THX Onyx AAA DAC: Overkill for Apple Lossless?

TEAM SGG PATREON / somegadgetguy THX Onyx Review! Naw. This thing is great! I didn't soapbox TOO much in this review, but it is kinda frustrating how many techies shrugged on the ESS DAC in LG phones. Replacing that headphone solution with an external device is NOT cheap. Still, I'm happy the spirit of that mobile audio lives on, and THX has a killer solution for folks looking to jump start their audiophile journey.
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[@THXLtd]

Great Review! Thanks a ton and glad you like it!

[@SpardasTechReviews]

Still feels good to only have to plug in headphones to my g7, 8 or v60 and have no issues but this would be nice on my S21 ultra lol

[@MrZgui415]

bruh why u no LG V50 . . . while I was looking at the S21 ultra ... I got the LG V50 refurb at $175 . . .

[@Mike_Jones68]

Unless you want to use better headphones...even some IEMs need a dac amp in order to get a better quality experience out of a phone, even an LG. I use a v50 myself and it can only power a couple headphones I have, the others including my 7hz IEMs (which shld be ok on phone output) need something additional for sure.

[@JogieGlenMait16]

I love how this channel pushes great audio recommendations. Great job.

[@joeyyears]

I see audio related video from JB, I listen. Thankfully, not an iPhone user so no chains around my neck 🤙

[@Danny...]

Hey Juan, make a video calling Samsung out for removing Aptx HD & Aptx Adaptive on their phones. Terrible move on their part.

[@markfinlay422]

Does he need the hate that would come with a video like that? Those Samsung knights would be sharpening their knives.

[@RichardDurishin]

"Apple finally invented lossless audio." JCB, you are still the best in the business!

[@comprehensivelyambigous3865]

"Finally DISCOVERED Lossless Audio" would've been more to the point, though, because apple didn't "invent" $HIT. As usual, they were the last to arrive at the party 🎉 🍾 🎊. 🤣

[@RichardDurishin]

@@comprehensivelyambigous3865 correct. I But when they do arrive they convince their users that they invented whatever... The mobile phone, the Hires audio, and the the electron...

[@RichardDurishin]

People are stupid. They've also been convinced that a virus with 99.4% survival will a) kill them and b) be stopped by any mask that isn't an N95 or above.

[@RichardDurishin]

@@mckidar girlfriend, I've already survived it. Next.

[@bmuhamad]

Juan is such the kidder...

[@_Mario_PL_]

Problem with Android OS is you won't get anything better than 24bit 48kHz, while iOS is able to playback bit perfect with the right DAC that's capable of doing so. I think Tidal is the only one that's able to bypass Android OS to get around it's limitation.

[@staticv3570]

Tidal is starting to roll out an exclusive USB access mode to bypass Android's audio pipeline. Alternative Android Apps with bit-perfect playback support are USB Audio Player Pro, nePlayer, Neutron, and Hiby Music.

[@megadeth8592]

I was hoping you'd cover this when I first saw it!

[@DavidMacKinnonfromNY2AZ]

5:06 "Apple finally invented lossless audio..." Lol

[@wayne02058]

how might this compare to the fiio BT adapters? do those have a usb passthrough?

[@josephshim2744]

Love how you say it's for Apple Lossless and the iPhone is the worst product to use it on. It just works...with 2 extra dongles. Thanks Apple for creating the dongle life!

[@staticv3570]

have you tried the ddHiFi TC28i?

[@josephshim2744]

Nope. I'm an Android guy, but am constantly being harassed by people in the Apple ecosystem about the "just works" motto for Apple products. (Literally had one of the owners of the company I work for do that to me minutes before watching this video) Just adding my dash of salt. Looks nice though. 1 less dongle to carry around and lose is always a plus.

[@staticv3570]

@@josephshim2744 I'm 100% with you on that one. Apple's ecosystem is the dream if you fit their idea of the average user. Try to do something even slightly unusual/advanced and all hell breaks loose.

[@josephshim2744]

That is the perfect way to describe it!

[@Magnetorheological]

Wondering if I should get this or get a used LG V60 to use as a DAP...

[@ShahriyarAli]

Will probably buy one soon! Besides headphones, which phone has the best speaker audio experience? Loved razor 2. How's the Xperia 1iii speakers?

[@Zefram0911]

how does this compare to Creative's Super XFi DAC/Amp? I have that.

[@l...]

Did you try it on CarPlay ? Is there any way to listen by lighting earphones ?

[@matrix_king17]

Heym, Juan. Awesome video, but the real question is, where did you buy that hat? Link, please? Thanks a lot!

[@RichardDurishin]

Kangol.com I think Juan wears a 507 Ventaire

[@aurelian_]

what is better? This one or the Fiio Q3? Thanks

[@theish9]

I love these kinds of things. Really making big player obsolete but progress for average consumers to jump in the game with streaming services.

[@banginga3468]

Can't wait for the comparison, have a BTR5 but am tossing up between a desktop like Amp/Dac (Zen Dac v2 for example) or something that doesn't need a battery itself. BTR5 is great but just a little bit of a pain for my use case.

[@Slambear]

Would it be a thriftier solution to buy an used LG V or G series phone and use the jack there? You get an MP3 player that can be a phone or back up phone if needed for about 200 bucks.

[@hectorg.7282]

Your idea is probably better. The only drawback is not being able to use that solution with other devices, e.g., using the phone on your laptop. But I suspect that phone manufacturers will soon ditch the charging port too (apple introduced the dongle and they will kill it because they could not make it a proprietary thing like they did with the lightning port) I would get a used V series (v20 is a great choice) and use it as a DAP.

[@corey7219]

@@hectorg.7282 I have a Verizon LG v20. I love everything about this phone, except for the processor. The 820 kills the phone for daily driver use

[@Slambear]

@@hectorg.7282 I think I use the LG device as my “iPod” and back up phone in case anything happens to my main

[@glsracer]

How does this compare to the Quad DAC in the LG V30 or V60?

[@RichardDurishin]

It sounds better. The V60 DAC sounded slightly better than that of the V30. But, unlike the V30 DAC, the V60's doesn't support MQA - and you can hear the difference - with the right tracks if you listen really closely. I don't have this one. I have the Helm Audio Bolt and it delivers better audio than the Quad DAC on both my G8 and my V60. Of course, with the V Series you already have audio that is a galaxy better than most other Androids and all Apple devices.

[@glsracer]

@@RichardDurishin thanks for the heads up

[@ltus102]

New setup, I noticed?

[@CaptainUltimaFTW]

Watching this and looking at my G8, increasing issues and all, it makes it harder for someone with my usecase to let go of it. While yes this is significantly better audio quality, the convenience of being able to charge with one cable and use the headphone jack with another rather than using a splitter is just hard to let go of. The new Xperia lineup looked compelling but the more I look at the price tags, the more I come to face the fact that boy is that steep for the not super significant uprades over my current daily driver. Might look into putting a different skin of android on my G8 in hopes of solving the numerous issues that have only been popping up since June. Ah the joys of losing LG as an option.

[@texasbassranger]

Boy howdy. how things have changed since this came out. I own the Onyx and I absolutely love it. In fact, it was your recommendation on this video that convinced me to pull the trigger and buy it, so thanks for that, However, my desktop solution is the Zen Dac II and I take advantage of the balanced output and man does it make a difference. The only regret is that the Onyx isn't designed to add a balanced headphone output. Since then though, it seems the market is being flooded with quality dongles that either offer a single balanced output OR both 3.5 AND 4.4 outputs. I'm strongly considering the current iBasso dongle which makes such a product. If it's as good as reviewers say, for a hundred and twenty bucks, it's well worth it. The iBasso even has dual cirrus logic CS4398 chips within, I don't feel conflicted about having both dongles. But yeah, the Onyx is a game changer. Thanks for such a concise and professional video,

[@Dieter1971]

Thanks for the video. I'm wondering if it held up over the past two years?

[@SomeGadgetGuy]

Pretty decently yes. It's still pricey, and I'd maybe take the new shanling over it now, but it's still a good dongle dac.

[@Dieter1971]

@@SomeGadgetGuy Hey, thanks for the update. I bought one yesterday. Hopefully it holds up, I've had trouble with other portable DAC amps. I paid $250 on Amazon.

[@ZulqarnainAidil]

I wonder how these would compare with the Creative X-fi or whatever it is. That has a USB C port on the thing itself so you could change the cable to a lightning to usb c. But I don't know if there's official support for iOS and or if you can still get super x-fi spatial audio thing. Oh and Min-Liang Tan from Razer just shared this fyi

[@Fatih-xl7yn]

DdHifi has an OTG Adapter, the TC28i. So you can ditch the bulky Apple adapter!

[@faizanraza4747]

Does this work with The Galaxy S22 series from SAMSUNG??

[@akaraikiriakatsuki3157]

My eyes opened bigger than usual upon seeing the price tag. Deeeeeeemn

[@sandplasma]

Can these DACS be used with an Aux input to a car instead of headphones?

[@SomeGadgetGuy]

I haven't, but if it's a 3.5mm input, you should be able to connect it fine. The amp is powerful enough that you might get distortion at high volume?

[@Doktati]

I am using the Astell&Kern XB10 for my Headphones.

[@officialmultimedia8107]

I wonder how this works now with usbc on apple

[@Zan_dali]

There is lightning adapter from ddhifi, it's tiny, it works well with my iphone and Thx Onyx instead of using lightning camera adapter cable.🙂I got Thx Onyx after I watched your video and I love it, thank you for introducing.

[@SomeGadgetGuy]

So glad to hear you're enjoying it. It really is a solid little dongle DAC. I'm glad you found a better cable chain than mine 😅

[@justloading]

I've been going through my whole history trying to find where I saw this comment. Just wanted to say thank you for this. My dhifi TC28i adapter just arrived and it works brilliantly.

[@Cleatusprivilegedwhiteman]

Use this on my v60 and bet music sounds bad ass. Wanna get this plus my aux monster cable and the v60 in my truck. Juan you still use the v60 or is the 9rpo your main phone?

[@tiestofalljays]

Monster Cable Aux huh?

[@shivamnrutya]

We have apple Music in Android. How to connect to avr with phone to listen hi res lossless audio

[@basheermuhammad7757]

Nice.

[@markmiller3954]

The ONYX also sounds great through my car entertainment/info system using my phone, through my Windows10 PC HDMI output with my Phillips Fidelio Headphones & living room entertainment system And directly (using my phone) hooked up to my Essence HDMI Preamp for my living room audio system --- I Love it!!! ---- Well Worth the Price!!! 😎

[@SomeGadgetGuy]

Glad you're enjoying it! It's on the pricey side, but it's FLIPPING GORGEOUS!

[@machtschnell7452]

Very informative. My One+ 7 Pro is good, but not good enough. BT buds are a bad joke for the generations raised on MP3. Just a bad format.

[@andrewc31394]

Do a review/comparison for the NextDrive Spectra!

[@Three60Mafia]

I feel like FIIO has a few similar products that do more or less the same thing.

[@peterteigland3700]

Love having what seems to be essentially this class of hardware built into my LGs. Standing in for a couple hundred dollars worth of dedicated audio tech is definitely a gimmick though;)

[@peterteigland3700]

I'll probably have to complaining about this eventually, won't I...😬

[@staticv3570]

the Onxy is a lot louder with normal impedance headphones, even if you use the adapter trick to force your LG into high gain.

[@peterteigland3700]

@@staticv3570 good to know! Sounds like there's some pretty good value regardless of phone then

[@meat_loves_wasabi]

Just got the FiiO BTR5 with its new official iPhone LT LT1 cable to get High Res lossless audio with Audeze Mobius …TBH High Res Lossless and Lossless audio very slight difference to my ears

[@sanchezsalvador7232]

how it is heard in the bass THX

[@danielahmadu1788]

That's what she said. Feelsbadman

[@kepeter97]

I'd like to hear a sentence stating how these things compare to modern LGs. G7 G8x V50 V60. Is this a good idea for any of these phones?? judging by the graphs, no.

[@yestoES355]

I switched to a galaxy s22 ultra. For Apple Music lossless, the audio is extremely low when connected to wired headphones. Returned the galaxy for an iPhone 13 and the sound on the iPhone with a dac is night and day better. Tried removing absolute volume on android and it did nothing. I didn’t want to depend on a 3rd party app

[@Cleatusprivilegedwhiteman]

Glad you talk about music stuff and that same boring crap about phones

[@hazochun]

Nice, too bad LG no longer sell phone, i missed my V30. i may need one of these with my Xperia 5 II. please review more USB DAC for phone, too much choice in the market and lack of good review.

[@AliYassinToma]

something that should be 50-80 usd

[@staticv3570]

While THX amplification was class-leading 3-4 years ago, nowadays it isn't really competitive anymore with discrete designs from Topping, Schiit, Geshelli, Gustard, SMSL, and co. leading the pack. Even in the dongle/thumbdrive form factor.

[@Tyler_ThaTruth]

you've compared them or just going by word or mouth? only asking because im looking for a good option that will last

[@staticv3570]

@@Tyler_ThaTruth What I said is based on 3rd party measurements from Amir on ASR and Wolfx7 on L7Audiolabs.

[@tiestofalljays]

@@staticv3570 link?

[@staticv3570]

@@tiestofalljays posting links isn't allowed on this channel

[@FOGoticus]

@@staticv3570 Yeah, but at the same time, it's been proven time and time again that stats on a paper mean almost nothing at times. Unless you've personally tested hardware, this does not count as a valid opinion. And even though there is a lot of taboo topics surrounding audiophiles, at the end of the day, personal experience beats most words in a review or from "labs". I mean, in the camera world, DxO for example has been wildly inaccurate in their ratings of both DSLR cameras and mobile phone cameras. Giving great ratings to mediocre hardware while a search away on youtube would show you, it's not the case.

[@DavidMacKinnonfromNY2AZ]

1:33 Is the Sony Xperia 1 Mark iii worse with the DAC in than the other three phones?

[@Seventh_Sorrow]

I'm curious to

[@serkany5905]

The chart shows how bad the Xperia 1iii is if using its headphone jack. If you used the Onyx dongle with the Xperia 1iii or any other smartphone for that matter, the results will be alot better as the chart shows.

[@Seventh_Sorrow]

@@serkany5905 that doesn't make any sense the xperia has top tier hi res audio and a better DAC than iphones/Samsung.

[@serkany5905]

@@Seventh_Sorrow The Xperia 1iii uses the Qualcomm aptX HD codec. You might get extremely clean output, it just can't drive headphones well.

[@Seventh_Sorrow]

@@serkany5905 wtf interesting I have it pre ordered I didn't know headphone quality would be so poor do you think it would effect a bluetooth connection?

[@umaraslam7731]

Man that amp in the xperia 1 mark 3 isn't strong at all 🤔

[@ELJefeReviews]

I’m definitely loving the THX Onyx! A perfect solution for my iPad Pro listening setup.

[@ReverendNaughty]

6:24 everybody down throw the 👉 and 🤛 aye aye!

[@theadamtron]

Couldn't tell if title of this video was saying THX ONYX or THANKS ONYX. K THX BAI

[@DavidWeddell]

Manufacturers could just be courageous and bring back the headphone jack

[@Mike_Jones68]

Basically agree, but again, like I've said b4 to another commenter...not if you have nice head or earphones you want to power. Like the vid guy said, sure you'll hear something but you aren't getting everything out of your equipment. I'd rather have something like this and not have to worry about which 1 or 2 phone models out there that have a jack

[@ahslan18]

I can't help but thinking that at the price, you might as well try to get a used G8 lol

[@FOGoticus]

What's a G8?

[@sampathkumarnarayanan4101]

@@FOGoticus LG G8 or LG G8x phones

[@jonathanoxlade4252]

Yea but then the problems of obsolescence comes into play dingles nowadays its hard to realy improve on a dongle since it does a very good job but phones are always improving in performance but end up losing features like a headphone jack or a charge port apple will do it

[@wojciechpatalas6660]

Nice gadget, except if You are using Android phone files will be downgraded to lower bit rate by Android system. You can use Tidal which let You play higher bit rate files, but will stop mic input. I am not sure, but with Iphone there is also no mic input. And that how this looks in reality. Funny how little info of this problems You can find on YT.

[@MrZgui415]

Its fine cuz I haz LG V50 with Quad Dac

[@psibug565]

Apple has had lossless for years they just keep failing to implement it. As someone that hates the subscription model, I think they still have failed. As to the iPhone “Luckily” I would want it for the I pad as the headphones I’d use with it are not that portable. God knows why the new iPads lack a headphone jack?

[@alijahgreen]

Wondering if anyone thinks this would be overkill for a vehicle

[@andoletube]

I still think THX should have made an Apple lightning version. It's just a small piece of cable. connected in the same way internally. Missed opportunity? Or maybe they are forecasting Apple going to a portless design on future iPhones so it's not worth the effort?

[@banginga3468]

more likely Apple wanted a 30% cut or more for the privilege of someone making a lightning connection to connect to an iphone

[@serkany5905]

Haven't you noticed why there isn't many dedicated dongle DACs for the iPhone? Companies don't want to pay Apple for the privilege.

[@thefbi8834]

It should play the deep. Note

[@rhyvehr]

*Durability Concern* I've had two devices with THX linear amplification in them, the Onyx and Fiio Q3. Both have ended up blowing out and the treble ended up absolutely horrenduous sounding. Just get an Apple dongle or Schiit Fulla 3 for gaming, both are cheaper and 99% of people won't ever tell the difference.

[@jimbo-dev]

I do not like the fixed cable. Cables break so it should be replaceable. The FiiO does way better in this regard

[@Mike_Jones68]

Hmmm I like that...do you know which sounds better?

[@jimbo-dev]

@@Mike_Jones68 I don’t, I didn’t find FiiO products available in Europe, but found British made iFi HipDac 2 which was perfect for high end Shure iems (SE846). The few downsides on iFi are: - size, it’s like a second phone - with iems it is incredibly powerful so it is almost too easy to turn the volume too loud - works with many cables and devices but cable compatibility can be an issue, it comes with everything you might need except apple cables though Why I like it: - the extra bass is awesome, I usually hate these kinds of features, but on the hip dac it’s so subtle and tasteful and fits perfectly for my small iems - the sound quality, I didn’t expect that there could be such difference from the cheap apple dongle I would definitely recommend getting something similar from whatever brand if you are using high end headphones, it makes huge difference, but on lower end headphones it probably doesn’t matter that much

[@comprehensivelyambigous3865]

$200.00??!! 😱👀 I expected a severely overblown price of $100.00 - $150.00 but... TWO-FU€KING-HUNDRED??!! 🤯🥵🥶💀☠️

[@RikaMX]

Anyone else here for the black friday deal? for $130 this is a no brainer

[@SomeGadgetGuy]

That's a SOLID buy!

[@fajarkurniawan9434]

This video make me more sad as an LG fan

[@seonjie]

selling 200 buck at my place , way too exp for this small thing

[@andibrema]

Screw MQA That's it, that's the comment

[@hydzior]

Thx onyx is worse sound wise than dragon fly black and also audioquest dac is way cheaper. Dragonfly Red or the alo audio pilot stomps on this crap from Razer and still cheaper.

[@RobeonMew]

how about it doesn't even work for apple

[@SomeGadgetGuy]

I mean... I got it working on an iPhone... Not that I would want to carry an iPhone like that...

[@bassandtrebleclef]

Apple uncharacteristically leaving money on the table. They should approach THX, Helm, etc to build them a DAC/Amp cable with lighting connection and multiple connectors for Sennheiser, HiFiman, etc to plug into. The tech's already there.

[@japkoslav]

Considering the quality of competition like Tempotec, Hidizs, Shanling, xDuoo, Kahadas .. or even iBasso ... I simply cannot see a reason to pay more for lower quality and worthless THX sticker.

[@japkoslav]

@Scuffed Poseidon I would go with basic Tempotec Sonata HD Pro - it's one of the cheapest, has volume controls, and it's really small. Hidizs S9 Pro - if you aim a bit higher.