- Ultra-affordable USB-C to headphone adapter with DAC
- Support for 32-bit/384 kHz high-resolution audio in a small body
- Around $26 – but we’re waiting for a global launch
Getting the best sound from your smartphone creates a bit of a conundrum: The best wired headphones offer higher quality audio, but on most phones there’s nowhere to plug them in. But there is a solution: enter the dongle. (Ah, my favorite Bruce Lee movie – Ed.)
A USB-C headphone dongle can give your audio a big upgrade without a big expense, and Questyle’s recently released Qlink-C looks like it could be a good budget buy. The Q-link-C hasn’t hit the brand’s US Amazon page yet, but it launched in Japan with a price tag of around $26 and will hopefully be available to US buyers very soon.
Although dongles are generally used for headphones, you can also use them for anything that requires a standard auxiliary input.
And while at this price you won’t get an elite audiophile experience or enough power to use the most demanding headphones, going from compressed Bluetooth to uncompressed wired audio will make a noticeable difference in decent headphones, especially with the Hi-Res Audio-capable DAC at the heart of it.
Questyle Qlink-C: what does this dongle do?
Questyle is one of those audio brands that aims to have a product for every type of buyer, and its product range includes budget buys like the QCC Dongle Pro for wireless headphones and the Sigma Pro premium amplifier and DAC.
The Qlink-C is at the budget end of the range, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t offer decent specs. Its CX31993 DAC offers high-resolution audio up to 32-bit/384 kHz and has a signal-to-noise ratio of 100 dB. It’s extremely small (12cm/4.7in) and very lightweight, weighing just 4.5g (0.17oz), but it should be pretty tough: its cable is braided to withstand daily use and has been tested to survive 15,000 bending cycles.
The challenge for Questyle is to stand out in what is already a very crowded market sector for the best portable DACs, with affordable dongles like UGREEN and Moondrop offering similar specs at equally low prices – or lower if you don’t mind maxing out at 24-bit/96kHz.
The best headphone DACs for every budget
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