For people who prefer to use wired headphones to listen to music, the most embarrassing thing is that there is no better front-end collocation, or the mobile phone is selected as the front-end but the headphones cannot be driven. In fact, it is not difficult to solve this problem. The easiest way is to choose a decoding amp to “bless”. The price is not too high, but it can improve the sound immediately. If decoding amp is your necessity, then you might as well follow my article to learn about iBasso DC03.
DC03 is a new decoding headphone amplifier launched by iBasso, available in silver and black body colors. Judging from the parameters on the back of the package, its function is quite strong, equipped with dual CS43131 decoding chips, signal-to-noise ratio: 127dB, total harmonic distortion + noise: -111dB, noise floor <0.9μV, output impedance: 0.12 Ω, and can be used as a computer USB sound card.
Compared with desktop decoding amps, decoding amps like iBasso DC03 are much miniaturized. With a weight of only 11g, they can be easily put in a pocket or bag and can be carried and used easily.
Although the body of iBasso DC03 is small, the production process is good. It uses a lightweight and sturdy aluminum alloy shell with a brushed surface, which looks rich in texture and delicate in touch. “32bit/384KHz DSD 256x” is also silk-screened on the fuselage and labeled with Hi-Res.
Nowadays, more and more mobile phones have cancelled the headphone jack, which also brings more space to iBasso DC03. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack and blue indicator on the side of the fuselage. It supports two-stage or three-stage Segmented 3.5mm headphone plug.
iBasso DC03 uses 4 twisted silver-plated fever wires to connect the body and the interface to ensure lossless transmission of audio signals. It also uses the mainstream type-C plug design, which will be more convenient to use, because more and more mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and even desktop computers are equipped with type-C interfaces.
Don’t worry if laptops and desktop computers don’t have a type-C interface. The iBasso DC03 comes with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, which can be used as a sound card directly without installing a driver.
The output power of iBasso DC03 reaches 80mW@32Ω, which is even better than some mainstream HiFi players. I have a few pairs of headphones that are not well-driven. After matching them, the sound immediately changes significantly. The first is the change in sound loudness. The original front-end volume needs to be adjusted to 50% to meet the listening needs. With the help of iBasso DC03, it is enough to adjust the volume to 20%. The second is the change in the sound bottom noise. The sound directly output by the mobile phone can always hear some noise bottom more or less, especially when using high-sensitivity and low-impedance headphones, the bottom noise is more obvious, and after the intermediate filter transmission of iBasso DC03, The sound signal is more pure and bright. In addition, the sound quality has also been improved, the details have become richer, more layered, and the vocal position is closer to the ear, creating a better sense of immersion.
Because the volume of mobile phones is usually adjusted by software algorithms, most of them only provide an adjustment range of about 10 levels, while the iBasso UAC App supporting iBasso DC03 provides a total of 64 levels of volume adjustment from 0 to 63, which can better control the volume. The size, this design is still very humane. In addition, users can also adjust the maximum call volume.
The market price of iBasso DC03 is 288 RMB, which is a price acceptable to most people. For those who use mobile phones or entry-level audio players as their listening devices, iBasso DC03 can not only change the volume, it can also improve the sound quality. If you have a certain pursuit of sound quality, and do not plan to spend money to buy a high-end audio player, then the iBasso DC03 decoding amp is undoubtedly an ideal solution.