Review on 🔊 1Mii Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter Receiver for Home Stereo TV, HiFi Wireless Audio Adapter with Audiophile ESS DAC & AptX HD/Low Latency, Long Range, Optical RCA AUX 3.5mm Inputs/Outputs by Dean Pascual

I was working from home during the pandemic and tired of wearing headphones all the time, so I dug up an old Panasonic compact stereo from my basement to put on my desk. Well, the audiophile bug that had plagued me intermittently for 40 years went away and the included speakers soon proved unsatisfactory, so I started upgrading my system. The most important component of any audio system are the speakers and I purchased a pair of used Monitor Audio MA 301 speakers which I believe are probably the best small sub $1000 bookshelf speakers ever made. I've been using a small Mpow BT receiver to play Spotify through my iPhone, but figured I could get much better sound quality with something bigger and more powerful than a device smaller than a pack of chewing gum. all the electronics before I commit and was very impressed with the few reviews I saw about another bluetooth DAC (digital to analog converter is what converts digital signals to analog sound which is fed through an amplifier to speakers or headphones, and most people into high quality music will have either a stand alone DAC or a high quality DAC in their CD player or amp/preamp) sold here at Revain for only $25. It's made by Mypin and has received rave reviews from multiple YouTube audio review channels stating that in addition to Bluetooth, it will also improve sound quality when connected to a CD player compared to the player's built-in DAC. So I bought a small Mypin, but also noticed this 1Mii that boasts an "audiophile DAC" and also accepts Apt-X HD signals better than CD and pretty much any other type of high quality Bluetooth audio signal. And so I decided to give this one a try as well since I could always return it if it wasn't noticeably better than the $25 Mypin. Also, since we're tied to the Spotify family plan and Spotify will have lossless CD audio quality until later in 2021, I also started thinking I'd like to be able to play a lot of my old CDs to have better audio quality via Bluetooth and decided for a used Sony with five discs. a carousel CD/DVD/SACD player that uses as a transport and passes its digital signal to a Bluetooth DAC box for the DAC to convert the signal to analog (also my amp only has a pair of RCA auxiliary inputs, so I'd be able to use a BT-DAC as an audio switch between the bluetooth receiver and the DAC unit that processes audio from my CDs). So I needed a DAC with a traditional digital audio input, either coaxial or optical. There are several audiophile Bluetooth DAC receivers at Revain ranging in price from $100-$180 (iFi Zen Blue, Bluedento, Audioengine B1) that feature the highly regarded Burr Brown DAC chip, but surprisingly their coaxial and optical ones are Digital connections for the output of . just to another DAC, which doesn't make much sense - why equip a device with a high-quality DAC that only works for Bluetooth and not other digital connections? Mypin has both coaxial and optical inputs, while 1Mii has optical input only; It also has a digital optical output, I think if you have a more powerful and standalone DAC and want to use this unit for bluetooth only. So my Revain package arrives with two Bluetooth DACs and I try the cheaper one first. . The Mypin had better sound than my Mpow BT portable receiver playing Spotify and the sound was slightly better than with the CD player plugged in directly. Then I tried 1Mii B03Pro+. cheap $25 Mypin, this unit doesn't have standard RCA outputs to hook up a pair of RCA connections to an amplifier or receiver. Instead, there's just a standard 3.5mm headphone-out jack. Luckily I had a 3.5mm to RCA cable plus one included, but the cable that came with it is very thin, very cheap and has sound quality to match its looks. I've replaced the included cable with a relatively inexpensive cable that I've used to connect old cell phones to my AV receivers for a number of years and have noticed an immediate and very noticeable improvement in sound quality, albeit with some hum and feedback in Bluetooth mode when also only in bluetooth mode the cable has been adapted directly on the back of the 1Mii device. The B03Pro+ ("Pro+” means it has an audio file DAC) features an ESS Saber DAC, which I had vaguely heard of before but did some more research. I noticed some audio industry news that this DAC was used in an LG phone, which didn't impress me at first until I found out that LG's model is widely recognized as having the best sound quality of any mobile phone. A little additional research has shown that respected audiophile brands Arcam, Audioquest, Cambridge Audio and NAD all use the same DAC chip in some of their standalone DAC units, as well as in amplifiers and CD players. Sound? So good that I put the $25 device back in the box and didn't even think about using it, but might give it to someone else. I found a good test of the system's sound quality to be how it reproduces Mighty Sam McLane's vocals - a cheaper system leaves his voice a bit thin, while a higher quality system leaves his voice deep, rich and arguably the best male vocalist the world makes... the world. blues genre. The B03Pro+ fully and correctly captures McLain's voice. I think the area where this DAC also has the most impact is in the soundstage and visualization. Because the signal comes directly from the CD player, on most recordings the sound comes primarily from each speaker and its range is only between the two speakers. When I connected this DAC between the CD transport and the amplifier, the speakers just disappeared. On some recordings, the soundstage extended well beyond the speakers, with certain instruments or vocalists positioned right between the speakers, sometimes well above speaker level. With Dire Straits Investigations, you can hear and visualize exactly where the creepy cat is crying, where the wine glass breaks, and follow their footsteps as they walk across the stage. The Bluetooth audio is pretty good too, but my source at the moment is not only limited by Spotify's sub-CD quality, but also by my iPhone 7's Bluetooth - I didn't realize that at the time, but Apple doesn't use BT -Highest quality broadcasting - Apt-X HD available for some Android phone users. I didn't use the device as a transmitter, for example by connecting it to a TV so I could use Bluetooth headphones to listen. As a receiver, however, it has a shockingly long range. If I want to watch something on my phone when I go to bed and I forgot to turn off the 1Mii at night, it will play audio through the Bluetooth DAC instead of my phone, even through the house. And that's one of its biggest downsides: while it pairs very easily with my iPhone and automatically reconnects to it when I switch to Bluetooth mode, it doesn't want to disconnect. I either have to forget the device on my phone altogether or go downstairs and turn off the device or it will reconnect to my phone which is a bit annoying. I'm a bit annoyed by the humming that sometimes occurs when the cable is unplugged. Fine tuning the 3.5mm jack in Bluetooth mode, so I bought a better quality 3.5mm RCA cable, Audioquest Evergreen. I have limited faith in the merits of audiophile cables and wires, and I don't think anything over the $50 range typically produces a noticeably better sound that can be reproduced by the vast majority of people in blind tests. However, I did notice a significant improvement in sound when using the Audioquest cable, not just the elimination of hum and feedback. On Cowboy Junkies' beautifully recorded CD The Trinity Session, you can hear Margo Timmons' breath in her soft but beautiful voice. Her brother Michael's outstanding (and underrated) guitar playing is also enhanced with more detail. The Audioquest cable is a recommended accessory - the 3.5mm to RCA cable that comes with 1Mii does not match the audiophile capabilities of this DAC. In summary, I can say that I'm enjoying really high-quality music right on my desktop again. and this 1Mii Bluetooth DAC is a big part of that. I highly recommend this unit, and even if you rarely use the Bluetooth feature, it's a very solid price point at around $75 just to use as a standalone DAC.