Anyone on here that has experience using the DDHifi TC44B for IEMs?
Specifically sound quality, signature(hopefully neutral), and noise floor?
I’m planning to get one after my Oracle arrives and testing it on a borrowed Ifi Zen blue to at least get the idea of what a good quality source can do. It’s mainly gonna be for laptop use and occasionally phone use. The jack of my macbook has an audible hiss that I can hear after pausing videos and music but that’s also attributed to my current earphones having only 16ohms impedance(Audiotechnica CKR50 for the Japanese market).
Speaking of impedance, does anyone have a clue what the impedance of the Oracle is? Is it very sensitive? I know having the right power output can help bring out the full potential of any headgear so there’s that as well.
Reading on the review in Audiosciencereview it looks very promising for IEMs and “okay” for headphones so it’s perfect for my needs(not to mention I can get it for about $70 where I’m at)
@TkSilver owns the Oracle so he can answer those questions related to the set…
As for the dongle dac, have you tried the Apple lightning dongle dac? It’s super cheap yet slams like a champ! You don’t need to spend crazy amount of money on dacs as the audio quality you get between those won’t have a difference…
I guess I should clarify that the Oracle is gonna be my first official IEM and that the place I bought it from only carries the 2.5mm balanced cable version with the 3.5 and 4.4mm adapters. I would definitely prefer avoiding long chunks of adapters especially on a cable that ends in the tiny 2.5mm jack since I usually sleep wearing earphones.
And I know that the apple dongle is a good performer, but my macbook doesn’t have the lightning connector and I use a Samsung A50, I know there’s a USB c version too but I’ve had enough experience with apple cables to know they will degrade and break on me very quick.
Oh so that’s why you asked about TC44B, sorry! But why picking the TC44B when there’s the model TC25B for your cable? Unless you listen to DSD, I think TC25B works as well for less money…
If I were just gonna use the Oracle on my phone then yeah I’d probably go for the TC25B, I am just a bit worried about the port because it’s so short and small and could possibly leverage and break it since my phone’s case has one of those dust protector flap things.
And honestly the big factor is the purchasing convenience the TC44B has a USB type-c female to USB male adapter included in the box, kinda hard to go to physical shops these days and buying online for a tiny single adapter of suspect quality is a big hassle
I have used the TC35B, same design but it’s built very study, no problem for me!
In that case, you can look out for Tempotec Sonata BHD, Shanling UA2 or Hidizs S9/Pro, they all include that adapter in the box, and all of them have 2.5mm ports/connectors
I am actually not 100% sure what the impedance for the Oracle is (Thie does not put it on the box… or in the box), but they list the sensitivity as 106db.
Honestly it is is probably somewhere around 32ohm just by how it reacts to various things I plug it into and where I set my volume on my IEMagni.
Also if your spending the money for the TC44b you could just get the Fiio BTR5 instead. It can run in wired or BT, has enough power for the Oracle easy, cost about the same (In the US at least) and has a 2.5 jack. If it is a lot more where you are at then maybe it is not a good option.
The Sonata only has a 3.5mm jack and the Oracle I’m getting is the 2.5mm version since that’s all they had in stock and I would prefer not having to stack adapters for long periods
Thanks for the info Silver! And here’s the breakdown of the prices I can get here essentially in dollars for the following suggestions
TC44B $70
Hidiz S9 pro $102
Fiio BTR5 $114
Shanling UA2 $73
Tempotec Sonata $36
At those prices I might still pick up the BTR5, honestly I paid like $5 less for mine. The flexibility it offers is a nice advantage. Also the app it uses is only truly bad on iOS, on Android there are better apps for some of the competitors, but it works fine at least.
Haven’t tried it, does it have a 2.5 jack and the ability to run as a USB DAC if so there a lot of fans of it here so it might be a good options as well.
I care about MQA even less then EQ… I just don’t EQ because I source and IEM hop a lot… MQA is just something I don’t care about unless I am paying extra for something I will never use.
Ooooh sorry about that misread, it’s currently at $55 on where I usually can get things from a fairly reputable seller, so it’s a contender for consideration
I did consider it for a while, though my main worry is the battery since it’ll be plugged in to my macbook basically 24/7 save for the rare time I’d want to bring it out with me. So in the end when the battery dies it’s probably gonna be really dead. That’s actually why I’m kinda leaning to basic dongles rather than portable dac/amps
You can set it to charge or to not charge the battery when plugged in, in the app and I also think in the little menu it has… but defiantly in the app. Just remember to charge it every so often if you want to use it in BT mode.
