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Gutserker
4
Aug 4, 2016
Just received my unit today. It feels very solid and weighty, with an aluminum body. I don't like the silicone volume buttons, as they have almost no tactile feedback and require depressing more than I would like as a result of the mushiness of the silicone. Thankfully the LED is not blue, but would still look better red and not as bright. Audio quality is at first listen better than my Nexus 6 DAC with a FiiO E6 with Superlux HD668B headphones. The harshness of the un-EQ'ed HD668B with Nexus 6 DAC is mellowed out, and can reach painfully loud volumes with the 56Ohm rating. From my use the volume buttons on the S.M.S.L. Ivy are redundant, as they control the same volume slider that the phone buttons do. I'd much rather see a play/pause button. Biggest issue I have with this DAC: placing the USB port and the 3.5MM port on opposing ends is a bad idea, as this puts extra strain on the USB port in the event of snagging the audio cable on something, possibly breaking something. Something else that is not entirely the fault of the DAC but could be mitigated is this DAC will not fit on most phones with the use of a case. I have ordered a Micro B extension cord, which will result in the DAC just dangling in-line, the same problem I had before, except this time putting strain on the USB port of the phone, rather than the more durable 3.5mm port. Android Marshmallow has a different USB audio driver than Lollipop, which results in very low fidelity and very narrow stereo separation. This means you HAVE to use a USB DAC supported music app to route properly. I got USB Android Player Pro, which for local music sounds great with this DAC. Unfortunately this only works for files played through UAPP, and will result in no audio through other apps while UAPP is open, requiring closing UAPP to get audio through USB from other apps. I hope this android MM problem is resolved in android N.
In the end I really like this DAC for first day impressions, but might work better for those with tablets or those that don't use phone cases that are more than 2mm thick.
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