INTRO

The Shanling UA2 Plus is the successor to the obvious UA2 and the upgrade piece to the UA1s with the additional balanced 4.4mm output jack and further DSD support. It joins a plethora of other great USB DACs like the UA3, and entry level small portable DAPS like the M0 Pro and M1s.

With its straightforward plug and play capabilities combined with tweaking capabilities when paired with their Eddict Player app, there is something for everyone at a reasonable MSRP of $89. Based on the literature and the singular “mode” button to pop it into legacy UAC 1.0 connection protocol, it appears aimed towards Nintendo Switch users who want improved sound, but in truth it can be for anyone.

Jacked up with the top of the line portable ESS DAC chip ES9038Q2M, Shanling pairs it with their choice of Dual RICORE RT6863 opamps to provide additional output power and 4.4mm balanced outputs for improved stereo separation. The addition of the opamps takes the ES9038Q2M single-on-chip (SoC) DAC amp from 80mW to 125mW of output power in standard 3.5mm jack connection or 195mW when utilizing the robust 4.4mm balanced jack.

These RICORE opamps are found in many of their DAC’s and portable DAPs to carve out the signature Shanling sound. I have not really seen them used elsewhere besides the Khadas Tone Board as the NE5532 is still an amazing clean and precise opamp going on for decades. I am curious as to the choice to utilize a rather less popular opamp.

FEATURES

Shanling was smart to equip the UA2 Plus with a detachable USB-C to USB-C cable while also offering the L3 USB-C to Apple Lightning connector as an optional accessory for an additonal $20. This keeps it versatile and helps prevent cable failures from dooming it to the landfill. Inside the package is an included USB-C to USB-A adapter.

Shanling UA2 Plus boasts about a power efficient strategy in which it uses 60% less energy than previous generations in standby mode and 40% less during actual use. I measured about a 40-50mA power draw dubbing itself on the lower end of the scale for power consumption of similar USB DACs. My fellow cohort Jurgen stressed the UA2 was a battery hog, so this was another area Shanling improved upon.

So why would you buy the Shanling UA2 Plus is the bigger question. The SoC devices are ok in terms of your basic device that should be part of any smart phone that cares about sound quality. Unfortunately those are few and far between these days. Instead it makes sense to look at the DAC/Amp dongles that use additional opamps to boost the power output, but hopefully not at the expense of battery consumption. The Shanling UA2 Plus meets this criteria. The only other additional nice to have feature is the 4.4mm balanced jack that everyone might not require.

SOUND

The Shanling UA2 Plus has a clean and lean sound to it, trending towards a brighter signature with a upper midrange focus. The quad DAC of the LG G8 and the Truthears SHIO add additional warmth and meat to the midbass section given the less brighter nature.

Given that the frequency response is still flat, this difference in sound has to be attributed to other features of the system design as a whole and perhaps the noise shaping. The HIDIZS XO utilizing a dual ES9219C DAC chip sounds bolder, a tad less sharp but also doubles the current consumption. The Shanling UA2 plus presents a more open larger stage and unforgiving, with digital like timbre.

Shanling wins here with their proper detail to power consumption and a more robust 4.4mm balanced connection. Soft and smooth the Truthear SHIO is a less sharp DAC compared to the Shanling UA2 Plus. I would pair warmer sounding headphones with the Shanling UA2 Plus to help even out, or if you prefer a brighter sound pair it with your treble enhanced earphones for extra zing.

The Shanling UA2 Plus is also the smallest, rounded contours, most compact of the bunch, and the extremely flexible braided cable fits nicely into my pocket with the LG G8 and Iphone 13. To unlock the additional features of the DAC you need to use the Eddict Player. The app adds low and high gain control, as well as the typical 7 low-pass filters programmed by ESS. Out of this bunch the HIDIZS XO is the only DAC that includes MQA decoding.

Paired with full size cans, the Shanling UA2 Plus can power the Drop Sennheiser HD6XX, but you really need a real desktop solution to unlock more potential. The Shanling UA2 Plus is more at home powering 100ohm or less headphones.

FINAL REMARKS

The Shanling UA2 Plus is small yet powerful upgrade to the LG G8 quad DAC (basically a UA1), that is noise free and feature packed. Sharp, precise and open sounding, the small increase in price over the UA2 adds a 4.4mm jack and a dual Ricore opamp amplifier section. It is a nicely built portable DAC at a reasonable price given the feature set.

Something sporting these specs and features would have been in the $120+ price bracket a few years ago, but now you can find it for under $90 with less power consumption. Basically, like all these USB portable DACs, decide on the features you need and buy the one that fits your budget, the UA2 Plus neatly meets nearly all my personal requirements.

Disclaimer: Unit provided free of charge by Shanling .

SPECIFICATIONS

Contact us!

DISCLAIMER

Get it from the Shanling Amazon Store

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

The post Shanling UA2 Plus DAC Review (1) – Sharp And Slick appeared first on Music For The Masses.

INTRO

Shanling has released a second version of the UP4 called the Shanling UP4 2022 denoting the 2022 version compared to the 2021 version. With the new iteration priced at $119 we get a dual ES9219C DAC chip vs last years ES9218.

It follows many other interesting products like the UA1, UA2, UA3 we have reviewed previously. They also have attractive higher-end products as well in their DAP lineup so if you have not seen or heard of them I suggest you have a look. The Shanling UP4 2022 slides easily into the top spots for Bluetooth DACs with its powerful neutral and clarifying output, but is it enough to dethrone Amazon’s #1 seller?

Disclaimer: Aoshido Audio provided the Shanling UP4 2022 to Audioreviews free of charge and I will roast it over a hot fire. The original Shanling UP4 (22) sent to me had a firmware issue noted as a skipping hiccuping problem, but Aoshida Audio sent a replacement device so hats off to taking care of the problem easily and swiftly. You can get one for $119.99.

FEATURE CRITICAL COMMENTARY

Misses

The Shanling UP4 2022’s sleek plastic body can be snapped into a not as impressive plastic belt clip case. I do not have much faith in the longevity of the purely plastic clip to retain it’s strength but time will tell. The original Ear Studio ES100 suffered from early clip failures and they upgraded that in the MK2 version. I do like that the extra bulk of the clip can be removed.

One of the standout features not found on many other Bluetooth DAC’s is the Near-Field-Communication (NFC) pairing. While it did make pairing quick and easy, I never really thought a one time pairing process needed to be made any easier. It also might cause frustration if people keep NFC turned off on their phones for security reasons.

The other almost there feature is the option to use the Shanling UP4 2022 solely as a USB DAC. Great in theory, on a Windows PC or Mac there is plenty of output. Once plugged into my Android phone it does work, but volume levels are lower by a fair margin, this could be due the battery recharging. Testing indicates it consumes a whopping 350mA. So in a pinch you can use it with your Android phone or Apple with a USB Camera adapter, but I would not recommend it.

The Shanling UP4 2022 can also be paired with their Eddict Player APP available for both IOS or Android, but only Android offers over-the-air firmware updates.

Hits

So It is not all bad news for the Shanling UP4 2022, I particularly love the single knob/button control. This makes actually using it heads and shoulders above models without controls and ahead of the pack even for ones with multi-button controls. For one, less chance of accidentally changing the volume and it’s tucked nicely into the side to prevent accidental button pushes as well.

There is a mode button too for less used features such as output codec and gain control, but that is not used for normal operation, more of a set it and forget it function. It does allow for high/low gain output, which is a feature that is becoming more common and a nice addition to better support the variety of headphones in the market.

There is also a Turbo boost mode that enables the second DAC to super charge the un-balanced single ended output from 70mW to 100mW (not as noticeable as you might think). It also toggles between 4 different filtering modes named: Natural, Accurate, Mellow and Warm.

The Shanling UP4 2022 also supports LDAC, LHDC, APTX HD, APTX Low latency, APTX, AAC, SBC in bluetooth mode and is indicated by the multi-colored LED when switching between them. It does not support the less common UAC from Hiby.

Dual connections flank the top of the Shanling UP4 2022. Users can choose to run the more common single ended 3.5mm connection or opt for 2.5mm balanced output for more power and channel separation.

Battery Life of the Shanling UP4 2022 is a claimed 11.5 hours or 9/5 hours if using balanced output from the 550mAh battery. Standby mode is approximately 300 hours.

PACKAGE CONTENTS

• Shanling UP4 DAC
• Removable Plastic Belt Clip/Cover
• USB-A to USB-C short cable

Paired up with LG G8 and Moondrop Dusk 2.

SOUND

The Shanling UP4 2022 has a neutral profile across the board there is nothing that stands out more than other areas, this is a good thing. The bass is neutral a little less weight behind it than plugged straight into the LG G8. Bass notes sound more rounded out with the LG ES quad DAC when listening to Brian Setzer Orchestra Rumble in Brighton.

If there is a difference in the midrange and treble I am hard pressed to hear it. The LG G8 is using one generation previous of the ESS DAC lineup and given that it is a SoC, there is not a big variance.

The decay in the bass affects how it much room energy is reflected in the listening experience, again the LG G8 sounds ever so slightly larger in terms of spacing and scale.

In comparison to other bluetooth DACs such as the Earstudio ES100MKII, the Shanling UP4 2022 is more mature sounding, better darker levels giving the impression of more depth and layering. Both bluetooth DACs utilize LDAC, the ES100MKII uses the AK4375A compared to the ES9219C.

The other bluetooth DAC I have is not really comparable, the Sony SBH56 since it supports only the SBC codec. The sound is rather dull, bass lacks any kind of articulation, treble is subdued and it mostly sounds midrange focused. The SBC code makes it sound rather elementary.

For another option the equally praised Qudelix-5K Bluetooth reviewed by Jurgen is the class leader if looking at Amazon sales picks. It hosts the same SoC and features for the same price. The Qudelix has a utilitarian plastic body with a metal clip, and the Shanling UP4 2022 has a much sleeker rounded body with a plastic case clip.

The Shanling UP4 2022 uses the bluetooth chip CSR8675 vs the QCC5124 in the Qudelix. The QCC5124 is said to improve battery life up to 65%. It has a dual DAC boost to push the power level up to 100mW in single output mode, but somehow the Qudelix boosts a higher balanced output power of 240mW vs 165mW.

I like the knob better than the buttons personally. It also appears the Qudelix operates as a phone USB dac given the supplied cables and description so more value there.

Final test for the Shanling UP4 2022 was actually making phone calls. My side of the audio was of course clear but having a conversation proved a little less pleasing. If the device was a relatively short distance away it exhibited a tunnel effect, if I held the device up to my mouth and spoke directly into it the results were more “normal”.

FINAL COMMENTS

The Shanling UP4 2022 is geared towards a small market, I am not sure how many people are looking for bluetooth DAC devices, for those that want to connect wirelessly are going for wireless earbuds based on my own sampling of observation. The market segment for the bluetooth DACs has increased, so maybe there are people who like certain wired headsets but need to connect to phones without a 3.5mm jack.

The Shanling UP4 2022 is a great device for those users, I particularly like the knob control, sleek design and removable belt clip. My only gripes are the clip is completely plastic so longevity can be an issue it you want to actually use that feature, and I really wanted to use it as a USB DAC on my phone but it does not work well for that.

It doesn’t sync to more than one device at a time. On the sound front, it is excellent and plenty powerful to drive headphones under 150ohms. When compared to the Qudelix 5K, shaping and the control knob appear to be the only unique selling features, but is that enough you have to ask yourself.

SPECIFICATIONS

Contact us!

DISCLAIMER

Get it from Aoshida Audio Store

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

The post Shanling UP4 2022 Bluetooth DAC Review – Second Chances, Hiccups Not Included appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Executive Summary

This article discusses the issue with DAC and amp on a single “all-in-one” chip, also known as System on Chip (“SoC”). SoCs have a characteristic sound whereas DAC chips do not.

Introduction

USB DACs + amps (“dongles”) were invented for mobile use with iPhone. The idea was to design small devices in the shape of a USB thumb drive (with a USB-A plug). Such small form factor means no (space for an) internal battery so that the device relies on the host phone’s battery.

The first of its kind, the AudioQuest DragonFly Black, appeared in 2012, but only the next DragonFly generation in 2016 used little enough battery to work with iPhone, which allows only 100 mA current draw. At the time Android was not considered as it does not reproduce music files bit-perfect (and it still does not).

This low-current design came with two tradeoffs, limited power and limited use with low-impedance/low-sensitivity earphones and headphones. Such transducers may distort at higher volumes when not receiving enough current, which starts at the current-hungry low-end (bass and sub-bass). The AudioQuest DragonFlys remain the leaders in low battery consumption, but that comes at a price.

Most recently, manufacturers jumped on this bandwagon and flooded the market with probably >100 such devices, almost all of them connected to their source by a short USB-C cable – which led to the term “dongle”. These typically are battery hogs which drain your phone in no time while exhibiting low distortion and generous amplification power.

Such dongles are therefore more suited for use with computers or as dac/pre-amp with a desktop amp, but the question arises why one should pay extra for miniature when an equally priced but bigger device offers “more technology inside”.

Some of these current-hungry, powerful dongles may be small, but nevertheless are they not really portable.

Prices range from $5 to $400, and I find the biggest differences in the sound quality and not the amplification power (relative to current draw) or the features. The “better dongles” sound richer and smoother, and the lower-end ones are leaner and sharper sounding.

When it comes to purchasing such a device, the potential buyer has the opportunity of testing the product only in the rarest cases. Most acquisition is done by mail order so that the buyer has to rely on reviews.

DAC Chips – do NOT make the Sound

One selection criterium applied by many is the chip that converts the digital signal to analog, which is highly overrated and even misleading. Chips of certain brands are assigned a characteristic sonic signature in the internet’s echo chamber.

For example, ESS Sabre chips are widely believed to have an upper midrange glare and AKM chips are not very dynamic, but this is an urban myth as the chip is only one part in the design.

USB-Audio pioneer and DragonFly inventor Gordon Rankin told me: “There is too many factors to pigeon hole a sound for any DAC: power, filters, analog design, digital design, electrical components, software etc… Power, filtering and new controller make up a big part of the difference in sound. More so than the DAC chip itself.”

And Paul McGowan of PS Audio let me know: “The way a DAC sounds has everything to do with its analog output stage (plus the amp design) and little to do with its DAC chip”.

And the first alarm bell of a poorly implemented chip is vocals gone “wrong”.

It is therefore not surprising that my five devices featuring the ESS ES9038Q2M dac chip, that is the Audioquest DragonFly Cobalt, Shanling UA2, Hidizs S9 Pro, Khadas Tone2 Pro, and the EarMen TR-amp, all sound completely different. Because of this general misconception, and to protect themselves from misinformation, many manufacturers do not disclose the DAC chip used at all (e.g. Sony). 

In summary, the same DAC chip contributes to different sound signatures in different devices.

SoC: System on Chip

But, hold it, not anymore. ESS offers a generation of SoCs (“System on Chip”) that combine DAC and amp “all-in-one”. Examples are the ESS9281P and the ES9281A/80A PRO, and there is no electrical difference between them (the ES9218P is the DAC/Headphone portion of the ES9280/81 chips without the high-speed USB interface, and the ES9281A Pro adds MQA decoding over the ES9280A Pro). Another example is the ES9219C, which replaced the ESS9281P (both all-in-one DAC/amp chips have effectively the same specs, but the ES2919C features hardware-level MQA decoding and it has a lower battery consumption at no load).

This pre-fabrication simplifies product design and allows less experienced/technically inclined/competent audio engineers to develop dongles – which may explain the current dongle flood. Some companies are not even laying out the circuit board, they are using the ESS designed boards and the same parts that ESS used in their evaluation module. The enclosures of such dongles can therefore be very small. And the devices are cheaply produced.

The sonic result: devices with such all-in-one chips sound essentially the same because they are all the same design. For example, the Helm Bolt (ES9281A Pro) sounds almost the same as the Shanling UA1 (ES9218P), they certainly have the same current draw. These sonic similarities were the reason to pursue this topic. Many Shanling daps also feature the ES9218P or ES9219C SoC (such as my M0).

The savvy audio engineer faces a couple of problems wth the SoCs:

• The software cannot be optimized. For example, the DragonFlys feature code to reduce jitter.
• The components are so small that they vibrate and create distortion. This design draws additional current so that DC DC converters are needed to keep the current draw below the phone’s ceiling…which adds noise.

Higher-quality capacitors and resistors as used in the original dongle designs are rather big and expensive in comparison, and they don’t fit in a small enclosure. Cheap resistors lead to power dissipation that alters the sound.

The result of these SoCs is spread of mediocrity and stifling of ingenuity at ever dropping prices. The uncritical consumer’s wallet may benefit from this but not their ears. And probably no their satisfaction in the long run either.

Less is more! Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (famous architect and last director of the Bauhaus).

Exceptions

The Hidizs AP80 Pro-X dap, the Hidizs XO and Qudelix-5K dongles, the TempoTec Serenade X digital desktop player, and a few Shanling devices feature two ES9219C SoCs, the Questyle M15 dongle one ES9281Pro SoC. Both SoCs differ only in their data handling but not in sound. But Questyle added two Current Mode Amplification (CMA) SiPs (“System in Package”: each with two independent amplification circuits) to the SoC to achieve the characteristic crisp Questyle sound.

When listening to well-mastered jazz recordings (a mix of naturally and electrically amplified instruments) with the Moondrop Kato iems using the single-ended circuits, the Hidizs AP80 Pro-X with the M15 attached to is sounding crisper and sharper than without. The tagged-on CMAs make all the difference.

Replacing the M15’s single ended circuit with the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt now connected to the Hidizs, the sound got even crisper, more detailed, and more resolving. No, it is not the Cobalt’s (customized) DAC chip, it is the proprietary output stage, sophisticated filtering, and their proprietary software that, among others, make the difference.

In summary, going from Hidizs dap alone through the M15 to the Cobalt, is like sending your sound through a pencil sharpener.

There is only so much you can do do with an SoC, but you can also hardly screw the sound up. Designing a great dongle needs great designers.

Concluding Remarks

Quality dongles are more expensive because of DAC chips customized to fit the product, higher-quality parts, and last but not least software implementation to optimize the design. But this is not any different with desktop DACs and amps.

SoCs may cater mainly to the manufacturers – and dongles with them appeal more to budget buyers than to audio enthusiasts. In my observation, a relatively large number consumers tend to purchase a lot of repetitive cheap gear rather than a few quality pieces. SoCs play into these markets.

As so often in life, less is more (imho).

In the end, it is up to the consumer, whether they want hyped, low-cost, generic devices or pay for enjoying quality. But SoCs are here to stay.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

This article is partly based on discussion with Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio and Paul Gowan of PS Audio – and I thank them for that. The title image is the Shanling UA1 DAC-amp taken from its product page.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post SoC: All-In-One System On Chip – One Sound Fits All? appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Summary

These two single-chip dongles (Bolt: ESS9281 Pro, UA1: ESS9218 Pro) are superficially similar but quite different sounding. The Bolt can be summarized as clean and midrange-focused, the UA1 as bass- and upper-mid-emphasized (more “Harman”). Which is preferred will depend on the transducers they’re paired with as well as the tastes (and budget) of the listener.

For this comparison I listened with JVC HA-FDX1 single DD & Ultimate Ears UE900S quad BA earphones to 16/44.1 FLAC files played via USB Audio Player Pro from a Nokia 4.2 Android phone. The Bolt is currently $110, the UA1 $45. For details on physical things, specs, etc., see Jürgen’s individual reviews here and here.

Helm Bolt

In summary, the Bolt’s tonal/timbral package is warm in the bass and more clean & precise in the upper mids & treble. With some material, these contrasting characters make it seem a bit disconnected top to bottom. While having good weight in the bass, bass & sub-bass can come across as a bit boomy, un-defined (one-note) & soft, particularly with the source-picky JVC HA-FDX1. 

With the UE900S, though, the tendency for softness in the bass goes away and the rounder character benefits the otherwise lean BA bass notes. Treble is extended but not overemphasized; ‘sweet’ would be the old-school audiophool term. The clean nature of the mids and highs gives a very good sense of instrument separation and imaging. 

Overall I found the Bolt to be very good with UE900S – they sound ‘cleaner’ than from other SE dongles I’ve tried them with and the tonal balance benefits their lean-in-the-bass, low-in-the-upper mids, tizzy-up-top character.

Shanling UA1

First impression of the UA1 is of good top-to-bottom integration and good resolution, with dynamics that are more consistent in character across the range. The top end is well defined but well controlled, not splashy. There’s good bass: with HA-FDX1, sub-bass definition & extension are certainly there, both better than with the Bolt.

However, the UA1’s upper mids are a bit nasal/honky/shouty, particularly with the FDX1s which are a bit elevated there. With those ‘phones the UA1 is more balanced at the extremes than the Helm, but a bit tonally and timbrally off in the mids.

With the UE900S, the bass remains good but the upper mids & treble come off as overexaggerated, sibilant and a bit hashy compared to the Bolt. Cable games might help this, but I’m not optimistic.

Matching

Comparing these two dongles with these two earphones shows the importance of synergy: the Helm is a much better driver for the UE900S than the UA1 is. The sweeter treble of the Helm helps balance the 900s’ overdone highs, and although the 900s’ dipped upper mids would ostensibly seem a better fit with the UA1’s tendency for shoutiness, they actually seem cleaner and better balanced there with the Bolt. The Bolt’s softer, rounder bass isn’t a problem, as it makes the 900s sound a bit more natural. With the FDX1s, however, the Bolt gives a very soft sub-bass compared to the UA1. Conversely, while the bass of the UA1 matches the FDX1s better, its Harmanish tonality does their upper mids no favours.

It’s tempting to attribute differences in the bass, in particular, to differences in output power.  According to Audio Science Review’s measurements, the Bolt clips at 60 mW into 32 Ohms and about 56 mW into 16 Ohms (HA-FDX1 impedance). Shanling specifies the UA1’s power output as 80 mW into 32 Ohms. The difference between the two dongles isn’t large and I doubt it tells the whole story, because the DragonFly Black is very anemic at 18 mW into 32 Ohms yet the HA-FDX1s don’t lose the definition in the sub-bass when fed from the Black to the extent that they do from the Bolt (warmth of the Black’s signature aside). I conclude that with these dongles, transducer synergy is ‘a thing’.

Other Quick Comparisons

Audioquest Dragonfly Black: pleasant warm emphasis (more than the Bolt), but everything softened and resolution lost (blurred, even a bit scratchy or fuzzy in the highs) compared to the Bolt and UA1. Would view as smooth if not by comparison. Smooth (but not soft) in the bass & lower mids; relaxing with the FDX1s.

Apple dongle: softer than DragonFly Black throughout, not as warm though.

EarMen Sparrow single-ended output: Bolt has better macrodynamics, more and cleaner treble, and is more resolving. UA1 has better note definition (resolution). Sparrow balanced output bests both in dynamics & resolution.

Ifi iDSD Nano BL SE (unfair comparison because: not a dongle, battery powered, 200 mW @ 16 Ohms, significantly more expensive; but included here for completeness because I compared it): darker tonal balance, timbre across the range more integrated, balance between dynamic swings & transient speed more even (maybe a little on the slow side compared to the ESS sound, but to me more natural because of that; organic). S-Balanced is a notable step up over SE in ‘cleanliness’.

Conclusion

It was interesting to hear such different sonic characters from these superficially similar dongles. I hesitate to recommend one over the other as transducer synergy, based on my admittedly limited trials, seems to be important. In general terms, I’d suggest that the Shanling UA1 might be the better match if you have ‘phones that are known to be demanding in the bass; and the Helm Bolt might be the better if you have ‘phones you find at the edge of your tolerance in the upper mids.

Disclaimer

These two dongles were sent to Jürgen for review by Helm Audio and Shanling, who we thank for the opportunity to hear them.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

Contact us!

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post Helm Bolt vs Shanling UA1 USB Dongle DAC/Amps Review – Freedom of Choice appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Cons — Interference could be an issue with certain mobile phones or signals; SE output takes such a hit in dynamics and resolution vs balanced that it might be a waste for many users; power consumption via balanced is likely high.

Summary

The EarMen Sparrow is a flexible (balanced or single-ended), powerful USB DAC/amp dongle with great sound quality, being particularly dynamic from its balanced output. However, it can be susceptible to interference when run from a mobile phone.

Sonics and Comparisons

I listened to the EarMen as part of a comparison of a few USB DAC/amp dongles old and new. Listening to all was mainly done with the Drop+JVC HA-FDX1 single dynamic-driver IEMs using the Mee Audio MMCX balanced cable (SPC), with a 2.5 bal. to 3.5 SE adapter where necessary to minimize possible cable differences. Being an Android user, I sent audio (mostly 16/44.1 FLAC files) to the Sparrow with USB Audio Player Pro.

Balanced: From the balanced output, performance is impressive: macrodynamics, note definition & weight, instrument separation, and transient resolution are all excellent, making for a very ‘technical’ package. Tonal balance is good too, no particular part of the range seeming over- or under-emphasized.

While I liked it, the dynamic and fast presentation from the balanced output might become fatiguing after a while with revealing and dynamic transducers like the JVCs and especially with very ‘technical’ multi-balanced-armature IEMs. Matching with smoother ‘phones, or switching to the SE output, might be preferable for long listening sessions.

Single-ended: There’s a notable hit in macrodynamics and low-level resolution from the 3.5mm SE output vs balanced, and note definition, particularly in the bass, is weaker, leading to a much more relaxed presentation.

As mentioned above, depending on the transducers the EarMen Sparrow is paired with, this might not be a bad thing. The contrast however is very pronounced, especially when comparing with others: The Tempotec Sonata BHD, for example – a balanced-only unit – is itself pretty revealing but is notably less dynamic than the Sparrow’s balanced output and notably more dynamic than it’s SE output. And the latter is more relaxed than the single-ended Shanling UA1, and – except notably in the bass – than the single-ended Helm Bolt (which uses the same ES9281Pro SoC as the EarMen Sparrow).

Non-Sound Stuff

Here’s what might be a deal-breaker for some: when playing from the balanced output, the EarMen Sparrow can pick up interference when it’s close to a phone. This has been discussed on internet forums, and EarMen to their credit tried to address it by replacing the original cable with a longer, better shielded one.

I replaced the original with another that was reported to help, the OEAudio OEOTG, which improved the issue but didn’t completely solve it. If you can keep the dongle away from your phone, if you only use it in airplane mode, or if your phone/carrier/local signal doesn’t give you this problem (Jürgen tells me he didn’t experience it with his iPhone SE), great – but it might be a lottery.

For me (Nokia 4.2) it’s much reduced (or absent) from the SE output, but present enough to be annoying at listening levels from balanced when everything’s jumbled together in a pocket.

Minor considerations: unlike with other dongles, sometimes the EarMen Sparrow doesn’t play right away from UAPP when hot-swapped in after another dongle, requiring a re-boot of the player. This doesn’t happen every time, though, and I suspect a recent UAPP update might have cured the problem entirely; I haven’t seen it in the last couple of weeks.

Also, the EarMen Sparrow gets very warm in balanced mode – you can tell it’s putting out some power! This is good, but will come with a pretty high battery drain. Jürgen found the drain when using SE to be in the higher half of his tested units; be aware that balanced use will drain your battery faster still.

More Comparisons & Conclusion

The most obvious comparison among the units I have here – because it’s the only other one with a balanced output – is the dual-CS43131 Tempotec Sonata BHD. Compared to the EarMen Sparrow this has tonal emphasis in the upper mids, a splashier/hashier treble, a more rounded bass, and transients which apart from in the bass are similar in speed to the Sparrow but lesser in weight. However, the Sonata BHD is currently under 1/3 the price of the Sparrow.

The Earstudio HUD100 Mk2 (currently $120), a favorite of Jürgen’s which I haven’t heard, could make for an interesting comparison because although being single-ended, has two outputs, one with high power. Comparisons with other, non-balanced units should be seen in terms of price – and not having heard similarly priced SE units, I can’t usefully comment. 

Overall, I’m impressed with the EarMen Sparrow. The flexibility and differences in sound signature offered by the choice of outputs, and the absolute performance of the balanced output, make it a great contender in the dongle space. The interference issue however, is a serious one.

Contact us!

Disclaimer

This is the same unit reviewed by Jürgen here, which was supplied to him by EarMen upon request.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post EarMen Sparrow Dongle DAC/Amp – Brief Second Opinion appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Cons — Upper-midrange glare.

Executive Summary

The Shanling UA1 is a well-built and organic sounding budget dongle that could be a bit tamer at the top end.

Introduction

I recently analyzed the Shanling UA2, a rich and warm sounding dongle-shaped DAC/amp that features single-ended and balanced outputs – possibly the best of its kind below $100.

The company had slit the the $45 UA1 as an encore in that package, which was Shanling’s first foray into the world of small DAC/amps. It joins an army of sub-$50 dongles that presently crowd the market – but with a distinct difference: Shanling is a brand name that is also established in the premium segment.

Let’s find out whether “noblesse obliges” also works for the budget domain.

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

The box’s content is spartan: device, USB-C to USB-A adapter, and a manual. The enclosure is made of anodized aluminum, and the 3.5 mm headphone socket is reinforced with a gold-plated metal rim. There is a tiny LED status light by the socket. The haptic of the enclosure is top notch.

The fixed cable is made of high purity copper with cotton shielding against outside interference. The strain reliefs appear to be sturdy but a detachable cable would have been favourable.

Functionality and Operation

The Shanling UA1 is another entirely source operated/powered DAC/amp. It works plug’n’play with mobile devices and Mac OS, but requires a driver for Windows.

It is powered and operated from the source device and decodes Hi Res up to 32 bit/384 kHz and DSD 256. I have not found MQA decoding capability in the documentation.

Amplification and Power Consumption

I my 3h battery drain test of several dongles, the Dragonfly Black and Red had the lowest consumption on my iPhone 5S, the Shanling UA1 consumed about a third more, which placed it in the midfield. But it could have done far worse than that….see the detailed results. I would call the UA1’s battery consumption ok but not outstanding.

Power Consumption Test: Parameters and Raw Results

I tested the power consumption of several portable headphone amps connected to my iPhone 5S. The conditions were as identical as possible: 3 h test, volume calibrated to 85 dB  ± 0.5 dB white noise with Dayton microphone, no sim card, BT off, no other apps open; network on, 32 ohm Blon BL-03 iem, Genesis’s Supper’s Ready (from the Seconds Out album) played in an endless loop.

The iPhone’s battery was fully charged at the start of the test and the remaining charge was measured thereafter. The result is shown in the table below. Since the tests were performed at different times and considering the ongoing battery deterioration, the results have to be seen with a grain of salt.

[collapse]

Sound

Equipment used: Macbook Air/iPhone SE first generation; Sennheiser HD 600 & HD 25; Sennheiser IE 400 PRO, JVC HA-FDX1, TRI I3 Pro.

The Shanling UA1 features the ESS ES9218P (dac + amp), a “System-on-Chip” (SoC) that leaves the audio engineer little room for tweaking, it comes down to mainly filtering. This means devices with this SoC will actually sound alike or very close.

The UA1 is close to neutral, but has a faint tone colour with a slightly boosted bass, but also with an elevated upper midrange/lower treble, which adds some grain to the top end top-end that can be fatiguing to some in the long run – and that’s the UA1’s only downside. There is a companion app for Android phones that allows filtering which may mitigate the issue, but it does not work with a computer or iPhone.

Presentation is leaner compared to a $100+ dongle, but not in a bad way. Staging is fine. Midrange is clear and clean, and resolution is pretty good. Nothing sterile or analytical. I also did not record any hiss.

It drives my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 600 with some pain but any iems, including the power-hungry planar-magnetic TRI I3 Pro earphones with ease.

The $99 Helm Bolt and Shanling UA1have a very similar general sound signature (and even a very similar build; the Bolt decodes MQA, the Shanling does not). The Bolt has less bass, which is a tad tighter and cleaner, it sounds more open and the vocals are more up front because of it, and it is a bit more dynamic. The UA1 has more low-end rumble whereas the Bolt is more composed and “sweeter” at the top end. These differences are not earth shattering but the Bolt appears o be better balanced by more sophisticated filtering.

When going up the ladder, the $85 Shanling UA2 has a richer, bassier sound, better staging, better 3D rendering, more punch, and the corners are smoother.

Concluding Remarks

At $45, the Shanling UA1 is an impressive performer with a warm-bright, organic signature, good staging, dynamics, and resolution that does justice even to $200-300 iems (I have not tested any higher-priced ones as I don’t have any). The only polarizing feature may be its hot upper midrange/lower treble glare, other than that it plays one league higher than its price and comes close to the $99 Helm Bolt that shows a few better rounded corners. However, the Shanling’s lively top end will bring some life to iems with an early treble rolloff.

I am a particular fan of the great haptic and build of Shanling’s UA1 (and also the UA2) that compare even to the most expensive models.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

The Shanling UA1 was included with the UA2 and ME80 in a review package from the manufacturer. I thank them for that. I sent the UA1 to Biodegraded for a second opinion.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post Shanling UA1 Review – Prefab Sprout appeared first on Music For The Masses.

21-11-21 Jürgen

Our Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/audioreviews finally cleared 9,800 members. It was established on 1 Jan 2020 and its growth has been stalling lately. Will we have 10,000 members by Christmas?

21-11-19 Jürgen

More drama ahead? I published me take on the $5 VE Monk Pro earbud. They finally got the impedance down from 64 ohm to 32 ohm to present a truly “portable” earbud. I think my writeup is reasonably entertaining.

21-11-19 Jürgen

We have been playing with Google Adsense in order to try out whether Google prefers their clients in their listings. We put the settings on “autopilot”…after 203 days, this angry guys showed up. Sign of things to come? We’ll monitor this.

21-11-17 Jürgen

This “drama” over this Facebook post generated quite some outrage. What some people did not understand was that I don’t see a relationship between the hype and the quality of this iem. If you read between the lines, you’ll see my subtle criticism of peer pressure and compulsive buying triggered by pied pipers. 8000 views: goal achieved :).

21-11-17 Jürgen

Durwood posts his review of the $1500 Questyle CMA Twelve DAC/amp combo…endgame for many.

21-11-15 Jürgen

Loomis publishes his Sennheiser CX 400BT review.

21-11-13 Jürgen

Baskingshark’s IKKO Zerda ITM1 review now published. I see some KZ reviews being presently worked on. In the immediate line-up are a Sennheiser TWS and a premium Questyle amp.

21-11-13 Kazi

Received the Fearless Barcelona recently for review. It is the cheapest Fearless IEM till now and the design belies the price tag. I love how they’ve designed the face-plate here.

Sadly, they sound horrible. Not recommended at all. Too much bass, highly recessed mids, zero treble extension. Get something else this holiday.

21-11-12 Alberto

Yesterday I received my new/old Cowon Plenue 2 and of course the very first impression is imprinted over my experience with QP1R. At first listen the P2 on its balanced output is quite nice, nicely extended and with a very good note weight. While less clean / revealing / detailed compared to the QP1R (whose single ended output is a quite good proof of why balanced is more a marketing name for decent quality output than anything else) on the other hand it offers a huge host of sound finetuning options, commencing from selectable reconstruction filters, to a very good “tweakable” graphical EQ module (not a true PEQ but close) and some further DSPs. Connectivity options are null / nil / zero – like QP1R. There’s not even BT – and that’s perfectly fine

21-11-12 Jürgen

Singles day is over…as the name implies, I didn’t buy a single thing. Our blog stats are surprising: 70% of our traffic stems from Google searches, and only 15% from Facebook. It is therefore not worth posting across FB groups…which is uncool anyway.

21-11-11 Jürgen

Today is 11/11 Asian Singles day. Not many exciting deals as far as I can see…but our blog experiences lots of views. In the meantime we published reviews of the FIIL CC2 and Oneodio Pro C reviews.

21-11-07 Jürgen

Burson Funk review out now. A fantastic headphone amp it is.

21-11-04 Jürgen

Working on the Burson Funk amp to hit the weekend deadline. Fantastic, powerful amp that works for headphones and speakers alike.

21-11-03 Jürgen

Published the Tin Hifi T2 EVO review. Kazi and I ordered a Final A3000 as found on our Wall of Excellence.

21-11-02 Jürgen

Re-dressed the blog’s right sidebar and added useful information. Meet your 8 authors, Wall of Excellence etc. Just look to the right.

21-11-01 Jürgen

Alberto’s iBasso IT04 review published. 283 iem reviews altogether now. Solved a caching problem, which affected our Google indexing. Thanks to the support of rankmath.com SEO plugin.

21-10-31 Jürgen

Finally got the Shanling UA1 review published. It is currently in Biodegraded’s hands for a 2nd review. Will have to finish the NiceHCK T2 EVO next week, and work on the Astell & Kern PEE51 dongle.

21-10-30 Alberto

Got my Hip Dac 2 review loaner unit in yesterday. First thing I noticed it came equipped with firmware 7.3 installed. The odd part is that on IFI’s website the 7.3 firmware is not listed under Hip Dac 2’s eligible downloads. Which means I could not recupe any “release info” about what’s different in 7.3 vs 7.2

While I was there, I also checked under Micro iDSD Signature’s section, and apparently firmware version 7.x has been removed from there too. Odd, at least. I put a question into IFI to get more info.

21-10-29 Jürgen

Published my Venture Electronics BIE Pro review on the blog. Submitted link to VE Clan Facebook group, where it got stuck in censorship, but was eventually posted after approval. That was only intermittent, I think I was tacitly expelled from that group after mentioning censorship. Be prepared that VE Clan Facebook group is manipulative as it presents cherry-picked information.

On another note, Loomis Johnson submitted his review of the Sennheiser CX-400BT True Wireless Earphones for publication.

21-10-28 Kazi

Received KZ ZEX. Their naming convention is making me go bad. Graphed it and labeled the graph wrong because these names all sound similar (ZAX/ZEX/ZSX). Either way, not too impressed with the sound. Kinda peaky in the mid-treble. Graphs show that as well.

21-10-27 Jürgen

Behind with some reviews, e.g. Unique Melody 3DT and Tin Hifi T2 Evo.

21-10-26 Jürgen

Blog received a few more tweaks, including a new site map.

21-10-25 Jürgen’s 10 Day Roundup

In the last 2 weeks, we published reviews of 2 totally underrated Final Audio headphones (Sonorous II+III) including some update earpads.

We identified some good TWS iems for the office in the Elevoc Clear.

We further think the Moondrop Kato is a winner (but need a second set for our European crew).

And we had a couple of second opinions of the GeekWold GK10, Tforce Yuan Li, SeeAudio Bravery, and Tanchjim Tanya.

We currently offer 281 earphone reviews.

21-10-25 Kazi

Received the iFi Hip DAC2 today, and the copper colorway will surely steal some glances. The sound isn’t changed much from the original Hip DAC (if at all) but it didn’t need to since the OG was one of the best DAC/Amps out there under $200. Full review in the works.

21-10-25 Jürgen

Worked on search engine optimization “SEO” all weekend after some trouble with Google. Also subscribed to webmaster tools of Bing and Yandex search engines. You can analyze the SEO of your own site here: https://rankmath.com/tools/seo-analyzer/

21-10-24 Kazi

Slow weekend, nice weather. Went out mostly to enjoy the fall colors. Also did some random photoshoot for the upcoming reviews. Also received the VE Monk SM recently. Not a fan. Shrill, sharp sound and technicalities are middling even for the $20 price bracket. At least it looks and feels nice in hand.

In other news, A&K released the SR25 mk. 2. Not a fan of the design at all. The tilted makes no usability sense. Also it’s basically the original SR25 with just a 4.4mm jack added. Meh.

21-10-23 Jürgen

Our blog has currently problems with Google indexing. I re-created the sitemaps. It would help if you linked to it from your site. Thanks.

21-10-23 Jürgen

The ongoing power crisis in China has led to increased operating costs as well as to price hikes of raw materials. Expect delays and price increases for your Christmas shopping.

Have not heard of 11/11 deals this year…strange.

21-10-22 Jürgen

Coming next on the blog (tonight my time) is Baskingshark’s review of the SeeAudio Bravery. We have a few more ready ones such as a tech article on “System on Chip” (SoC), that is dac and amp on the same chip. Another tech post will be an elaboration on the 1/8 rule on the example of the Apogee Groove.

Alberto will be offering reviews of the iBasso IT04, the Kinera Leyding earphone cable, and the Tanchjim Tanya in the very near future. These are ready. He is still working on a couple of Fearless models among others.

Also almost ready to go are reviews of the Shanling UA1 dongle, the VE Bonus Pro iem, and the VE Monk Go.

21-10-21 Biodegraded

Behind in evaluating various dongles sent by Jürgen for second opinions: Helm Bolt, Shanling UA 1, Earmen Sparrow, Tempotec Sonata BHD. So far, I’m surprised by the contrast between the Bolt and UA 1 (both use the same ESS DAC/Amp chip but yes, they sound a lot different) and by the bal vs SE contrast from the Sparrow. Comparisons will be made to the Audioquest DragonFly Black and ifi nano iDSD Black Label.

I’m also considering a winter project building this Pass Labs class A solid-state headphone amp to complement my tube hybrid and little USB- or battery-powered desktop/portable things. Much swearing will no doubt ensue. Right now though, have to clean the scratchies from the volume pot of an integrated amp that needs to be moved on.

2021-10-21 Kazi

Have had quite a hectic October, so couldn’t manage to publish anything. However, look forward to the “Review Extravaganza” over the coming two weeks or so. At least four articles are in the works and shall be published withing quick succession including:

• FIIL CC2 (a pretty good TWS)
• Moondrop Quarks
• Campfire Audio Holocene
• Campfire Audio Honeydew
• Final A4000
• Shanling Q1
• Cayin Fantasy

And just to close out, one of the photos I shot today (I think it came out pretty good). See you on the other side.

2021-10-21 Jürgen

Sitting currently on review units of Burson Funk amp and two Allo power supplies that may take some time. Almost ready is a review of the Unique Melody 3DT iem whereas the IKKO OH10 still needs some work. Overdue are reviews of several VE Electronics items as well as some ddHiFi accessories.

That famous Hidizs S9 Pro Copper edition dongle (limited to 500 copies) has been on its way from Calgary to Bologna for a good week now. Let’s see how fast Air Mail is.

Currently looking for a second Moondrop Kato review unit for our European chapter. After all, a single opinion is not sufficient for an item to qualify for our Wall of Excellence.

2021-10-21 Jürgen

This page was established to report our progress (but also some observations and opinions) within audioreviews.org. All our authors with WordPress accounts have access.

2021-10-20 Jürgen

Android Brick alas audioreviews.news is using our good name to attract traffic to his fake reviews. This may be legally correct but it is not ethical. He was shamed and left our Facebook group.

Beware of imitations!

This is https://www.audioreviews.org/news/

No marketing!

No sugarcoating!

Just genuine analyses!

The post Our News appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Cons — Fixed cable.

Executive Summary

The Helm Bolt is a very small and light MQA certified portable DAC/amp that excels in terms of its organic/natural reproduction.

Introduction

The source-operated dongle dac-amp has experienced a huge upsurge recently. Originally designed in 2012 to convert your phone into a high-quality digital analog player (dap) and first able to do so in 2016, the market is currently flooded with tens to hundreds of such devices – which makes it is essentially impossible for a single person to keep the overview.

Prices range from a handful of dollars to $400 with a crowding in the $80 to $150 range. The Helm Bolt fits into this sweet spot.

Helm is a young British-American company that specializes in portable devices from headphones/earphones to amplification.

The Bolt is the company’s sole portable DAC/amp that works with a phone, either alone or in combination with the Helm DB12 AAAMP amp. It appears to be a popular item as it is always sold out. Many favourable reviews of the unit exist already, so I would like to put it to my ultimate test.

Specifications

Visit mqa.co.uk for more information.

Physical Things and Usability

The box/s content is rather spartan: Helm Bold, USB-A adapter, and pleather storage case.

The dongle comes with a fixed USB-C cable, which is great for connecting to an Android device or a newer Mac, and, with the USB-A adapter, to a Windows computer. But using the Bolt with an iPhone requires the Apple camera adapter, which doubles the “snake” in length. Since the enclosure of this 8 g dongle is very small, the whole construct is effectively just an extension of the earphone/headphone cable.

The housing is made of metal and feels premium. The cable is cotton-shielded against outside interference and the strain reliefs on both ends could be a bit longer and sturdier.

The Bolt has no physical controls and is operated through its host device. It is completely plug-n-play, and does not even need a Windows driver.

The enclosure features a small LED that changes colour with playback rate/type: Blue SD Audio <= 48kHz – Red HD Audio > 48kHz – Magenta For MQA.

Headphone output level automatically detects headphone impedance and sets level accordingly: 1V for < 150 ohms, 2V for >= 150 ohms, which corresponds to low gain and high gain. The device is plug and play, there are no Windows 10 drivers needed. 

Amplification and Power Consumption

The Helm Bolt drives all iems I have thrown at it, but it reached its limits with the 300 Ω  Sennheiser HD 600. For large cans, Helm offers the Helm DB12 amp [product page],which can be used in series with the Bolt. The DB12 adds a constant 12 dB gain, and a 6 dB bass boost (if selected).

I my 3h battery drain test of several dongles, the Dragonfly Black and Red had the lowest consumption on my iPhone 5S, the Helmo Bolt consumed about a third more, which placed it in the midfield. But it could have done far worse than that….see the detailed results. I would call the Bolt’s battery consumption ok but not outstanding.

Power Consumption Test: Parameters and Raw Results

I tested the power consumption of several portable headphone amps connected to my iPhone 5S. The conditions were as identical as possible: 3 h test, volume calibrated to 85 dB  ± 0.5 dB white noise with Dayton microphone, no sim card, BT off, no other apps open; network on, 32 ohm Blon BL-03 iem, Genesis’s Supper’s Ready (from the Seconds Out album) played in an endless loop.

The iPhone’s battery was fully charged at the start of the test and the remaining charge was measured thereafter. The result is shown in the table below. Since the tests were performed at different times and considering the ongoing battery deterioration, the results have to be seen with a grain of salt.

[collapse]

Sound

Equipment used: Macbook Air/iPhone SE first generation; Sennheiser IE 400 PRO, Meze Rai Solo, JVC HA-FDX1; Sennheiser HD 600.

The Helm Bolt has an organic sound with a good tonal colour. It is not warm and not neutral, that is not dark and not analytical, but it strikes a balance between the them. The presentation is clean and lean (in a positive way), think of slimline – as opposed to fat and congested.

The Bolt is not the bassiest dongle, which keeps the vocals up front. Midrange is clean and clear with a tinge of warmth. One of its biggest qualities is the very pleasant, well-rounded, smooth, appealing top end. It works well with most earphone/headphone signatures and, in particular, helps taming shouty ones.

Compared to the $10 Apple audio adapter or the $10 VE Odyssey HD, the Bolt sounds much more refined and it is more powerful. The $50 Shanling UA1 features the same SoC and almost identical specs. Both therefore feature principally the same sound signature with one big difference at the top end: the Shanling is much scratchier/grainier in the upper midrange and lower treble. Helm must have applied effective filtering.

The Shanling UA1 is also a tad bassier which pushes the vocals back. The Bolt’s bass is tighter and cleaner, it has a more open sound with a wider stage, and it is a tad more dynamic.

Scaling up to the $200 AudioQuest DragonFly Red. The Red is punchier, bassier, fuller bodied with bigger staging and more midrange clarity and depth. Bolt is more relaxed, softer on the attack and has the lesser separation, but is sweeter in the treble.

Using the Bolt as a preamp and adding the Helm DB12 as an amp opens up the stage substantially, however takes away from the note weight. The sound is fluffier, bigger, “inflated” like a balloon. But since both devices have fixed cables, this combination can create some cable chaos in your pocket.

Concluding Remarks

The Helm Bolt is a fine sounding dongle which I like a lot. It may not have the strongest amplification but it has a very refined sound. It sticks out of the crowd by its small size and weight and convinces by its natural sonic reproduction. The Bolt has played any iem well for me I had thrown at it. It is a quality product and I am not surprised it is always sold out. It is a serious contender in the $100 segment.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

The Helm Bolt was supplied by Helm Audio for my review – and I thank them for that.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

Gallery

The post Helm Bolt DAC/Amp Review – Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Cons — Results may vary.

Executive Summary

The JitterBug FMJ (“Full Metal Jacket”) is a small USB-noise filter. It is the better shielded version of the original 2016 device and improves sound quality in most (but not all) situations.

Introduction

Do you know which class of insects the jitterbug belongs to? No? Well, none at all as the jitterbug is a generic term to describe swing dancing, as featured in the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz“.

In USB-Audio, “jitter” refers to time delays in the signal that causes packet errors, which degrade sound quality. Solution is that the DAC reclocks the incoming USB signal...to eliminate these time delays.

Unfortunately, the JitterBug FMJ (and its predecessor JitterBug) does NOT reclock (and therefore not remove jitter) as it is a merely passive device that does not draw electric current (it does not remove bugs either). JitterBug designer Gordon Rankin was a consultant to AudioQuest and did not name the device. This name choice has caused a lot of discussions in the past.

I purchased the original JitterBug upon its release in 2016 together with the DragonFly Black 1.5. At the time, I ran the original Schiit Fulla with my MacBook Air – the JitterBug lowered the noise floor and improved the sonic image.

USB Noise

So what is behind the JitterBug idea? It is noise filtering. Goal is to preserve the signal (and therefore sound quality) along the lines.

Noise in computer’s VBUS and data line causes sound deterioration. Three kinds of noise exist, “Electromagentic Interference” (EMI), “Radio-Frequency Interference” (RFI), and switching noise which is usually high frequency (500Khz -> 2Ghz). They may contribute considerable pollution on the signal path and may increase jitter and packet errors. Running both lines through a single USB cable can cause additional interference and exacerbate the issue (so it is best to separate the two).

If the data line is not effectively shielded, nearby electrical components (e.g. switching power supplies, other fluctuating electrical/magnetic fields from computer circuitry) can contribute to EMI that might pollute the USB data.

AC noise is typically audible as added brightness to the music, glare that rides on the sound. The image lacks body and appears somewhat flat. This noise needs to be filtered out. Jitter causes distortion and packet errors that, in the worst case, may be audible as chopped up sound, like a tonearm jumping on the vinyl record.

Many dacs can be powered by the connected computer, but some also have a dedicated power input. This separation of power line and data line eliminates possible interference inside the USB cable now assigned to data flow only.

The remaining data noise is either little relevant and/or can be more easily filtered out, for example with an AudioQuest JitterBug FMJ or the iFi Nano iUSB3.0.

But, for the JitterBug FMJ to make an audible difference requires a “clean” power supply. A “dirty” power source would possibly mask the JitterBug’s positive effects on the data line.

If the dac is powered by the computer such as an AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt or Red, the JitterBug FMJ has to tackle both tasks, which is not optimal.

A similar situation arises when the DragonFly/JitterBug FMJ combination is connected to a phone. A phone has a lot more EMI as the components are cramped much tighter into a small enclosure compared to a computer. Turning the WiFi and phone functions off will already likely improve sound quality.

The AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt has JitterBug functionality integrated in its circuit and it was believed that adding an additional JitterBug FMJ would compromise the audio signal. Latest considerations suggest that adding a JitterBug FMJ may actually be beneficial in some combinations. You may want to play with them in all combinations.

What this tells us is that the JitterBug FMJ is not a device that works black and white on the push of a button. It requires some TLC and is therefore not for everyone, favouring the experimentally inclined.

What does the JitterBug FMJ do?

JitterBug designer Gordon Rankin wrote me:

a) It realigns and removes noise from the D+/D- line, so the receiving side sees a much cleaner and more refined data stream.

b) It removes high-frequency noise from the VBUS/GND power supply. Any endpoint, be it a DAC or whatever, already has a low-frequency filter. Those are huge in size, and what really affects a DAC chip’s linearity is high-frequency noise — not low.

c) I put the JitterBug at the host side because I want all that EMI/RFI and other pollution that the computer is spitting out to stay there and not get to the endpoint.

The FMJ furthers (c) into making that work.

Differential noises on a data stream can cause error in reception of fans positive and negative pulses. Reducing or eliminating these by the JitterBug FMJ’s circuitry produces a cleaner differential signal, which in turn avoids catastrophic data-level events that looks like jitter to an analyzer.

What is new in JitterBug FMJ?

The original JitterBug circuitry has not changed but shielding against external noise was added for more efficiency (“Full Metal Jacket”). And AudioQuest added an integrated carbon-loaded USB plug to further protect against external noise. Old and new JitterBug models can be used in combination.

My sonic Impressions

I tested the JitterBug FMJ with dongles (source-operated thumbdrive-sized DAC/amps connected to my iPhone SE,1st gen.), numerous iems, and my MacBook Air, between March and September. The logic behind my setups was the small form factor dongles and JitterBug FMJ – and therefore portability – have in common.

I did not experiment with desktop stacks as there are bulkier, more thorough, and (much) more expensive options that address additional USB issues.

The JitterBug FMJ worked well with most dongles in my testing. It added body/depth and rounded the top end off. The difference is obvious and skeptics should at least acknowledge that the device changes the sound.

The DragonFly Red shows great synergy with the JitterBug FMJ. Without it, the stage is much shallower and the top end is more aggressive. There is less note weight and the sound is leaner. Plugging the FMJ in adds body and depth, and it adds sweetness to the top end so that the sound is less bright. This also reduces the widescreen effect, which is very much outweighed by the benefits.

The JitterBug FMJ also works well with the Earstudio HUD 100, EarMen Eagle, Hidizs S9 Pro, Shanling UA2, and Apogee Groove – and the basic tenor remains the same: reducing brightness and adding body and refinement to the presentation. Without it, the presentation is shallower and edgier.

The FMJ did not do much to the shrillness of the Shanling UA1, which points to this device’s design issue: the glare may be unrelated to noise and may be caused by lack of the device’s digital filtering.

What also did not work for me is getting improvement from a 2nd JitterBug FMJ plugged into the other USB port of my MacBook Air. Maybe, my SSD and the rather modest computer design render a 2nd device superfluous. But I wonder whether it worked if I had an old-fashioned spinning hard drive.

Why does JitterBug FMJ not work for you?

The JitterBug FMJ may not improve sound with a dac/amp with an independent power supply that introduces its own noise. A cleaned-up USB signal competes with the power-supply pollution – which may neutralize the gains.

There may be no benefit when additional interference is introduced from nearby electrical components.

Or the device has such filtering circuitry already built in, such as the ifi Audio Nano BL DAC/amp. And since the Nano can be battery operated, the power is rather a priori.

Or the audio quality is poor to begin with. Or, the JitterBug FMJ works but we do not register the improvement, be it because of our generally poor auditory memory (mine is particularly bad) or out of prejudice.

Experiment for Yourself

The DragonFly Cobalt has some of JitterBug’s filtering technology built in. Until recently, AudioQuest had advised against using both together in series as it could have unpredictable results.

But some users find that JitterBug FMJ and Cobalt used in series creates an improvement in performance.

I tested with my iPhone SE (first gen.), and after endless A/B-ing, if there was a difference, it was insignificant to my ears. And I can report the same for repeating the experiment with my MacBook Air. But there were also no adverse effects. The JitterBug FMJ made a huge difference with the DragonFly Red, in comparison.

Up to you to find out for yourself whether it works with your devices.

Concluding Remarks

JittterBug FMJ removes EMI, RFI, and switching noises – which helps maintain better low level detail because the DAC chip can reproduce information better. It does not remove audio bandwidth noise as that is better left to the DAC.

JitterBug FMJ is not the perfect solution but a handy and affordable one. It does not work black and white on the push of a button as it deals with issues adherent to the specific devices it is paired with.

It is also no miraculous sound enhancer as it does not add to the signal, it just helps minimizing its degradation.

As a net result, it improved sound quality in most of my applications to the point I don’t want to miss it. You can read co-blogger’s KopiOkaya’s take on the JitterBug FMJ here.

I have had lots of fun using and experimenting with JitterBugs since 2016.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

Two JitterBugs FMJ were provided for my testing by AudioQuest – and I thank them for that. You find the product page here.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

Gallery

The post AudioQuest JitterBug FMJ Review – Quiet Riot? appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Cons — Midrange attenuation; high battery drain from phone.

Executive Summary

The Shanling UA2 is a slightly off-neutral, rather natural sounding, and very powerful portable DAC/amp with good dynamics that features single-ended and balanced outputs at a budget pice. Compared to some of its much more expensive rivals, the UA2 has a leaner midrange while being competitive in terms of power.

Introduction

Shanling is a Chinese HiFi company established in 1988. They hit the western markets in the early 2000s with premium amplifiers at very competitive prices. At the time, while working in China, I talked to them about getting a 110 V version of one of their famous tube CD-players manufactured. This, unfortunately, failed because of export regulations.

More than half a generation later – Shanling has long established itself as a quality player and brand name around the world – I finally try my first Shanling product, the UA2 Portable USB DAC/Amp. And TL;DR, it is a good one.

Shanling is currently joining an army of companies populating the market with portable dac/amps that turn you phone into a dap. In this ever more crowded field, where the potential buyer cannot try before buying, reviewers like me have to provide the overview. But since it is impossible to test all interesting products, you have to check out a few qualified opinions before pulling the trigger.

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the UA2, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. The UA2 body is made of metal and its coating feels smooth and appealing between my fingers.

In contrast to most other dongles does the UA2 offers two different circuits: a single-ended output through a standard 3.5 mm socket and a balanced output through a 2.5 mm socket. Both outputs/sockets work simultaneously. And it is the balanced output that makes the UA2 particularly attractive.

The two headphone sockets are on end, a USB-C port on one the other: the 3.5 mm single-ended socket is reinforced with a thick metal ring in expectation of the higher usage of the two.

There is a little LED light between them indicating sampling rate and connection to a gaming console.

Functionality and Operation

A summary of what it does

• Can be connected to Windows/Mac computers or Android/iOS sources
• Works as a pre-amplifier or dac when connected to a dedicated headphone amplifier
• Features two circuits: 3.5 mm single ended and 2.5 mm balanced
• Drives two earphones/headphones simultaneously through its two outputs
• Drives small loudspeakers through its 3.5 mm output
• Handles even power-hungry headphones well, imo up to 300 Ω

…and of what it does not

• …needs no battery; draws power from source…and lots of it
• …is not driverless: needs a USB driver for Window computer (download)
• …needs an Apple camera adapter or other third-party lightning cable for connecting to an iOS device

The Shanling UA2 has only a single button that serves the purpose of enabling a connected gaming console. It is powered and operated from the source device and decodes Hi Res up to 32 bit/768 kHz and DSD 512.

Shanling are offering their free Eddict player companion app that allows fine tuning the UA2 (and other Shanling products) with Android and iOS devices.

Amplification and Power Management

The Shanling UA2 is powerful. It delivers 125mW @ 32 ohm (single ended) and 195mW @ 32 ohm (balanced) according to the manufacturer. Even the single-ended circuit drives my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 600 reasonably well.

But the UA2 consumes a lot of battery – twice as much as the AudioQuest DragonFly Black/Red. This makes it less beneficial for mobile use. You certainly need a big battery.

Power Consumption Test: Parameters and Results

I tested the power consumption of several portable headphone amps connected to my iPhone 5S. The conditions were as identical as possible: 3 h test, volume calibrated to 85 dB  ± 0.5 dB white noise with Dayton microphone, no sim card, BT off, no other apps open; network on, 32 ohm Blon BL-03 iem, Genesis’s Supper’s Ready (from the Seconds Out album) played in an endless loop.

The iPhone’s battery was fully charged at the start of the test and the remaining charge was measured thereafter. The result is shown in the table below. Since the tests were performed at different times and considering the ongoing battery deterioration, the results have to be seen with a grain of salt.

[collapse]

But hold the horses. This is not as bad as you think. Co-blogger Alberto Pittaluga actually likes this drain. But why? For him it is a matter of choices. The Shanling UA2 pushes more current than its competition, which drives low-impedance and low-sensitivity headphones and iems better. After all, transducers are moved by current.

Sound

Equipment used: Macbook Air/iPhone SE first generation; Sennheiser HD 600 / HD 25, Shozy Form 1.4, Meze RAI Solo, BQEYZ Summer.

The Shanling UA2 offers a relatively natural, well rounded, dynamic, appealing sound, but could deserve a richer midrange.

Its sound is slightly off linear and off neutral by a slight bass boost that improves the sound of anemic earphones/headphones, keeps the sound away from sterile, and it adds depth. But, in some earphones, it can also narrow the soundstage and smear into the lower midrange/vocals, which adversely affects separation. The bass rumble becomes weaker under higher impedance loads.

What distinguishes the UA2 from its more expensive competition is not its amplification power…it is its attenuated, recessed, thin and occasionally sharp midrange (in comparison) that is evident in both single-ended and balanced circuits.

Vocals are set back in the UA2 but they are also a bit lean and pointy, they could be smoother, richer, and more intimate. This attenuation may exacerbate shoutiness in some earphones and moves the bass into focus.

But this is very-high level criticism with perfection as reference. The overall sound is dynamic with a good punch, it is not edgy at the upper end and comes off as pleasant during normal recreational listening (I was listening “analytically” for this review).

I assign good musicality and liveliness to the Shanling UA2, it is not technical, sterile, or boring sounding. Overall, the UA2 is more homogenous and natural sounding than the $40 Tempotec Sonata HD PRO or the $70 Tempotec BHD.

The UA2’s balanced circuit does not only deliver more power than the single-ended one, but also a marginally wider and deeper soundstage, improved dynamics and separation, and more intimacy. But it is still affected by the lean midrange.

When comparing the UA2 – I only had more expensive models available – they all rank sonically according to their price. The $120 Earstudio HUD 100 was more linear and cleaner at the bottom end with a wider stage and a headroom similar to the UA2’s balanced circuit’s. This also applied to the $199 EarMen Sparrow (balanced circuit) and $199 Audioquest DragonFly Red but with improved resolution added. The DragonFly Red reproduced voices richer, cleaner, and more intimate.

None of the higher-priced models with single-ended outputs has less headroom than the UA2’s balanced circuit – but also not necessarily more power. This also applies to the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, the smoothest and most natural of them all. More in this video:

Concluding Remarks

To pack my testing results in a single sentence: the $85 Shanling UA2 is a $200 dongle with a thinner midrange. No it does not quite rival, let’s say, the more homogenous DragonFly Red or the EarMen Sparrow sonically, but it offers better value while still sounding very good.

I heard it. Can’t get anything better for $85. Larry Fulton, co-blogger.

Considering the current uber offer of portable DAC/amps in the $100 category, I surely will be asked how the UA2 compares to X, Y, and Z at a similar price. While I cannot answer this question, I speculate its sound quality is hard to beat in its class, and claim that the UA2 is a great choice.

It feels good, is well accessorized, sounds organic, it has two powerful circuits – and also works with portable gaming consoles. And it is a brand-name product with R&D behind it. Is it the new $100 one to beat? Time will tell.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

The UA2 was provided by Shanling and I think them for that. Shanling also kindly included a third-party USB-C to lightning adapter.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post Shanling UA2 Portable USB DAC/Amp Review – Crazy For You appeared first on Music For The Masses.

All our DAC & Amp Related Articles

ALL OUR REVIEWS (headphones, earphones, dacs/amps, daps, bluetooth, clean power & USB, microphones, cables/adapters, eartips, earpads, noise insulation): here

Model labelled with “*” are on our Wall of Excellence.

Integrated DAC/amps

Simplified Guide to Small Portable DAC/amps (Jürgen Kraus)

Apple Computer’s Internal Audio Circuit [iMac, MacBooks] (Jürgen Kraus)

Apogee Groove* (Alberto Pittaluga)

Apogee Groove: Technical Considerations (Jürgen Kraus)

Apogee Groove Anniversary Edition (Alberto Pittaluga)

Apple Audio Adapter* (Jürgen Kraus)

Appleオーディオアダプタ（Lightning版、USB-C版とも）* (Jürgen Kraus)

Apple Kopfhöreranschluss Adapter* (Jürgen Kraus)

Astell & Kern PEE51 (Jürgen Kraus)

Audirect Atom 2 (Loomis Johnson)

AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt* (1) (Jürgen Kraus)

AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt* (2) (Alberto Pittaluga)

AudioQuest DragonFly Red (Jürgen Kraus)

BGVP T01s (Loomis Johnson)

Colorfly CDA-1MP (Durwood)

Colorfly CDA-M2 (Jürgen Kraus)

Conexant (CX-Pro) CX31993 (Loomis Johnson)

Cozoy Takt-C (1) (Jürgen Kraus)

Cozoy Takt-C (2) (Durwood)

E1DA 9038SG3 and 9038D (Alberto Pittaluga)

ddHifi TC35i (Jürgen Kraus)

EarMen Angel (Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir)

EarMen Eagle (Jürgen Kraus)

EarMen Sparrow* (1) (Jürgen Kraus)

EarMen Sparrow* (2) (Biodegraded)

EarMen TR-Amp* (Jürgen Kraus)

Earstudio HUD100 (Jürgen Kraus)

Helm Audio Bolt (Jürgen Kraus)

Helm Bolt and Shanling UA1 compared (Biodegraded)

Hidizs S2 (Loomis Johnson)

Hidizs S3 Pro (Loomis Johnson)

Hidisz S-9, Cozoy Takt-C and Meizu MasterHifi USB Dac/Amps (Loomis Johnson)

Hidizs S9 PRO (Jürgen Kraus)

Hidizs XO (1) (Jürgen Kraus)

Hidizs XO (2) (Durwood)

Hidizs XO (3) (Loomis Johnson)

Hilidac Audirect Atom Pro (Jürgen Kraus)

Hilidac Audirect Beam 2SE (Kazi Muhbab Mutakabbir)

iBasso DC-05 DAC/amp (Loomis Johnson)

ifi Audio Go bar (1) (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Audio Go bar (2) Jürgen Kraus)

ifi Audio Go bar (Deutsch) Jürgen Kraus)

ifi Audio GO blu (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Audio GO link (1) (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Audio GO link (2) (Jürgen Kraus)

ifi Audio Gryphon (Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir)

ifi Audio hip-dac* (Jürgen Kraus)

ifi Audio hip-dac2 (1) (Kazi Muhbab Mutakabbir)

ifi Audio hip-dac2 (2) (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Neo IDSD2 (Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir)

iFi Audio Micro iDSD Signature* (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Audio nano iDSD Black Label (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Audio Neo iDSD (Kazi Muhbab Mutakabbir)

iKKO Heimdalir ITB03 (Kazi Muhbab Mutakabbir)

IKKO ITM1 Zerda (1) (Baskingshark)

IKKO ITM1 Zerda (2) (Alberto Pittaluga)

IKKO ITM02 Zerda (Loomis Johnson)

Khadas Tone2 Pro (Jürgen Kraus)

Moondrop Dawn (Durwood)

Questyle CMA Fifteen* (Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir)

Questyle CMA Twelve (Durwood)

Questyle M15* (1) (Jürgen Kraus)

Questyle M15* (2) (Alberto Pittaluga)

Questyle M15* (3) Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir

Qudelix-5K* (Jürgen Kraus)

Shanling UA1 (Jürgen Kraus)

Shanling UA1 and Helm Bolt compared (Biodegraded)

Shanling UA2 (Jürgen Kraus)

Shanling UA2 Plus (1) (Durwood

Shanling UA2 Plus (2) (Loomis Johnson)

Shanling UA3 (Durwood)

Shanling UP4 (Durwood)

SMSL C200 (Durwood)

SMSL DO400 (1) (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL DO400 (2) (Durwood)

TempoTec March III M3 (Jürgen Kraus)

TempoTec Serenade X Digital Desktop Player (Jürgen Kraus)

Tempotec Sonata BHD (Jürgen Kraus)

Tempotec Sonata HD Pro (1) (Jürgen Kraus)

Tempotec Sonata HD Pro (2) (Baskingshark)

Tempotec Sonata HD II vs Tempotec Sonata E35 (Durwood)

TRI TK-2 (KopiOkaya)

Truthear SHIO (1) (Durwood)

Truthhear SHIO (2) (Loomis Johnson)

Venture Electronics Odyssey HD (Jürgen Kraus)

Xumee USB-C DAC (Loomis Johnson)

Digital Analog Converters (DACs)

EarMen Tradutto (Jürgen Kraus)

EarMen Tradutto (Deutsch) (Jürgen Kraus)

SMSL C100 (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL DO100 (Durwood)

SMSL DO200 MKII (Jürgen Kraus)

SMSL DO300 (Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir)

SMSL SU-6 (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL SU-9 DAC/Preamp I (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL SU-9 DAC/Preamp II (Durwood)

Headphone/Power Amplifiers

Ampapa A1 (Durwood)

Burson Funk (Jürgen Kraus)

Burson V6 Classic (vs. V6 Vivid) opamps (Jürgen Kraus)

Cayin C9 Portable Amplifier (Kazi Muhbab Mutakabbir)

EarMen CH-Amp (Jürgen Kraus)

EarMen CH-Amp (Deutsch) (Jürgen Kraus)

Fosi Audio BT30D Pro (Durwood)

Fosi Audio P3 (Durwood)

Fosi Audio TB10D (upgraded) (Durwood)

Fosi V3 Amplifier (1) (Durwood)

Fosi V3 Amplifier (2) (Loomis Johnson)

Fosi Audio ZA3 (Durwood)

Helm DB12 AAAMP Portable Headphone Amp (Jürgen Kraus)

ifi Audio Zen Can Amplifier (Kazi Muhbab Mutakabbir)

ifi Audio Zen Can Amplifier (Alberto Pittaluga)

ifi Audio Zen Phono RIAA Preamplifier (Biodegraded) 

Pairing the JVC HA-FDX1 earphone with the Earstudio HUD100, ifi Hip Dac, and Tempotec Sonata HD PRO

SMSL AO200MKII (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL A300 Power Amplifier (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL HO100 (Durwood)

SMSL SH-6 (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL SH-9 Balanced Headphone Amp (1) (Loomis Johnson)

SMSL SH-9 Balanced Headphone Amp (2) (Durwood)

The post Our 118 DAC & Amp Reviews appeared first on Music For The Masses.