iBasso DC06 Portable DAC

Product Information

The frequency response is excellent with good bilateral extension. I bet the frequency response would draw out quite linear and flat if measured. Overall, it seems rather neutral and no area seems to dominate the sound panorama. The DC03 PRO reminds me a bit of the sound of my favorite iFI Go Bar Gold. The difference is that the Englishman has a little more physicality in his manner of sounding, higher resolution, more high-frequency range, unstoppable power and three-dimensional visualization of sounds in space. But this is not surprising, given the size, weight and cost of the "ingot". However, DC03 PRO, when working with very sensitive IEMs, even wins in some respects. It is absolutely silent, which gives it some advantage over the "gold bar" from iFI. And in the case of the Go Bar, you have to turn to iEMatch switching, which slightly reduces the dynamic range. To that, iBasso added its own “sauce”, to enable the full potential of the DAC, and furthermore, output more power with a lower floor noise. So, upstream of the dual ES9219C chips, the brand added its own USB-receiver chip, combined with an NDK femtosecond oscillator, something we’ve already seen in previous models, like the DC05. As for the source, I kept my MacBook and iPhone, combined with the ddHiFi TC28i , to use the USB-C cable solely. For the files, I mainly used Apple Music and Spotify, as I ended up using the DC06 almost exclusively in the train, or at the office. Overall signature

If the DC06 can push T50s to an acceptable level then only a few headphones out there would present a challenge connected to the DC06. You don’t get jaw-crushing performance and the DC06 with this set presented some low-end distortion when the volume went past 80% but the volume level was an acceptable level at that 80%. Pairing I could also consider the sound signature to be somewhat punchy with good dynamics and is probably induced by the high signal-to-noise ratio and low output impedance. The past iBasso dongle DAC iterations all had a smooth and rounded edge body design and were all made of metal. But this time around iBasso broke the iBasso dongle DAC mold and incorporated a cooling fin design. The metal construction remained and the shell seems more robust this time around. The iBasso line of dongle DACs follows a straight sequence of numbers and although the recently released DC05 for example had a lower price tag compared to the DC04 it also had a lower power output rating but it still managed to highlight some small improvements and refinements in design.Lotoo PAW S1 also produces a fairly smooth and neutral sound, but in my opinion, DC03 PRO beats it by a small margin in terms of intelligibility, better bass control, and in general, sounds more academic and correct. I would describe the sound of the device as well balanced, smooth, with accurate, collected low-frequency processing, neutral and very melodic mids, as well as an accurate, clean and slightly shy high-frequency range. Because of these masterfully placed accents, the sound is not perceived as boring, despite its craving for "monitor sound". On the contrary, there is an extremely natural display of the emotional part. The one aspect that I would look to change about the design aspects is the 4 pointy edges on the top of the DC06 shell which could annoy in certain situations and tend to poke your hand. A more rounded-off design would certainly feel better in the hand.

On top of that, the power supply gets a completely redesigned synchronous DC-DC converter, feeding a Texas Instruments Low-Noise Charge Pump Plus LDO. Long story short, with just 5V, the iBasso DC06 is capable of outputting 320mW @ 32ohm. Enough for most portable headsets or IEMs. iBasso has upgraded its classic DC03 USB DAC/AMP with the all-new DC03 Pro. With premium CS43131 DAC chips from Cirrus Logics, the DC03 Pro brings flagship-level performance to your smartphones. It is designed with a high-performance KDS femtosecond crystal oscillator for clean and precise audio signal decoding. DC03 Pro supports high-resolution PCM and DSD signals promising a quality experience for its users!! The bass is neutrally tuned, deeply extended, tight, controlled, fast and pacey with a surprisingly full bodied, almost visceral, texture. This in particular will help those who will use the DC06 with highly sensitive IEMs and need fine control. Another benefit this app gives the user is the ability to set max volume.

Packaging & Accessories

The soundstage seems to be widely presented with a tall panorama but I sensed a personal amount of height and a slight interruption in imaging. There seems to be good placement, technical abilities are rather good and everything seems to be well placed. To the usual question: is it noisy? I’ll answer: not at all! Even with the Shanling ME800, I couldn’t spot any floor noise and the old saying about “noisy-hissy” iBasso, is now completely irrelevant. Hurray! The midrange of DC06 is where the magic actually happens though, and it presents music in a really beautiful fashion, with superb impact and dynamics, and superb soundstage too. DC06 has a wide and deep stage, with a pretty rounded presentation, and a very musical and organic midrange. If you’ve read my Opus #2 review, I always loved how organic it was, so I have to mention that DC06 captivates that organic, natural sound as well. I must say, this is my first dongle review, and expectations are pretty high. Thus, battery life may be on par or better. Inside you’ll find a basic manual with some usual information and you also get a dual-sided USB-C cable that measures 4 inches exactly but I found it to be a touch stiff. The cable has a cloth shield and for some reason, mine had both plugs not perpendicular to each other and I could never get the cable to lay flat.