Interrumpo, brevemente, mi retiro de este mundo para comentar que hace dos semanas me regalaron un iPhone 15 Plus, que sustituye a mi iPhone 7 Plus.
En el tránsito del iPhone + Apple Lightning dongle al iPhone + Apple USB-C dongle, noto diferente mapa de volumen y aún más calidad.
Cuelgo la review que he dejado en Headfi, no tengo tiempo para escribir en dos idiomas.
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After six and half years with an iPhone 7 Plus and the Apple Lightning to 3.5 as a source, a couple of weeks back i moved to an iPhone 15 Plus and Apple USB-C to 3.5 dongle.
I can confirm that at the same volume step Apple USB-C dongle is way louder than Apple Lightning dongle. I did some measurements with a dosimeter and the difference seem to be in the 5-6 dB(a) range, which by audio standards is double SPL.
I did not go full volume to check whether it's a volume mapping thing and/or a max output power one.
European iPhone 15 Plus, European Apple USB-C dongle and Shure SE535, Westone W30 and Shure SE215 earphones.
Subjectively, Apple USB-C dongle sounds even better than the already great Lightning dongle: a tad cleaner, fuller and more open. Impressive, really.
On a side note, i own a superb sounding android dongle (ZooAux) and it works with iPhone 15 but with a major caveat: even at 1 step of volume SPL goes close to 80 dB(a) and 2 volume steps get you past 86 dB(a) with any modern pop recording with high intrinsic volume. The same rings true for Samsung USB-C to 3.5 dongle.
Hence people with big cans could give some Android dongles a shot.
For people with sensitive balanced armature/dynamic IEMS Apple USB-C is the go-to source: awesome sonic performance, ludicrous power drain and cheap price tag.
In any case, Apple could do with a customizable volume mapping like Samsung superb Sound Assistant enables on Samsung smartphones.
