HiFiMeDIY Android USB DAC, Android Digital to Analog Audio Converter ES9023+PCM2706

I did a comparison of the HifiMeDIY DAC on my Sony Ultra Z and my Nexus 5 phone. Both phones were running Android 5.1. As a kind of control, I then compared them with my Ibasso DX90 DAP. It may be a little unfair to compare a $40 DAC to a $400 DAP but oh well... I used A Diana Krall flac recording since it was well produced and I could easily compare the instrument separation and sound stage. I tried out two sets of headphones - Creative Aurvana Air Clip-on Earphones, and Audio-Technica ATH-M50x closed headphones. On both phones I used the PowerAmp music player app.Both phones use the Snapdragon 800 chipset so I suspect that their built-in DAC's are probably similar. In fact, they both natively played back the flac file and sounded ok, but light years worse than my DX90. When I plugged in the HifiMe DAC both phones recognized it automatically. After going back and forth between the two phones and the DAP I found the HifiMe DAC produced a more detailed sound with better sound stage than the native phone playback. Luckily the DAP sounded better yet, otherwise I would have spent $400 for nothing! The HifiMe DAC had plenty of output to drive either set of headphones. There was one thing that seemed strange. Power Amp on the Sony Ultra Z would not recognize the hardware volume control, so I had to use the equalizer pre-amp volume as a main volume control. On the Nexus 5 with Power Amp the hardware volume control worked exactly as expected. Go figure. I haven't had a chance to check power drain but so far it seems ok.For about $40 this little DAC is a good buy.

I have purchased 3 of these units from the seller over the last few months. While the sound quality is fantastic, the reliability is quite poor. Every single unit has failed within weeks. The micro USB connectors used are very poor in build quality, and they become loose and unable to hold a steady link with the phone.All in all, if you only need this to work a few times, it's a great product.If you'd like to use it for more than a month, unfortunately you're going to have to spend a lot more money for something like that.

This thing has the best quality output for the size of anything I have tried. For those that know, it rates up there in quality with the Voodoo Modded Fascinate/Galaxy S, FIIO amps, and other high end DACS... and maybe better. What it doesn't have is an amp, this is a loud DAC that will work with mobile type head phones well. It works with a Galaxy Note II, and for sure the Galaxy III and HTC One M8, however on the m8 the stupid boom sound kicks in and screws up the DAC output. It does not hit the Galaxy Note II battery too hard. You can probably get through a day of listening with the thing plugged in. The android volume controls do work with it as you would expect. I use a pair of high end IEMs and the bass is nothing short of stunning.. though not ear crushing loud.

Finally got a chance to try this DAC with the recent Android 5.0 update to my Nexus 5. This give the phone the ability to use usb as a line out dock. Things sound pretty decent before with AT ATH-M50s + Marantz 2238B (or FiiOS 11amp), but with this DAC....Oh My God! Things are clearer, more detailed, with a better soundstage, louder...and I don't mean a little bit of difference...this is night and day difference. I'm stunned at how much better this DAC is than Nexus's onboard DAC, and even more amazed at how much of a sonic improvement is heard. My only concern is about how durable the Nexus 5 microUSB connector will be...because I certainly have no reason to ever plug my phones into the headphone jack.

It does sound amazing. Very rich in detail with a wide soundstage, but unfortunately it doesn't do a good job in the volume department. I'm wondering if this is phone dependent. I'm using it with an S7 Edge and the volume output of the phone was crappy to begin with, so it's no wonder it doesn't drive this Sabre DAC well.

The DAC definitely improved the sound of my LG G4 unfortunately the mediocre build quality resulted in the failure of the micro USB connector. Over time the connection became looser until I was unable to get a connection at all.

This does what it is supposed to do. The music sounds better than it would without it. However, to truley notice the difference you are going to need an amp. I like it. Make sure your phone can output sound through the micro usb slot. I know a lot of phones (older) can't.

It works, but I noticed zero difference. If anything, the sound was almost worse than direct to phone. Nexus 5. Disappointed, but I can't give 1 stars when it does function.