This or the Zorloo Ztella? They're both about the same price and I'm leaning towards the Ztella. I have both of their previous DACs, ZuperDAC and ZuperDAC-S, and have thoroughly enjoyed both. Here's a couple reasons I consider the Ztella better:
The Ztella supports playback controls on cables that have them. Most of the time I'd be using this with my phone and that would be extremely handy.
Ztella uses ESS Sabre 9281 (or 9270 depending on the version) vs the Meizu's Cirrus Logic CS43131. Debatable, but I think the ESS is a better chip.
black_mambaZtella has MQA version too but it's only "renderer", not a full decoder.
I'm curious, when the first unfold is done by software and the second by MQA renderer, is it the same final result (full resolution) as it could be obtained by full decoder?
black_mambaI'm interested in the Ztella, too. I'm using a SMSL Idea dac/amp dongle as a standalone dac for a Monoprice Liquid Spark amp. I wonder if the Sabre 9281 and/or 9270 is an upgrade over the Idea's Sabre 9018. According to the specs on the Ztella's Kickstarter page, it puts out 2 volts, so it should be compatible with the Liquid Spark.
What's the output impedance? I.e. it is suitable for multi BA IEMs?
It is strange that such an essential information is missing while promoting a "hifi audio" product.