iBasso DC06 Portable DAC

Product Information

There’s also a full-sized USB-C to USB-A male converter but no Lightning or iPhone connectivity cable was included with this sample. However, at the retail point, iBasso is providing a free USB-C to lightning cable with the DC06 so you are pretty much covered. iBasso has upgraded its classic DC03 USB DAC/AMP with the all-new DC03 Pro. With premium CS43131 DAC chips from Cirrus Logics, the DC03 Pro brings flagship-level performance to your smartphones. It is designed with a high-performance KDS femtosecond crystal oscillator for clean and precise audio signal decoding. DC03 Pro supports high-resolution PCM and DSD signals promising a quality experience for its users!! an integrated GND-centred with a Class H headphone driver able to output 30mW per channel at 32Ohms The DC06 seems to run on anything, iOS along with Windows and Android. It even ran off my Samsung Chromebook.

DC03 PRO has a delicate, slightly warm, well-balanced, comfortable sound, with a well-defined tonal balance, no noise and no distortion.This one remains, to this day, one of my favorite portable DAC/AMP, thanks to its small size, bulky but catchy design, and excellent performance-to-price ratio. But, a year later, the market has become even fiercer, with competitors from established brands like FiiO, HiBy, Hidizs and newcomers like ddHiFi. The price-per-performance ratio is very high on the DC05 and the only negative aspect is the unit’s running temperature. But with that said I must also clarify that power usage is modest and better than most in battery power efficiency while doing its job.

There are more similarities and the compatible digital format list reads the same as the DC05 since both models share the same model SOC set. To start, The DC06 does MQA and 16x unfolding. Contrary to the bulky-but-sexy DC06, which looked like a mini CPU-Radiator, the new iBasso DC03PRO adopts a sleek, streamlined, design. Almost three times smaller, the aluminum case looks like the epitome of portability, embracing all the codes of modern tech apparel. Technically, both these dongle DACs are similar in design and use a dual-chip design but correct me if I am wrong but I did not see any mention of a dual mono design when it comes to the DC05 and I think it’s the source of the amplification differences and extra power output of the DC04. Again, from afar, you could easily mistake the DAC for an USB-Key, or a hardware crypto-wallet, like the new Ledger Nano, especially with the two control-volume buttons, sitting on the side. Build Quality Of the design advantages on the side of the PAW S1, in addition to TRS, there is a balanced TRRS output and a small monochrome (128x32) screen.If you want MQA rendering both these models can handle MQA but the DC05 does 16X. Every model in this lineup does PCM plus DSD but again, the bolt does DSD128 while the DC05 can do DSD256. The BOLT being the higher priced model should offer more to be competitive and get noticed but it really doesn’t except for the THX certification. Design DC03PRO(69USD) VS DUNU DTC-500. Oh, it's gonna be a tough fight. Dunu DTC-500 is one of the best dongles in the price range up to 100 USD. However, if you want something less bright, you don't care about balanced output and you need hardware volume buttons, you will inadvertently turn your eyes towards the iBasso DC03PRO, which is a cheaper choice for slightly less demanding ears. Both devices are great and I'm happy to use both. You could easily go brand exclusive with iBasso. For example, their DX300 MAX is an excellent all-out DAP that got a high score which placed it into our 2021 Top Gear award list and it would make an excellent upscale pairing with for example their IT07 IEMs. In fact, I bet most of their gear would pair well together. On paper, the DC05 and DC06 are awfully close: same DAC, same output level, and same distortion levels, through the 3.5mm port. But, once I’ve plugged the DAC into my computer, and paired it to the Beyer, I was pleasantly surprised to feel a clear difference between the two devices.