Periodic Audio – Rhodium USB DAC Review – Just Buy It Already
Rhodium
$49
Pros
- Extremely well priced
- Android Plug and play, it just works
- Accurate non coloured sound improvement
Cons
- Looks basic, like a $5 connector
- No balanced option
- Apparently not working on IOS easily
Using a recent smartphone the Rhodium fits tightly and stays in place without any movement or audio cut outs. Interesting the jack supports microphone input for taking calls which is a nice added touch. Again the mobile sector being the primary consumer for a product like this in my view.
For most the 384 kHz / 32 Bit support should be enough, if you are using MQA or DSD then this wont work but for standard Redbook PCM WAV the Rhodium DAC will take anything you throw at it.
Cable can be plugged in either way there is no chance to plug it incorrectly, as is with these type of connections. The cable is flexible and can be used in a variety of angles.
The Rhodium worked straight away with my Android phone, I don’t have an IOs apple phone so cannot test that set up.
There is no a lot to be said about the Rhodium except that it just works, the Dac must be tiny as the size footprint is significantly smaller than the AudioQuest DragonFly range which is considerably bigger in size and price.
Surprisingly It is able to drive the majority of earphones and gets a good amount of performance from them. Using it on Windows 10 with the adaptor also just works without need for additional software, when I tried it.
Distortion as mentioned is very low and you can tell as no unneeded artefacts are present in all music I tried. Sound is largely uncoloured and just emphasises the character of the attached earphones. There is slight amount of warmth adding a little size to the audio but this makes everything just flow well and if you are not going for the most technical monitoring set up then the Rhodium will just add a sliver of flesh to the scale.
Although there are more powerful USB dongle Dacs out there, they are priced 2 or 4 times more than the Rhodium and also are bigger and less practical for mobile use in some cases. The Realtek chipset is sufficient for most people out there but if you know what I am referring to when I mention the Realtek you probably might have some more expensive options in mind for larger power output.
For convenience, price point and easy of use in my opinion for most people – Just Buy It already.
I am picking up a second one to give to the Wife.
Thanks again to Periodic Audio for allowing me to try this interesting little USB DAC AMP.
