Hillidac’s Audirect Atom 2 Lightning Jack Review
Intro
For those who are not familiar with Hilidac, their name is an abbreviation of HiFi(H) Improved(I) Lossless(L) Incredible(I) DAC. They have been doing portable DAC for quite some time and Atom 2 is their most recent portable DAC. Let’s find out if Atom 2 is able to make a stand for itself among the crowded portable DAC market.
Specifications
DAC Chip: ES9281AC
Headphone port: 3.5mm Single-end
Plug: Type-C/Lightning optional
Frequency response: 0.032dB@20Hz-40kHz
Output Power:
≥30mW (16Ω)
≥62mW (32Ω)
≥7mW (600Ω)
S/N Ratio: -118dB
THD+N: 0.0004%
Sampling Rate: Supports up to 32bit/768kHz
DSD Supported: Up to DSD512
Weight: 18G
Dimension: 28* 14*11mm
*Image taken from Shenzen Audio’s Atom2 Product Page site
Source
Iphone 11 - Apple Music/Tidal -> Atom2 -> Audiosense’s DT200
Build/Design
The design on Atom2 is very minimal in the sense it doesn’t have any cables dangling around, it looks more like an adapter rather than a DAC/AMP in my opinion. The whole device feels solid and it has got a hefty feel to it and it definitely does not look cheap. For people who prefer to have this form factor, Atom2 is the way to go. Personally I prefer Atom2’s form factor due to the fact that it doesn’t have any cable and it works by plugging it into my phone’s lightning port. However, one has to be extra cautious to not accidentally knock on it or risk damaging the lighting port/connector. Not an issue for me because my phone will be on the table when I'm having my listening session and I don't use dongles on the go.
Sound
Atom 2 is smooth and organic to my ears. Upon first listen, I am greeted with a dark background and there’s no hiss even on my sensitive IEM. Despite being a ESS powered DAC ES9281AC, it does not employ the usual ESS’s clean and neutral-ish tuning. Atom 2 is slight warm overall.
Pair it with a warm IEM and the notes will thicken and the low end will sound thicker and the high will kind of be smooth out a little. The vocal rendered by Atom 2 takes on a forward presentation instead of a more intimate presentation. Female’s vocal in tracks like Yuki no Hana by Mika Nakashima sounded full, at the same time, details rendered by Atom 2 are average and there is nothing to shout out about, good enough for the price point i would say.
Treble extension is one of the areas where Atom 2 is lacking in my opinion. If it is slightly boosted it will probably be better. However, it’s not a total let down as it does not exhibit any sibilant, it is smooth throughout the spectrum and it feels very organic and comfortable to listen to.
Atom 2 will be able to power most of the efficient IEM easily, i did tried with my headphone which is quite efficient rated at 32 ohms, Sivga’s Phoenix. It does not offer the same kind of experience as my desktop setup in the sense of,it is lacking in the low end region and they sounded loose and less controlled. I believe Atom 2 is designed for efficient IEM and also for people who like to listen to music on the go. I mean, who would wanna go around on a Sennheiser 650 or even Hifiman’s Sundara or Ananda?
I have also tested it with Tidal to see if the LED will change when it’s rendering MQA. It does change to magenta when it’s playing back MQA titles. However i do not know how many times of unfolding it perform as i couldn't find any information about this on the product page. Thus i’m unable to confirm the number of times on MQA unfolding.
Battery Drain
I did not perform a thorough test for battery drain when Atom 2 is being used on my iPhone.
This is just a rough estimation based on my listening session and checking on the battery%.
-Volume is at 70% approximately
-Averaging one song to 4 minutes +-
-Not using the phone when music is being played (of course if you are using the phone at the same time when Atom 2 is being used, it will definitely drain the battery faster)
App used - Tidal (MQA/HiFi),Apple Music (Lossless and High Res Lossless)
Battery Drain % per 5 songs - 2% Equivalent to approximately 20 minutes of playtime, this is quite good and the power draw is quite similar to Apple’s 3.5 to Lightning Dongle despite being the inferior one in terms of sonic performance.
Overall the power draw is alright given the performance that Atom 2 offers. It does get a lil warm after some time but that is to be expected.
Final Thoughts
Is this a step up from Apple’s 3.5 to Lightning Dongle? Yes it is. If you are in the lookout for a lightning jack’s dongle, look no further as Atom 2 is definitely a step up in terms of sonic performance and also the durability. If you owned Apple’s Lightning Dongle you probably know how easy it is for it to break. For the price you are paying, you get a solid performer, durable dongle without the need to constantly worry about when the cable will break, MQA renderer if you’re into it, and it can basically decode and playback today’s highest sampling rate if you’re into numbers as well.
*The unit is sent to me by Cloris from ShenzenAudio in exchange of my unbiased opinion.
If you are interested in purchasing the DAC you may head to their website at the link below:
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