound is never congested.I don't know what's more amazing, the fact that this great sound comes from such a small package, or that this great sound comes at a cost less than a meal for two at a fast-food restaurant!Of all the dongles I own, and the chips that power them, the CX31993 is my favorite so far (for sound qualities mentioned above). This cable's implementation of the chip is as good as any, and actually sounds better then any of the other brands I've tried. What's the reason? I dint know - cabling? Materials used? Whatever it is, it works, and at this price, it's a no-brainer. Get it!NOTE: The manufacturer has a newer model of this DAC/dongle listed, with gray connectors, sturdier looking cable and, at this time, a couple of bucks cheaper, but to me it does not sound as good as the one in this review.

I needed a lightweight solution for my ultra lightweight travels on a plane, so this was my main criteria.Literally all these inexpensive dongles use the same Conexant CX31993 chip, and they all fall in the same price range. The other reason was that Google left out a 3.5mm jack for my wired headphones and this was a good solution.I chose this brand because it came with a USB C to USB A adapter, and it came in a little tin box with a hand cut label pasted on. It looked like it was partially hand made in some small shop in Shenzhen, China. The materials are very nice and the cable is very flexible, I hope it lasts a good long time.The audio quality is... GOOD ENOUGH. With cheap earphones, you will be pleased because they will not reveal any flaws in the audio, and your budget earphones will sound better and louder than your phone's amp.However, if you connect some reasonably expensive earphones (like balanced armature, 16 Ohm earphones), well...it's almost there, but not quite satisfying if you've heard better. This probably won't bother you, unless you have some higher end DAC/AMP gear. Basically, a $100+ DAC/AMP will sound better with higher end earphones, but I am not willing to carry something bigger and better. This is small enough to simply live on the end of my earphones cable so it all fits very neatly into my carrying case.With that in mind, I'm OK pairing this DAC/AMP with balanced armature earphones for long flights. It's best not to be too critical. After a while you will get used to the audio quality, and you will be rocking out and ignoring that talkative passenger next to you (priceless). The DAC/AMP is small, lightweight, stays cool, plays loud and is inexpensive. I rate this as a good value for the price and purpose.I would say get one and enjoy. Simply a no brainer for the price.

Played on Focal Clear Open Back Headphones for testingImpedance 55 ohmsSensitivity104dB SPL / 1mW @ 1kHzFrequency Response More information 5Hz - 28kHzResponse, Crispness, Voices, echo and acoustics from a large room are outstanding for something this tiny. HOWEVER, it does not live up to the QUAD-DAC the LG v60 flagship phone had that was out 3 years ago. So this device falls short on current tech comparisons at this small of a form factor. The bass on focal clear's was never (loud) to begin with so as for what these normally listen as they work well but doesn't slam or bump loud. Overall SQ, 6/10. Bass response 5/10, Brightness of the songs from Techno, rock, and country seems to lack that strong Vibrancy of a stronger pre-amp. You could say at times it feels like you go from a 320KB Mp3 to a 128KB mp3 in quality. Listening to older swing, jazz, and older music that has noise, airy response in the background, room acoustics and such, is where this excelled as it fit right at home. Response is going to vary on power demand of headphones and smaller earbuds may respond better to that smaller ohm/power draw which will definitely help in sound reproduction. Again my headphones are quite large for such a small device. It works but I'm not asking the world of it. There is a reason there are phone sized DAC's that cost 600-900$. You get what you pay for. This is all your going to get for something this small.