It must be the season of the headphone amplifier and DAC. Recently, I reviewed the fabulous little Bolt device from Helm Audio and was blown away by its clarity and ability to unfold MQA files as streamed on TIDAL’s Masters streaming service. This month I’m looking at the dinky PEE51, also known as the AK USB Dual DAC Amplifier Cable, from Korean audio company Astell&Kern.
Astell& Kern make some great DAPs (digital audio players) and this tiny little dongle is designed to bring the same level of audio performance to Android smartphones or computers. Like many of Astell&Kern’s DAPs, the PEE51 has the same angular styling and is made from zinc allow and finished in a burnished bronze.
The device has a USB-C plug at one end and a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack at the other. Inside the casing are two Cirrus digital-to-analog converter chips which can turn digital music files into beautiful analog music. The PEE51 also incorporates a headphone amplifier that takes the analog stream from those twin Cirrus chips and makes it loud enough to drive the most demanding pair of headphones.
This handy little dongle is an ideal solution for audiophiles who want to use a pair of high-quality headphones on a modern smartphone that lacks a headphone socket. Many smartphones no longer support wired headphones as manufacturers like to think we would prefer to use Bluetooth earphones to listen to our music instead when we’re streaming from Qobuz, TIDAL, Spotify or any of the other streaming services available. However, keen music fans and audio enthusiasts aren’t so keen on the limited bandwidth of Bluetooth as it doesn’t offer as good a quality as a DAC and wired headphones. These people want the best possible sound while using great headphones to listen to their music.
Physically, the PEE51 is smaller than the average USB thumb drive. It’s connected by a beautifully plaited cable to a USB-C plug which can be used with a USB-A adapter to connect with a computer with older-style USB-A ports. The USB-C plug can also connect directly to an Android device, although not all Android devices are supported. Windows and Apple Mac computers will happily work with the PEE51 but iPhones and iPads aren’t supported. The dual DACs and amplifier pull too much current and so won’t work with iOS. That’s a shame, especially as the tiny Helm Audio Bolt can handle iOS without any problems.
I auditioned the PEE51 on my iMac and it appeared as just another sound output device. The DAC…
Read More: This Small Dongle Brings Hi-Fi Sound To Your Phone