This tiny DAC supports playback of PCM files with sampling rates up to 384kHz, or DSD files with sampling frequencies up to 5.6MHz. The Helm Bolt is a DAC for your high-res FLAC or WAV files, and it will improve audio quality while streaming Qobuz, Tidal, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and others. Not only is it very affordable, but it delivers more than enough power for a lot of entry-level audiophile headphones and it sounds very pleasing in most desktop and entry-level systems. Stoddard and Moffat would own this market and we could all move back to something more interesting like 8 watt SET amplifiers.īut until that happens, the Helm Audio Bolt is definitely my favorite Dongle DAC available. There’s a part of me that wishes Schiit Audio would jump into the category, and offer something for $120 called the Thor. I’m fortunate to have the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, THX Onyx, and Clarus Coda on my desktop every single morning while I enjoy my post-run coffee at 6 a.m., but none of them blow up my skirt that much anymore. I was ready to move on to something else but then the Helm Audio Bolt showed up and ruined my summer plans. Over the past 19 months, 10 of these devices have landed in my mailbox and while it’s nice to have a wide selection of portable DACs to listen to with a lot of different headphones and desktop systems - I’m starting to feel that most of them sound very similar. Does everybody have a Dongle DAC in 2021? I’m starting to think that manufacturers got bored during the pandemic and decided that the world couldn’t get back to normal unless there were about 30 Dongle DACs under $300 for people to select from.
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