While the technical abilities of the Colibri allow it to have an accurate presentation, it doesn’t shove it down your throat, staying clearly away from being gratingly analytical. The Colibri masterfully takes this challenge on by having a generally even-handed tonal balance, while maintaining an engaging presentation. When I’m looking for a versatile DAC, I typically look for a balanced tonal presentation so that it could easily compliment the character of the downstream IEM/headphone. Most sound impressions are made with the bass boost using the 4.4mm balanced output. You also get a USB-C to USB-C cable that can be used to connect the Colibri to either a charger, a phone, or a computer. Inside the box, there is a foam insert that houses the Colibri DAC, but there is some space beside it to house the accessories.Īside from the DAC itself, the package also comes with a faux leather carrying case with a belt clip. Then, there’s a thick box that protects the rest of the contents. The packaging on the Colibri is made with an outer sleeve that has a picture of the Colibri DAC, and then some information about the DAC itself. The bottom of the device on the other hand indicates battery life, where 1 blink indicates <25%, 2 blinks for 25-50%, 3 blinks for 50-75%, then 4 blinks for 75-100%. White means connected, green means it’s decoding PCM/DSD/DXD, then magenta if it’s decoding MQA streams then finally red if it’s disconnected. The button on the upper right is used to switch on/off the device, then finally, the button on the lower right is used to toggle bass boost control.įront and center on the device is the Earmen logo, and it’s used to indicate the status of the device. ControlsĬontrols on the Colibri are straightforward thanks to the labels on the back of the device, with the buttons on the left for volume controls. The back panel on the Colibri is one of the most important parts though since labels for each port and button are there.īeing a simpler DAC/Amp, the Colibri is designed to only have USB inputs, but they are divided into a charging port, and a data port so it’s typically important to keep the device charged before starting to use it.Īs for the outputs, the Colibri is equipped with both a 3.5mm single-ended output and a 4.4mm pentaconn output. There are 2 buttons on each side of the Colibri, and the buttons are used to change the volume, turn on/off the device, and activate the bass boost.Īt the bottom there are 2 USB C ports, one for charging and one for data, then on top are the headphone outputs. The bottom of the device on the other hand indicates the battery/charging status. The majority of the device is made with high gloss plastic, where the Earmen logo in front of the device glows in different colors to show the connection status and sample rate being decoded. That could mean stacking it with rubber bands with your phone would be more practical. So having the Colibri hanging out of your phone would typically cause strain to the interconnect cables. Having an internal battery necessitates a larger chassis for the Colibri, so it’s much larger than most dongles and even larger than flash drives. Having an internal battery means that the Colibri won’t drain the battery of the device that it’s connected to.Īnother big advantage of having an internal battery on the Colibri is that it ensures that all internal circuitry will be provided with clean power regardless of what device it’s connected to upstream. One of the most interesting features of the Colibri is that it is equipped with a battery.
#Earman sparrow full
This chip allows the Colibri to decode up to 32BIT/384kHz PCM streams, DSD128, and MQA as a full renderer which does the full MQA unfold on the DAC itself. With the Colibri, Earmen decided to use an ES9281PRO chip from ESS, which is part of their USB Codec range of products, which integrates an ESS DAC and a headphone amplifier in a single chip. This time, Earmen decided to release something in between, which is a transportable battery-powered DAC/Amp called the Colibri.
#Earman sparrow portable
However, their subsidiary, Earmen, is a company that aims to create more cost-effective solutions for a wider audience.Įarmen as a company is fairly new, but they have already produced some DACs that have become favorites here in the office such as the Earmen Sparrow which is a portable dongle DAC, and the Tradutto which is a mini desktop DAC. Auris Audio is a company that manufactures tube headphones and stereo amplifiers that are positioned on the higher end of the market.
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