Summary
To summarize the review, this is Allegro, a budget dac dongle from Kiwi Ears, coming in at 60$. This is their first attempt at making a dac dongle, and I must say they did it well. Build and design is really good, with a full metal build and unique old school game controller design. There are two buttons for volume control on the top, unfortunately the buttons on the front are just for show. Price wise specs are standard, with ESS9028Q2M DAC chip and up to 155mW power output on balanced. So how does it sound? This sounds quite decent, a bit more on the analytical side. I found this to be quite enjoyable with warmer sounding iems. If you are looking for an all rounder dac dongle with cool looks, this is a great option in my opinion.
Intro
Hey guys, whats up
This is the Kiwi Ears Allegro, a budget dongle dac coming in at 60$. Allegro is the first ever dongle dac released by Kiwi Ears, so it was exciting to check out.
Talking about Kiwi Ears, they are a pretty popular chifi iem brand. I have previously checked out some of their products, among which Quintet and Orchestra Lite was notably good. Getting back to the Allegro, they have gained attention specially because of its nostalgic analog game controller look. Anyways lets get into the review starting off with specs.
Disclaimer: this unit was purchased with my own money and this review is my honest and unbiased opinion, thanks.
Specs
> DAC Chip: ES9028Q2M
> THD+N: 0.0015% (32 Ohms)
> Output Power: 70mW@32 Ohms (3.5mm), 155mW@32 Ohms (4.4mm)
> SNR: 123dB
> Frequency Response: 20Hz~40kHz
> Noise Floor: <1μV
> Supported Formats: PCM (up to 32bit/384kHz), DSD (DSD256, DSD128, DSD64)
> Indicator Lights: PCM (blue), DSD (red)
> PRICE: $59.99 USD
Packaging
Starting off with the packaging of the Allegro, its very simple, maybe a bit too simple in my opinion. The box contains papers, the dac itself and a usb type C to C cable. The included cable is quite nice but they should included a type C to usb A adaptor. I will talk more about the cable in the build and design section.
Build and Design
Moving on to the build and design of the Allegro, this is amazing. The design, as you can see in the pictures is inspired by old school game controller which I find really unique and attractive. The build is also quite solid, full metal construction, aluminum to be exact. It has nice weight, feels more premium for the price. Thanks to the matte finish finger prints are not an issue. The silver color is nice but a beige version of this would give it a more old school vibe. In my use case, I did notice some minor scratches though.
On the fromt of the dongle the buttons are just for show, i wish they had some function. The top side is curved and has two circular buttons for volume up and down. The bottom side is flat and plain. On the back is the kiwi ears logo and a LED indicator. On the right is the 4.4mm and 3.5mm outputs and type C input on the left.
The included cable is really good. Construction of the cable is high quality regardless of the price. The connectors are metal and the pvc covering is done well.
User Experience
Moving on to the user experience of the Allegro, it is as you would expect from a dongle at this price, simple and to the point. Talking about controls, you only get volume up and down. This was not that power hungry, this drained around 10% percent battery every hour of listening from my samsung galaxy S20 and pixel 2xl. Power output is nothing crazy, but can power most iems perfectly except the really power hungry ones. I did find the LED indicator placement to be a bit odd though, because you would not usually look at the back side of the dac. Honestly I can not think of any major cons here.
Sound
Now most importantly how does it sound? This sounds great, talking about sound signature, this is more towards analytical than neutral. Bass performance is very clean and tight but a bit more depth would have been nice. Mids is also clean and transparent type but with brighter sounding iems upper mids might sound a bit thin. Treble is energetic and quite detailed, I find this dongle to pair well with warmer iems. Staging and imaging is accurate. I tried it with a couple Kiwi Ears iems, it was lovely specially with Orchestra Lite.
Tested with:
IEMS: Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite, Kiwi Ears Quintet, Simgot EA1000, Moondrop Aria 2, Thie Audio Hype 2
Headphones: Koss KPH30i, Koss Porta Pro, Aune AR5000
Conclusion
To conclude the review, I can say if you are looking for a unique looking, well built and decent sounding dac dongle, this is a solid option. Personally I like this more from my previous favor ate at sub 50$ budget, Moondrop Dawn Pro. Props to Kiwi Ears, they have done a beautiful job specially with the design. Thanks to you guys for checking out my review, see you in the next one.
