The dongle DAC has develop into a well-known however awkward sight plugged into the underside of a smartphone, a small reminder that the headphone jack didn’t disappear quietly. Transportable audio has come a great distance in sound high quality, however the type issue hasn’t saved tempo. Most of those tiny dongles hold unfastened from the charging port, tugging at cables and usually getting in the way in which of an in any other case nice listening session.
Fosi Audio’s MD3 MagDac tries to resolve this with a essentially completely different method to portability. As a substitute of hanging from a charging port, it snaps magnetically to the again of a MagSafe-compatible smartphone utilizing 16 N52 magnets, sitting flush towards the system like a compact audio module. The result’s a pocket-sized DAC and headphone amplifier that really seems prefer it belongs there, not like an afterthought.
Designer: Fosi Audio
The design doesn’t cease at intelligent attachment. The MD3 is precision-machined from 6063 aluminum alloy with a sandblasted anodized end, out there in silver or black, each with orange leather-based on the magnetic again. At simply 50g and 12m thick, it slides out and in of a pocket with out protest. What you’ll discover first, although, is the 1.28-inch round LCD show on the again.
That display screen handles quantity in 100 steps, reveals audio info, and rotates its orientation relying on the way you’re holding the system. There’s additionally a Vista Button that opens a private picture album, a small however unexpectedly human contact for a chunk of audio {hardware}. A devoted Ease Button and bodily navigation controls maintain all the things accessible with out ever needing to faucet your telephone’s display screen.
For the audio itself, Fosi didn’t compromise on elements. The MD3 makes use of the ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC chip paired with 4 ES9603Q amplifier chips in a real balanced circuit, supporting PCM as much as 32-bit/384kHz and native DSD256. Whole harmonic distortion and noise sit at simply 0.00075%, and the noise ground drops to 1.7 μV. For many IEMs and moveable headphones, these figures translate to noticeably cleaner, extra resolving sound.
The MD3 presents each a 3.5mm single-ended output and a 4.4mm balanced output, delivering as much as 180 mW by way of the latter, sufficient for headphones starting from 16 to 300 ohms. An aluminum alloy shielding plate sits between the magnets and the audio circuitry to stop interference from coloring the sign, a cautious engineering element that retains the magnetic attachment trick from undermining the entire level of the system.
Twin USB-C ports deal with each audio and charging concurrently, so that you’re not pressured to decide on between listening and retaining your telephone powered. The highest port handles audio decoding and charging, whereas the underside manages audio decoding and firmware updates. There’s additionally a quantity reminiscence characteristic, so the MD3 picks up on the identical stage each time you join it, with out having to reset something.
The wired audio revival has been constructing for some time, drawing listeners who need one thing extra intentional than Bluetooth. A magnetic DAC that attaches to the again of your telephone with out cables or instances looks as if a wise subsequent step in making that have sensible. Fosi has been laying the groundwork quietly, and at $149.99, the MD3 may simply be the moveable amp that lastly stays out of the drawer.
