Dongles Shootout Summary

It wasn’t so long ago dongles were looked down upon by sections of the community as underperforming proxies to more highly-regarded portable audio players.

However in recent years the march of technology has provoked a change in attitudes, as dongle performance continues to blossom. I don’t think we’ve quite reached a point where dongles are seen as equal-par alternatives to DAPs, but the performance gap has narrowed.

Sadly as dongle sound quality has grown, so have prices. Premium dongles like the W4 & RU7 aren’t much cheaper than budget DAPs, though there’s still less expensive options like the Tail out there.

My main takeaways from this shootout are:

  • The Luxury & Precision W4 improves IEM technical performance more any other dongle so far.
  • The iFi Go Bar 10th Anniversary looks & feels like a luxury product, with a very analogue tuning.
  • The Cayin RU7 has a unique 1bit DAC tonality that’s unlike any other dongle.
  • The Penon Tail is a great value dongle with lots of groovy musicality.

Going forward I’d love to see more dongles with 4.4mm Line Out options like the RU7, which is tremendously valuable for anyone who owns a portable amp. The W4’s volume knob is also a winning feature, but probably raises build costs much more than volume buttons.

I also wonder how long until we see size creep in dongles that we’ve observed in DAPs & phones given their performance is probably limited by size more than cost, but how large can they get before consumers cease perceiving their size as a compelling reason to purchase them instead of a DAP?

One thing’s certain – with ever more sophisticated DAC chips & increasing miniaturisation of electronics, we’ll be greeted with even more impressive dongles in the years to come.

 

 

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