Xumee USB-C DAC Dongle Review – A View From The Cheap Seats
To allay my grief over the loss of my beloved, headphone jack-equipped LG V50 (which no longer works on T-Mobile’s 5G network) I went out and bought some new dongles, of which the diminutive, $13 Xumee was the first to arrive.
Even allowing for some recency bias, the Xumee immediately registers as a real find, with a full-bodied, crisp attack, good driving power and notable dynamics and bass impact. It synergized surprisingly well with my new crush, the difficult-to-drive 7Hz Timeless, which sounded louder and more expansive with the Xumee than they did unamped.
Likewise, the 60 oHm Koss KSC75 took on a palpable physicality with the Xumee, sounding bassier and more like full-sized cans. The Xumee did run out of steam on my 250 ohm Beyer DT 990, which had sufficient volume but sounded wimpy and bloomy at the low end.
On more sensitive (<32 ohm) IEMs, the ($13) Conexant CX31993 sounded more transparent and presented more high end detail, but lacked the energy and low end control of the Xumee, while my current budget fave, the $23 Meizu Master, matched the Xumee for output power and impact, but sounded a bit coarse in comparison, with a bit of graininess at the high end.
Moving up the food chain to the $70 Hidisz S3, however, demonstrated the Xumee’s budget roots—while the Xumee played louder and had more low-end presence, the S3 was clearly the more refined, with more lifelike, less artificially bright timbre and a smoother (though still quite detailed) high end. However, the Xumee was a better match for brighter IEMs like the Blon A8 and Whizzer Kylin HD03D than the $75 Audirect Atom 2. So much for price/performace.
While my personal donglequest will undoubtedly continue, I’d venture that among the current flood of barely-distinguishable cheap dacs the Xumee is likely the best. I’m glad I bought it instead of that fifth of Jim Beam.
On a somewhat related note, I also sampled the surprisingly cheap ($9) Apple USB-C audio adapter, which Jürgen has reviewed favorably here. Simply stated, the Apple does not play well with any Android or Fire devices, producing very low volume and a rolled-off high end.
The lightning version, OTOH, works perfectly well with my wife’s iPhone, with more than adequate output and a very clean, uncolored presentation. I’m not sure what Apple’s reasoning is here, but if it don’t work it ain’t a bargain.
Non-disclaimer: bought it myself . You find it at amazon.
