This is the official thread for the EarMen Donald DAC
This thread is for discussion and reviews.
- Cirrus Logic CS43198, 32bit/384kHz PCM & MQA
- RCA out, type c in for data and an additional type c for external power
- Comes with stand
EarMen Link
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Decided to try this recently, actually really sweet for the price. I initially heard this at canjam, thought it was solid and wanted to try it out. Liked it enough to grab one for fun. It kinda sounds in between an ESS and AKM implementation, and it’s pretty well done in terms of sound. Pretty plug and play, and works nicely. Compared to the e30 I do have a slight preference to the e30 but it does depend on the amp and headphones, and the e30 also has way more features, but this is just real solid for the price, not too much to say on this one besides that if you want a fairly neutral and accurate yet enjoyable sound, and something stupid simple this is a great pick for the price. I did prefer the donald dac (really not a fan of the name) with the liquid spark over the e30, but preferred the e30 with the magni heresy, so this would come down to more of a pairing thing imo. Didn’t try mqa because I don’t use tidal and mqa so I can’t comment on that
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Ear Men Donald had a DAC E-I-E-I-O…
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I can never look at this dac without thinking this now lol
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mqa for 100$? nice that has to be about the cheapest mqa dac!
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If you want mqa but wanted a more neutral sound than the zen dac, this seems like a solid pick
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Mon $ per $ do you think the e30 is the best value on the market? Or is there something else you prefer in the < $250 range?
Mon can you buy the D30 and compare it with the E30? i’m curious
For the under 200 range I think at the moment it’s hard to beat the e30 for all that it offers, than being said there is the smsl Sanskrit 10th mk2 that has similar specs and features and undercuts the e30 in price, but I haven’t heard it so I can’t say anything about it
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Lol my intention wasn’t to collect budget dacs so most likely no, but going off of memory I do prefer the Donald dac, I think the d30 has a more peaky signature and isn’t as detailed as the Donald dac but I would have to do side by side for a more accurate comparison
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This looks like an external hard drive.
Not going to lie, I’m tempted just because of the name. I would live at Disneyland if I could
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Oh, it’s Donald Dac!
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Just waiting for a Zeos “review” with 30 minutes of McDonalds and Ducktales jokes.
Oh shit, they also sell an amp and it’s called the TR-Amp.
So when you get both you get the Donald / TR-Amp combo. 
Edit: it’s not an amp, it’s a small dac-amp combo.
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Wouldn’t a Donald DAC have really raspy vocals? 
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The tr-amp is actually a portable dac amp that was pretty nice from the short time I listened to it
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Looks like a great competitor for “tiniest stack ever”.
A neat smol stack for smol price.
Also I should say that the parent? brand Auris makes some overpriced but good stuff, but way to pricey for what it is imo, earmen so far has been a solid value from what I have listened to
Auris as in Auris Euterpe, oh well. So they know what they’re doing 