So by now we've covered a good amount of content explaining
what a DAC is, how it works, how to use one and various setups.
If you're an audiophile newbie
and you missed our first episodes on this DAC series.
Be sure to check out the playlist, which will link below.
All we have left to really talk about is helping
you find the best DAC for you and your setup.
And in many ways that could be one of the most challenging parts, right?
In this video, we're going to start at the best entry point for better sound
dongle. DACs.
They're small, affordable,
and if you're just looking for something to connect to your phone or tablet,
they make huge sound quality gains for the music listener.
A lot of times
we'll just start off by asking, Where do you plan to listen to music?
Are you wanting to jam out while on the bus or train during your commute?
Or are you wanting to just sit at home and piece in a designated listening space?
Maybe you just want a nicer setup when working at your desk.
There are tons of places to listen to music
and just as many DACs to accompany them.
The most affordable of the bunch here and the easiest to take with you.
USB dongle DACs.
They can fit in your bag or pocket.
They can be incredibly small.
They're typically the size of a flash drive
and either have a detachable or sometimes attached cable like a dongle.
I know a lot of people attach one to their phones for some serious sound
quality gains compared to their phones off the shelf DAC.
The same goes with a laptop or tablet.
The biggest difference
between a dongle DAC and larger USB DAC that will take a look at in the next video
is that dongle DACs are powered by the source device like your phone or laptop.
They don't have an internal power source like a battery, so this results
in smaller, lighter and more affordable devices.
So here are our favorite USB dongle.
DACs at Moon Audio
The Clarus CODA
a nice and robust size, much like a flash drive.
And similarly it has a cap that covers the USB type-A connection.
It also comes with an adapter for a Usb-C connection
and it has a simple 3.5 millimeters unbalanced headphone jack on the back.
It can drive most headphones well, and it has a nice detailed
and balanced signature.
A big plus.
Here are the physical volume up and down buttons on the side
that also double as filter selections.
The coda has always been a great seller and I'm a big fan of the robust sound
this thing can produce,
especially when connected to my laptop, which I do quite a bit.
The RU6 by Cayin
is one of the best sounding portable DACs at this price range using a discrete 24
bit R2R DAC will get into more DAC types in a later video.
The RU6 includes options for oversampling and also has physical control buttons.
The tiny OLED screen is just helpful enough for info and has one of the most
natural and balanced sounds for a DAC at this size and price.
Cayin just puts out really great sounding audio gear at superb prices.
People just cannot say enough good things about the RU6
no matter where you look on the internet reviews forums,
which is why we have no problem recommending it to anyone looking for
some of the best sound at this size.
Also, it has both 3.5 millimeters and 4.4 millimeters.
Headphone outputs.
So that's awesome.
Most USB dongles here only have one big plus for the RU6.
Astell & Kern offers a dual DAC dongle.
The HC3.
It comes with an attached usb-c connector and also an adapter
for Lightning as well.
It's ROON tested, does MQA and does a whopping four vrms
which is pretty nice for a device.
This small.
Most dongles only do about two vrms.
The HC3 has that lovely detailed Astell & Kern sound
and makes a perfect companion for smartphones in particular.
The attached cable is nice
so you don't have to keep track of two different items in your bag.
And they also make the HC2, which includes
a balanced 4.4mm connector, if that's important to you.
I appreciate the option and it's a solid plug and play DAC
that will yield some awesome sound quality improvements.
There you have it.
Our three favorite dongle DACs at Moon Audio.
The best thing is, is that they're all $300 or less,
making it an extremely affordable solution
for serious audio quality gains on your media devices.
Look, $300 might be a lot for some, but external DACs yield
much better results for your sound quality than your phone or laptop speakers.
It's an investment, to be sure, but if you care about how your music sounds
and want a great place to start, check out these DACs.
Next time we'll go a step up and take a look at our favorite USB DACs.
Those that have internal batteries and can give you a whole day
or more of music listening, more features, more power.
So stay tuned for that coming soon.
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All the best audio gear right here at Moon Audio.
If you have any questions, drop a comment below.
And as always, thanks for watching.