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 bought this to use with a Raspberry Pi4b 4GB single board computer that I'm running Manjaro as my OS. I have a aluminum case enclosure from DeskPi model called DeskPi Pro V2.0, with a 1TB SSD that has mostly FLAC audio files on it. I use this setup as a desktop PC with a USB enclosed CD-Rom drive to rip CD's for my personal use. The audio dongle was instantly recognized by the Manjaro OS and sounds really good with my older Logitech THX speaker system, the keyboard shortcut for volume up/down and mute even work! The dongle works with Linux! That's all I needed it to do, I have not attempted to use anywhere else hardware wise but if it works on other versions of Linux and accross other products this thing is extremely versitile, that means wide compatibility. Extra easy to use, it was truely a plug and play situation. The unit is highly portable being USB-C and A with the included adapter is a bonus, makes this a bargin where others cost more.

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.

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 good if you want something other than the go-to Apple "dongle" or base droid connector. I added a bit of flexible UV resin to the wire where it goes into both connectors, as it does not appear to have stress relief. Sound is quite good on easy to drive devices, did not A/B with the Apple dongle, but indicators showed a higher resolution on 192k files. The reason to buy this is appearance. Included USB-C to lightning connector is a plus. Not a significant upgrade over $8-9 Apple branded product. If you are looking for a step up, it will cost more - e.g. something like the iFi Go-Link at about $59. And it will be heavier. Tradeoffs with this are OK. Nothing bad, but understand your use case.

Punches way above it's price range! Great sound, quite a boost in the amp, though not for high ohm headphones maybe. Check all your numbers. I have 120ohm rating and the amp is probably a bit much, in a good way. The DAC goes to work like a boss on the majority of songs on Qobuz. I don't expect it to last long, but it's excellent sound and I would buy another one immediately to replace it. Solid connections that click and stay solidly in place. It's not bulky. It's a real bonus if you're a budget audiophile.

TLDR; no matter how good this sounds, doesn't justify the inadequate build quality I'm really disappointed to have to give this a poor review as I was really enjoying using this with my Koss KSC75's connected to my phone for the few weeks before it stopped working. Based on the audio quality, this could have been a five-star review however the braided wires are too brittle and broke in less than a month. Despite doing my best to be careful with it, storingnit in a protective case when not in use, the wiring is not rugged enough for day-to-day use while on the go. The wiring isn't properly reinforced and supported where it enters either connector, so its regularly stressed at a sharp angle under its own weight leading to failure. For the price though, might still be worth plugging into a desktop PC as a cheap, higher bitrate, alternative to the onboard soundcard. Added a lot of detail and texture to game audio. The male-USB-C and female-3.5mm connectors themselves seem just fine. I would happily update my review and purchase another if they sold this same DAC chip and connectors with wiring that was up to the task.

This thing is way better than the price would have you expect. If you're not sure where to start on these dongles just buy this one. Honestly I've not had a bunch of dongles but I'm very impressed for how cheap this is and it really makes your speaker sound better