KhadasTea Portable Headphone Bluetooth Amplifier,HiFi Hi-Res DAC USB Bluetooth 5.0, LDAC/aptX HD, PCM, DSD, MQA 32bit/384KHz ESS ES9281ACPro Qualcomm QCC5125 (Teal Blue)

All I can say is “wow!”. I am quite impressed with this little dac/amp from a company I’ve never heard of. I’m a seasoned audiophile and collector of “gear” (mostly high-end, very expensive… such as Chord Electronics, Empire Ears, Focal, Astell&Kern, HeadAmp, etc.) and while this certainly doesn’t compete with the big guns, it packs a very powerful punch for it’s price point and definitely compares to/or beats the competition in the mid-range price point ($500-$1000).For reference, at this price point and a little higher, what I can compare it to is:- FiiO Q3 ($150)- iFi GO Blu ($200)- iFi Gryphon xDSD ($599)- CEntrance M8 ($749 I think)- Chord Mojo 2 ($650 or $750 I think)Why did I purchase this if I own the above? Well, it was the MagSafe feature. I loved the idea of a portable dac/amp that could easily attach to the back of my iPhone. I typically use Velcro on my portables to attach them to my phone and digital audio players which requires that I have multiple cases for my phone. This was the main reason I decided to try this product. I didn’t expect to be impressed with the sound quality.I won’t get all audiophile-ese on you with describing my impressions of the sound quality of this product as most considering this product won’t care if I think the soundstage is wide and the bass punchy. I’ll be simple.I used an iPhone 13 Pro Max only. Did not test it with any of my Android digital audio players as, like I said, I bought this specifically because it’s the only portable dac/amp I’ve ever seen that utilizes the MagSafe feature.I don’t usually use Bluetooth. It sounds flat almost always. Not here. It sounds fantastic. Compared to my Gyphon xDSD, at a considerably more affordable price, you get a much better Bluetooth experience. It is comparable to the iFi GO Blu, however, the GO Blue pales in comparison when it comes to USB input (as does the xDSD). The iFi GO Blu does have a 4.4mm balance output though. The xDSD, which is a fine device, seems to require the volume to be pumped up quite a bit higher than the Tea both on BT and USB which I find interesting. The CEntrance M8 also has comparable Bluetooth but with fewer supported codecs, however the USB input sounds superior. The price reflects this as the CEntrance is a reference level device marketed towards pros. The CEntrance has a 2.5mm balanced output. The Chord Mojo 2 does not have Bluetooth and has excellent usb input although it is considered a bit overrated by some (anecdotally) due to its cult following and IMO exaggerated sub-bass. It is also a little expensive for its limited features. It has two 3.5mm unbalanced outputs. The FiiO Q3 does not have Bluetooth. For USB users, I would say the two are a tie in terms of value with the Q3 having a slight advantage if you’re looking for something that has balanced outputs (both 4.4mm and 2.5mm) in addition to SE unbalanced (3.5mm, or a regular headphone jack).Wired via USB, the Tea sounds great, but where it really shines is Bluetooth. This is coming from a snobby millennial audiophile who is usually adamantly anti-Bluetooth.Only complaint, which is due to my after market cables having oversized terminations, is that due to the Tea being so slim the termination causes the Tea to slightly rise from the phone. It is almost imperceptible but it does bug my OCD. I used an Eletech Ode to Laura cable.All tests used Roon as the transport of high-res FLAC files stored locally on my NAS and lossy MQA files also stored locally on my NAS. I did not test anything streamed from services such as Qobuz, Tidal, Apple, Amazon, Spotify, etc. but imagine the quality would be as good as possible considering the small amount of latency with streaming.IEMs used to test/compare:- Campfire Trifectas- Campfire Supermoon, custom- Vision Ears EXT- Empire Ears Legend EVO- Noble Sultans- 64 Audio U12tNot a frequent reviewer so I apologize if this is all over the place. Just feel this little gem deserves some praise given it doesn’t have many reviews yet!

Highly underrated DAC/Amp with the most innovative and convenient design for iPhone users. It's only single-ended but that's really all you need for portable listening and the humble 3.5mm is just so good for swapping between sources. Go from DAP, to phone, to laptop, to desktop, handheld gaming system, etc. and never have to fumble for an adapter.Knocked off one star because the Khadas Tea Pro successor product never came to be nor did the much-anticipated Khadas companion app that was teased for years (which should have added parametric EQ functionality). If the Khadas Tea Pro came out with a balanced input, a micro-SD slot, and a companion app, that would be a killer product that would shake up the DAP industry.All of that being said, this is still a killer product to this day. Try to get it on sale.

Good portable dachope the company can make the software better

Excelente producto.

Ok, long story. So, I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile as I don’t really have much experience. But ever since Amazon and Apple released their lossless and hi-res, I noticed a huge difference using their app on carplay with my 2018 A4 with the Bang and Olufsen. I always knew back in the early 2000s that CD sounded better than MP3 and always played cds until iPods were connectable to car stereos. Sometimes I would pop in a CD just to play something with better quality. When I bought my 2022 Q5, the Bang and Olufsen did not have the CD player and would not play my older iPod. I bought a Sony Walkman NW-A105 hoping I could connect it to my Q5 but that was a fail.Playing with the walkman, I learned that it played native Hi res codecs and was supposed to be really good. I have some Bose, Apple, Sennheiser, and sony headphones and earbuds. None of them are Hi Res headphones. Playing with the walkman, I downloaded hi res flac and even used Tidal. I didn’t hear much of a difference between hir res and lossless, I thought because I didn’t have hi res headphones. YouTubing the walkman to learn more about it, I ran into videos of the Khadas Tea. I thought it was really cool. I thought I would buy it when it is readily available.When I saw it on Amazon, I jumped on it. The Tea is so thin, it’s really cool. My only complaint is that I wish there was a better way to connect it with the cable. I am trying to find a better way than with the cables they provided as I want to have it in my pocket when I use it.So when I first tried it, I tried it with Tidal using my wired sennheisser Headphones that only go up to 26KHz. WOW!! Without hi res headphones it sounded amazing. I never heard sound like that before. I know there are more expensive set ups that will sound better but this sounded amazing. I immediately took out my sony walkman to compare and there was a clear difference. The Tea was cheaper than my walkman. I was going to invest in Hi res Headphones but because I want to use the tea on the go, I just ordered Hi-res Sennheiser Earbuds that should arrive soon.I can wait to play with this some more. Maybe connect it to my walkman to see if it does anything.