I got Colorfly M1P based on your great review and I am happy with it. Thank you! Based on the comparison table at 14:00 it seems there is no need for me to buy Colorfly M2, also timbre of M1P is more analog than most DACs as you show us at 14:57, which I like too. If I can comment your scores: value for M1P should be 10 or at least 9. It's under $80, so much cheaper than M2 or any other DAC with comparable sound quality.
I would suggest anyone wanting a new dongle to wait for CDA-M2 Ti version (Titanium version), should be released soon and blows the regular version out of the water. I had the opportunity to listen to the Ti version at recent headphone expo in China.
I was able to attend headphone expo in China last April, and had extensive listen to their unreleased CDA-M2 Ti, the Ti stands for titanium. It is gunmetal in color and features titanium cnc chassis and titanium screws. Blows the regular CDA-M2 out of the water in terms of sound quality, much darker background and music sounds much more organized compared to the messy sound of the regular non-Ti CDA-M2. Huge upgrade over the regular CDA-M2 IMO.
Hi Andy, yesterday I received the big brother of my favorite Dongle, the new Questyle M12i. My first impressions are that is less warmer than the original. It's brighter and the right/left separation is more accentuated. Otherwise, I find this technicality and texture in the bass that I like so much in the original M12. It's also bigger, exactly the same size as my Moonriver 2Ti. I find the original more beautiful, with its little green and red leds. Here only big red leds...I can't wait too see your review, to hear what you think about this new Questyle. Also I'm super excited to wait for the new and first dongle dac from Chord Electronic! Thanks again for your work and best regards.
Hello andy, i am fan of your audio reviews, been relying on your supreme reviews for audio gadget purchases. Just a small request, kindly do a review on new Fiio K17 DAC with 650mw power. Thanks in advance.
Thanks! your support. Unfortunately I am still waiting for a FiiO KA17 and KA11 to arrive on my doorsteps, let's just hope it will not be too long. Cheers
@@lordlopes2424 exactly. for the same price people tend to place their bet on fiio KA17. for cheaper option there is shanling UA4. colorfly just having wrong timing, they should have launch together with M1P.
I blindly ordered the Aune Yuki 2 days ago. How does it compare against the Aune Yuki sound wise having the 10$ difference between them. Built quality?. I plan on feeding the Aune Yuki to a dedicated ifi CAN through 4.4mm as I don't have a DAC yet and was shopping around. my concern with these USB DACs is build quality, drop resistance, durability. Cost to lifespan ratio.
Sound wise you can clearly see in the comparison section in this how Yuki scores versus M2, that should give you an idea. Build wise, I say both are very well built, solid with good heft, both has glass element so you need to be mindful not to smash them. Lifespan? only time can tell. Yuki would probably perform better if you allow the dual internal amps to operate and drive your IEMs/Headphones directly, double amping to your iFi CAN would probably yield less favorable results, I know as I have owned iFi CAN and I sold it off in favor of Link2 BAL dongle
@@donglemadness I see, So I will not be able to use the Yuki as a pre-amp? Because I have a brand new set of Sennheiser HD6xx and pre-ordered the Ifi CAN V2 signature 6XX only to realize I have no good source for the audio. I do not have any balanced cabling yet, I will get once I have decided what to get. Thus I bought the Yuki based on your review with the idea of using it as a pre-amp if its possible and see if there is any benefit to it. Or would selling the new CAN in its sealed box be the better option as I can get close to retail for it.
@@igitsolutions For Pre Amp purposes, you should have opted for Cayin RU7 or Lotoo PAW S2, they have dedicated LO which is tuned for AUX purposes, they bypass amp stage when in LO mode and thus perform better than any dongles that have discrete amps. But since you already bought it, just try and the only thing that matters is what you hear, if you like it then nothing else matters
First of all, albeit very belatedly, I would like to wish Andy and all the viewers a very Happy New Year 2024! I have watched all the dongle reviews Andy has released since December with great interest like some kind of suspenseful crime movie!! In his notes on Synergy, Andy often mentions very relevant and important things. It's probably not quite the right approach on my part, but I'm waiting for some "sweetspot" up to a price of 170€ max that will convince Andy that the sound characteristics will surpass the DC04Pro and at the same time will suit me in terms of ergonomics and other features. In this respect, the Colorfly CDA M1P and Aune Yuki were very interesting for me, but unfortunately even with them the feeling of achieving the "sweetspot" did not come for me. My preference has always been for models with the CS43-131(198) DAC, but with the right implementation, the choice of DAC actually may become irrelevant. I noticed that the manufacturer Colorfly released the CDA M2 model before the review, but I don't consider it correct to come with requests to test any particular model. In this respect, Andy's competent choice is much more relevant to me than the subjective feeling of the product description in the dealer's catalogue. I was therefore very pleased that Andy chose the CDA M2 for his next review, many thanks!! I see the overall rating as excellent, yet I make no secret of my disappointment with Andy's impression for the "Tone, Timbre" and "Richness" sub-category ratings. Especially in comparison to the DC04Pro, Aune Yuki and especially the CDA M1P! I'm not writing this because of any inherent perfectionism, these are important sonic characteristics to me. If it was at least 9 points, that cocktail is mixed optimally for me, IMHO. But it absolutely does not mean that I won't opt for this model in the end. Thanks Andy for the fantastic reviews!!
Andy, love your honest and knowledgeable review. I learn a lot from you. Thank you. Can you recommend me a good amp/s? Power n low noise level? Thank you in advance
Thanks! Power and low noise? The reality is, anything rated 110 dB above with SNR is rest assured that be silent with floor noise, so this M2 being one of the many, you can literally pick any one of them and be happy knowing they are both powerful and silent
Hi Andy! Thanks again for another invaluable contribution to the community. I'd like to ask as to what would be the best dongle following these criteria: pitch black noisefloor, wide soundstage, and organic sound with just a touch of warmth. I'll be using it with headphones, namely: the HD600, Grado SR325X, and Sony CD900ST. Thanks!
Pitch black background? especially with headphones? well you are describing practically ALL dongles released for the last 2 years. Especially for HD600, even the older Ovidius B1 which is notorious with floor noises sounded clean with HD600. Unless of course you have hearing sensitivity of a dolphin or a whale, then I don't think any DAC/Amp can satisfy your needs. In this example, CDA M2 offers 130 dB of SNR, and as I always mentioned, anything above 110 dB of SNR will be super silent even with crazily sensitive IEMs with as low impedance as 5 Ohm or sensitivity above 105 dB. But if you looking for wide soundstage, these you can get the best from iBasso DC04Pro, Cayin RU7, L&P W4, FiiO BTR15 and a few others, as for natural organic sound, that would be BTR15, RU7 and DC04Pro being closest to that natural analog target, otherwise if you need truly analog sound, HIBY FC6, DACport HD, EPZ TP30, Hidizs S9 Pro Plus, Colorfly CDA-M1P are the ones to go for
Hi Andy very nice video. I bought aune yuki and DC04 based on your recommendation also Tanchjim zero, and I love them all!! I have a question if I'm looking for a dongle to compliment my DC04/yuki and fiio q15, but I want a slightly hifi/digital sound, with airy soundstage which one would you recommend?
@@donglemadness I'm planning to get the MP145 soon! But I meant another DAC dongle with hifi presentation and lots of air, ESS based maybe? which one I should get
Hello Andy will e have a review of FIIO KA17 soon? Moreover can dongles such as Colorfly M1P or DC04 PRO be connected to an external amplifier so as to drive demanding headphones? Also do you believe a dongle such as Colorfly M1P or DC04 PRO can match in terms of sound the first chord mojo? Have you tried it? Best Regards!
KA17 soon once I have it. M1P and DC04Pro can already drive demanding headphones on their own especially from the 4.4mm BAL side, unless you are talking about headphones mode demanding than Sennheiser HD600, HD650, Fostex T40 RPMK3 or HiFiMan Sundara, then I am completely happy running them without the need to double amp to an external unit. But I understand your point, it is no longer about driving power, it is about synergy and you can use both also as AUX feed for this purpose, but that is something I consider as redundant unless the connected amp does influence the sound output differently. Match to Mojo? yes of course, at this level these dongles and DAC has reach a level that the differences that separates them are minimal at best. Mojo was already matched with Ovidius B1 sometime ago, and now we have tons of other dongles that match Mojo pretty much on equal terms, but I do admit that Mojo has some unique appeal that it offers that makes it very compelling, the way it handles dynamic energy and timbre, those who know will know
@@donglemadness I read many say that HD600 and almost every over ear need external amplifier to shine and especially a tube amp. So I was thinking that the dongle may not be ideal, but I can not have much space to my desk and I was hoping for a dongle solution for my cans. Have you tried any tube amp for your HD600? Any affordable? Thanks for all!
@@Nordi1_0745 I have tube amps and a 3000 mW Class A amp as well, again it is not about outright power, it is about synergy. HD600 being neutral does synergize really well with three amps
@@donglemadness I was thinking of buying a Tube amp connected to a dongle working as dac only so as to check the tube amplification to HD600. But I have read about double amping and I do not know if that issue exists. Many say that there is not problem of double amping connecting a dongle through jack->2 rca. I was thinking of an Xduoo tube amp. Have you checked Andy any Xduoo tube amplifier but not much expensive one? Thanks for all!
Hello sir! Thinking of upgrading dongles from a CS Pro dac from shopee. Do you think I should get the Moondrop Dawn Pro or the M1P? I'm afraid humid climates could be bad for the dawn pro since it has a semi open design
@@donglemadness another question actually, how does the sound between a CX31993, CS43131 and the AKM in the colorfly differ? I've tried all of them except the colorfly and my only experience with a AKM dongle was my friend's 7hz 71 a while back... Is the colorfly similar to the 71?
Hi there Andy. Been confused between two JCALLY dongle DACs. JCALLY JM30 that has CS43131 chip and other is JCALLY JM9 that uses CS46L41 chip. Which one should I get?
I don't have a preference, any DAC can be tuned to sound great as long as the manufacturer know what they are doing. two years ago I might say I prefer AKM over ESS, but you know what, the DAC I use the most now is a BURSON Audio Playmate 2 and it is on ESS Sabre 9038Q2M, I would not have imagined that I depend on that DAC more than anything else, despite me always preferring AKM. But then now I have learned enough to understand that ultimately any DAC can be made great for as long as the tuning and implementation are done right
@@donglemadness the thing is... Tuning is the king 👑.. and I am now understand why people prefer or like R to R dac chip more.. becose of its tuning. But sad thing is those are expensive out of my budget so I have to find something within those three dac chip dongle and I hope the upcoming fiio ka17 will tune well by fiio.. Andy did you get yours ka17 yet ? I am eagerly waiting for your dongle madness style review.... Love you brother ❤️❤️😘😘
@@FATfreq R2R admittedly have a unique sound temperament than most Delta Sigma, it is the closest interpretation of sound you get to vinyl experience. I haven't got my KA17 yet, it will come I hope
Hi Andy, will this or the shanling ua4 be a better upgrade from the sxfi dac/ amp? I also currently own a fiio ka13 and am considering to expand my dongle dac lineup Thanks in advance.
Both DC04Pro and M2 being neutral, uncolored so they are equally matched on that regard. But if I am to nitpick then I would say DC04Pro has a bit more of air with the decays and M2 offer a bit more of crisp edge approach
You are looking at it, Colorfly CDA M2. Options? anything I rated 4.5 Star and above and you can't go wrong with any of them. Check out my tier list in the description
@@rushi_69 Again M2 is one that offers very good battery life, so does SIMGOT DEW 4X and Truthear SHIO, or iBasso DC03Pro, all excellent performers with great battery efficiency
Yes, M1 as noted in the timbre section is not as analog sounding as M1P, also I mentioned repeatedly in my M1P review, M1P is richer sounding compared to M1
