Purity enthusiasts will go nuts for this. This is a fantastic stepping stone DAC for those with a good portable neutral setup or who want a very small DAC that can be used on the PC and a phone as well. Disclaimer: True to source sent us a sample, free of charge, in exchange for our honest opinion. About NextDrive/Maktar The situation with Hifiman HE-400i was a bit better with slightly more volume. I could listen at 75% to 80%. Again, I could not detect distortion at max volume which was good.

Meine Ausstattung: Samsung Galaxy A50 Handy und Tab A Tablet, Kopfhörer B&O Play H6, NextDrive Spectra X USB-C, Tidal-Streaming-Account mit Master-Qualität. Both the above designs were in the sweet spot of the Spectre X technology. Although Spectre X also provides performance gains on smaller and legacy node designs, these performance gains may be less compared to the gains shown above.

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There are a lot of smart choices in its design that I think give it the edge over the Audioquest Dragonfly red. Instruments on the other hand have a fairly neutral, slightly bright and warmish tonality. The level of clarity, separation and detail retrieval is also pretty good for a device product at this price range. What I really like is that there is enough air and space between the instruments and vocals. Zuerst das Wichtigste: Der Spectra X klingt wie eine absolute Highend-Komponente und ist jeden Cent wert!!!

It is powered by the device and is usually small and unobtrusive. The Spectra X, I think, is the best implementation of the concept to date. It’s really, really good. Read the rest of the review to find out why. What is the Spectra X DAC?

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Nextdrive Spectra - There is non-X version of the spectra that is also very good but has less refinement. Still a great buy at less than 75% the price of the X model. Ich möchte gar nicht von Höhen und Bass reden, die sind ohnehin grandios, sondern davon, dass die Wiedergabe unglaublich "echt" klingt und als wäre man dabei. That sense of balance does robs it of any intimacy, but then again, that might have been the point of the design. Some DAC’s have a very forward midrange that are great for midrange-centric headphones. Others are wider feeling with great balance. The latter being more in line with the Spectra X’s presentation. The NextDrive Spectra X is superior in terms instruments separation and accuracy, and both soundstage depth and wideness.

NextDrive does offer multiple cable types for this model, so your needs are covered with type-A, type-C.The more neutral lows of the SA3 don’t see much change in timbre, keeping to the IEMs’ overall sense of accuracy, but it does gain some nice added depth. Low-end frequencies are a lot more spread out and offer more extension in the soundstage. Space here is important to communicate the more nuanced and subtle details this low-end actually has. As for the mids, the sense of accuracy is also greatly expanded upon, creating a much closer, and more bodied response. The highs are still not as full or enticing as the rest of the signature, but some treble frequencies do show a bit more light, but not really enough to merit a significant change.

At the rear surface of the main body is the lettering Designed by NextDrive and a label with some industrial certifications. The NextDrive Spectra X comes in rectangular cardboard box which has the product illustration and some brandings on the top. Instruments such like violins, pianos or flutes do sound bright, lively and detailed, while hi-hats and cymbals in metal music do show a good level of extension and sparkle. Spectre X provides performance and capacity that is much improved compared to Spectre APS, as shown below. In addition, it significantly simplifies the Spectre use model, thereby making the Spectre APS tuning options obsolete. The NextDrive Spectra X features the Sabre 9018Q2C Digital to Analog Converter of the company ESS Technology. The Sabre 9018Q2C is a 32-bit Stereo Mobile DAC with Headphone Amplifier & Output Switch with low power consumptionEarlier in the year, I reviewed the NextDrive Spectra DAC with good marks. Today, I will be looking at their latest model, the Spectra X. The Spectra X that I will now review for you is a portable DAC/AMP adapter/dongle for devices like Android Smartphone’s & Tablet’s, Laptop’s or PC’s and is available in USB Type-C and USB A connector variants. It offers people the chance to get better sound quality without having to carry around a second device and given its size and shape it is only slightly more cumbersome than plugging a cable straight into your earphones. Underneath this strong assembly is an equally capable interior system. At the core of this DAC/Amp is an ESS Sabre 9018QTC chipset, powered by NextDrive’s XtraSOUND technology. This component delivers reduced distortion and low noise-floor output for a higher resolution performance. Lossless audio files have a natural reproduction of output, making it easy to forget you’re not listening to a high-end DAP. The Sabre provides 32 bit 384kHz PCM data DSD 5.6MHz. The narrative I’ve come up with is that Spectra X, while pretty much performance gold, really could do with a few hardware additions and a new marketing department or copy writers.