DAC Review, Other

iBasso DC01

Audiophile dongle.

PROS: AK4493EQ DAC, 2.5mm fully balanced output, smartphone and PC compatibility, wide soundstage, expanded dynamics, custom app to control the volume, budget price.

CONS: some “waterfall” hissing with sensitive IEMs.

The product was provided to me free of charge for the review purpose in exchange for my honest opinion.

Manufacturer website: iBasso.  Available for sale directly from iBasso, Amazon, or Penon Audio.

Intro.

As I started working on this write up, I tried to remember the last time I reviewed a compact USB DAC dongle.  It has been a while, and there is a good reason for that.  The sound quality of Android phones wasn’t that great 4+ years ago.  Some manufacturers quickly recognized the demand, turning a smartphone into a touch screen digital transport to drive portable USB OTG DACs, and many audiophiles found it useful since touchscreen streaming DAPs were rare at that time.  But as the sound quality of smartphones went up and Android support of high res formats improved, the interest in these dongles started to fade away, especially with more dedicated Android DAPs hitting the market.

So, imagine my surprise when out of the blue while waiting to receive their latest AMP9 w/Korg NuTube, I get a bonus DC01 dongle from iBasso.  It was a surprise on many levels, maybe because I missed their upcoming products announcement or perhaps because I couldn’t understand why would a company with such a variety of Android and non-Android DAPs would release a USB DAC dongle?  It wasn’t a question of a new product entering the saturated market (cause it’s not), but rather a question of is there even a demand for it?  I know iBasso doesn’t put out random releases, so there had to be something special about this new DC01 USB DAC cable adapter.  Here is what I found after spending the last few weeks testing it.

Unboxing and Accessories.

The unit arrived in a very compact cardboard box with a realistic 3D image of the device popping out from the cover sleeve.  Despite small size of the box, there was plenty of info on the front and the back to highlight its functionality, design, and spec.  The key features I noticed right away were a balanced output and AK4493EQ DAC which is quite unique for $49 device.

With a sleeve off, you’ll see a foam cutout with DC01 securely wedged inside and a flap covering the cable/connector portion of the device.  As part of the included accessories, there was USB-C to USB-A short adapter and a detailed manual.  It’s always nice to see manufacturers paying close attention to packaging details, regardless of the product’s pricing.

Design and Functionality.

DC01 main aluminum housing, kind of bulbous in shape, is about 38mm long, very lightweight, and hosts the 2.5mm balanced headphone jack, AK4493EQ DAC, dual ultra-low noise LDO voltage regulators, a blue led (to indicate the presence of power), and the rest of the circuit.  A matching aluminum housing USB-C connector plug is attached with a short 8-wire braided cable, the same premium hybrid cable (4 pure copper and 4 SPC conductors) iBasso uses with some of their IEMs.

This interconnect cable will carry only a digital signal from USB-C connector to the DAC, but since we have multiple conductors, it allows to separate power, ground, and data signals, keeping them apart and isolated.  Overall, this pigtail design looks very nice, especially when used with matching iBasso IEM cables.  The total length of this pigtail adapter is about 120mm, and the total weight is about 10g.

Along with AK4493EQ, the spec mentions output voltage of 1.9V and output power of 113mW @ 32ohm load.  Also, considering USB-C connection, it’s designed for use with Android phones/tablets, and with included USB-C to USB-A adaptor you can also connect it to your PC/laptop to use as an external USB DAC soundcard.  With Win10 there is no need to install any additional drivers (confirmed on my Win10Pro laptop), but if you have an older version of Windows, iBasso has drivers for that.

With a smartphone, assuming you have the latest one with usb-C plug, you need to connect DC01 directly and it should be recognized right away.  I was using Neutron app for playback, and had no issues with my Verizon Galaxy S9.  Since there is no built-in battery, DC01 will be draining extra from the phone, but it wasn’t too bad.  I noticed on my Galaxy S9 while using Neutron with WiFi/BT on, the drain was about 5% per hour when playing FLACs.  With DC01 attached, under the same test conditions it went up to 9%.

ibasso_dc01-11

Unfortunately, due to smartphone variations in hw and Android sw, there could be an issue related to inconsistency with max volume.  To resolve this problem, iBasso released free UAC volume control app which could be downloaded from Google Play.  It starts up every time DC01 is attached to the phone, allowing you to control the volume in 64 hw steps which helps to reduce the noise floor due to a finer volume adjustment within audio apps.

ibasso_dc01-20

Page 2 – Sound analysis, and Comparison.

Page 3 – Pair-up, and Conclusion.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

39 thoughts on “iBasso DC01”

  1. How come your S9’s battery got drained by only 9%/hour whereas my S10 plus saw a drop of nearly 20%/hour when using Apple music and that too when played downloaded songs! Not even FLACs!

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    1. I wasn’t steaming anything, only playing Neutron, and my phone is quite optimized with not too much stuff running in the background. You got some other stuff draining your battery, bud.

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      2. Dc01 is like an external sound card, as long as it’s compatible with your phone or tablet, it should be compatible with anything that produces sound on them. Of course, in theory 😉

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      1. not familiar with usb audio pro, but I think it’s popular with Tidal users, somehow you can listen to Tidal through it, or maybe I’m wrong. Regarding other audio apps, I like Neutron cause it’s very powerful (oversampling, parametric eq, every rate support, and it actually makes sound better), but its interface I still can’t get used to. Other one is HibyMusic, that one is free. Love the interface and MSEB effects, those are very good.

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    1. The soundstage is very wide/expanded. But from my experience when it comes to vocals (upper mids part of the spectrum), that’s usually a function of your IEMs/headphones and how they position and handle the imaging of the vocals and sounds. The source could be a bottleneck, limiting the soundstage. Here, DC01 will not limit it, so the rest will be up to a technical ability of your transducers.

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  4. Hi twister .
    Can I use my 3.5 single ended earphones with 2.5 balanced adapter instead of purchasing new earphone with 2.5 balanced jack (I’m afraid this will hurt the DAC ) ?
    I am looking forward to hear your answer. Thanks

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    1. You can’t convert 3.5mm single ended to 2.5mm balanced because in single ended L/R grounds are tied together and you can’t split them. You can either go from balanced to balanced or balanced to single ended. I think in your case you need DC02, it’s their 3.5mm version of DC01.

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  5. I’m grabbing this feom my mailbox on the way to work this morning to try on my LG V30. Looking forward to trying it out.

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    1. high res files will drain your phones battery faster, but there are other variables to contribute because it will depend on the app you are using on your phone and if it downsamples or sends a bit perfect stream. If you are playing locally stored files or streaming your MQA using Tidal, etc. Sorry, I don’t have that data.

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  8. Great review with so many devices you owned.
    I only have 1 iem hybrid driver (5 balance & 1 dynamic driver) and jack connector using 3.5mm with replaceable cable.
    Can I just replace cable with 2.5mm balanced Trrs dan put DC01 as my dac
    without damage it?
    I know ibasso have option for DC02 but i preferred ak4493 over ak4490 since 4493 is newer & upgraded from 4490.
    In their website has acclaim that compatibility issues with samsung s9 and s10 maybe my phone (note 10+) have same issues, did UAC volume control resolve that issues?
    Thanks

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  11. Hi!
    I have a cayin n3 and have the ibasso it01, but I am finding the bass too much.

    I wanted to get the ibasso it01s , but unfortunately my Cayn n3 don’t have a balanced output and the dc01 wouldn’t let me control the sound on the go 😦 you think they will sound good, just with the unbalanced output? Till I get a better dap later?
    Also, will the it01s, fix the problem of too much bass of the ibasso it01?

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    1. Don’t know your bass tolerance, you could find it01s bassy as well. Maybe get something like Hiby R3 Pro dap, it has balanced output and great EQ and also dsp effects (MSEB) to reduce the bass.

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      1. Thank you!

        And while I don’t upgrade my DAP can you tell me how the IT01s pair up with the unbalanced Cayin n3?

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    1. I guess, at some point will look into this usb dac. I recieved DC03, definitely an improvement in sound quality over dc01/02. Dc04 is probably similar to DC03 but with 4.4mm jack.

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  14. Hi,
    I just receive dc01 from my friend for test.
    Unfortunately didn’t work with iphone!
    I used cck cable+dc01 with usb dongle (type C to A)+ ios 14.5.
    Actually dc01 hiiiis a lot and little blue led turns on but there is no sound.
    Is it competitive with ios ?

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    1. I wish I can comment, but I don’t use iPhone. Did you try gong on Head-fi and asking people in ibasso threads? And even with android phone, I had to install iBasso UAC app to control the volume.

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      1. Tnx.
        I just email Ibasso and…

        I just buy dc03 hope you will review it as soon as possible.

        DC03 adopts type-C interface and uses standard UAC2.0 sound card chip, which is not only compatible with most Android phones and tablets in the market, but also can connect to Apple /Windows computers through the C-A adapter, easily realizing external decoding. Plug and play, get up anytime, anywhere.

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      2. Sorry, I can’t get to every review. I get dozens of products coming in every month, but can only get to one every other week. Too busy with work, kids online school, taking care of grandparents. But with this said, I have DC03 and it is fantastic! A big step up from dc01, big soundstage, better retrieval of details, more layered sound. You will enjoy it!

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