iBasso Jr Macaron

A Colorful Bite-Sized Delight for Audiophiles

Note: I do like this new naming schema adopted by the iBasso Jr brand, using the names of deserts for their devices instead of the usual codenames, it gives their devices a more human ‘relatable’ feel but allows me to use some fun descriptions in these reviews.

So, In this review I want to get into the details of the iBasso Jr Macaron which like its namesake is colourful and bite sized. But inside its colourful exterior hides some nice audio technology. With dual CS43131 DAC chips, the Macaron supports high-resolution audio up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and supports both 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced connections.

But the most important aspect I believe is power provided by Macaron to drive not just your IEM’s but provide that most of the most popular headphones deserve with a transparent neutral sound signature.

Available in four fun colors: white, black, pink, and blue this device has a lovely design and is available for $49. But this is a very competitive market so is it good enough to be your next portable headphone DAC amp?

Let get into the details of what you get with the Macaron:

Unboxing Experience and Box Contents

The unboxing of the iBasso Macaron is mostly straightforward:

Some specs on the back:

But then opening this up you get a pretty nice metal box:

And opening that box you finally get the see the Macaron:

Removing that from the box:

I will compare both the design later in this review with other similar portable dac amps, but I do like what iBasso has done here with its very nice design:

While the build quality of the Macaron itself is excellent the included USB-C cable while functional is a bit cheap.

Design and Build

The iBasso Macaron is nice and compact, measuring 41.7mm x 24mm x 12.3mm and weighing just 16 grams, making it highly portable and convenient for a daily carry. The Macaron’s build quality is solid, with a sturdy casing that feels durable despite its lightweight frame.

Both the 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced outputs are located on one side for easy access, with the USB-C input on the opposite side for a clean and organized layout. This minimalist design allows the Macaron to be an unobtrusive addition to any setup.

Features

Dual CS43131 DAC Chips

The dual CS43131 DAC setup in the Macaron delivers high-resolution decoding, supporting PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz and native DSD256. This dual DAC configuration enhances clarity, dynamics, and detail, making it a powerful choice for portable audio. The dual CS43131 DAC design is rightly getting very popular as I have a few other devices using the same DAC in my comparison section later.

iBasso UAC App on Android

I highly recommend unlocking extra features of the Macaron using the iBasso UAC Android Application.

Here is a screenshot:

So not only does this allowing tweaking of the roll-off filters but there is a high gain switch and even a “turbo” mode. And this application integrates directly with Android Volume control so you can accurately control the device ‘Volume’ with up to 100 specific increments.

For the price this is a fantastic capability to be provided with the Macaron.

Volume control on other devices

The hardware volume control buttons work well on the device working with 100 volumes provided and when paired with the iBasso UAC App on Android as I mentioned above, you get excellent fidelity and control around the volume levels provided. If you are an iPhone user you will have to use the volume buttons on the Macaron. In practise, this is a minor limitation, but depending on how you want to use the Macaron, I thought I would mention it in this review.

On Windows there is a separate system volume control so you can set the volume on the Macaron first then control the volume using the windows volume control, but you have control over the bitrate and can go up to 32bit/384Khz:

On a Macbook, the situation it is somewhat similar to the iPhone in that you should control the volume using the Macaron hardware buttons as the Volume control is disabled:

But in practise I found most decent MacOS music playing applications allow independent volume control.

For example, this is Roon on MacOS controlling the volume:

And you can have exclusive control over the Macaron and have DSP control volume within Roon which works very nicely:

WiiM Ultra ’enhancement’

Not really a specific feature of the iBasso Jr Macaron but I thought I would create a small section for this as it is one of my favourite use-cases for this Macaron. So the WiiM Ultra is an exceptional streamer but the headphone port on the front is pretty bad, but this is where the Macaron can step in:

Basically plug in the Macaron into the USB port on the back of the Ultra and the Macaron becomes your headphone jack supporting both 3.5mm and 4.4mm output providing roughly 4 times the output power, and you can still take advantage of the WiiM Ultra 10 band Parameter EQ for your headphone and the full streaming capabilities of the WiiM platform.

Sound Quality

The iBasso Macaron’s dual DAC setup provides an impressive level of transparent clarity and detail, particularly at this price point. The sound profile is neutral and balanced allowing your music to shine.

Bass

The bass response is tight and controlled, offering a good foundation without overpowering the other frequencies. With the 4.4mm balanced output, bass being more powerful is more pronounced and textured, making it a good choice for genres like electronic and hip-hop.

Midrange

The midrange is clear and natural, making vocals sound engaging and instruments well-defined. Acoustic tracks like “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman benefit from the Macaron’s clean and transparent mids.

Treble

The treble is smooth and non-fatiguing, adding a sense of airiness without becoming harsh. The dual DAC configuration allows for extended highs that retain detail and clarity, making it suitable for critical listening without causing fatigue.

Soundstage and Imaging

The Macaron’s soundstage is impressive for a device of its size, particularly when using the 4.4mm balanced output, which offers a wider and more immersive experience. Imaging is precise, allowing for accurate placement of instruments and vocals within the soundscape.

Specifications and Measurements

•	DAC Chip: Dual CS43131
•	PCM: Up to 32-bit/384kHz
•	DSD: Native DSD256
•	Weight: 16g
•	Dimensions: 41.7mm x 24mm x 12.3mm

4.4mm Balanced Output:

•	THD+N: 0.00013% (300Ω load), 0.00035% (32Ω load)
•	Output Level: 2.6Vrms (32Ω load), 4.0Vrms (300Ω load)
•	SNR: 132 dBA
•	Dynamic Range: 132 dBA

3.5mm Single-Ended Output:

•	THD+N: 0.00016% (300Ω load), 0.00045% (32Ω load)
•	Output Level: 1.65Vrms (32Ω load), 2.0Vrms (300Ω load)
•	SNR: 128 dBA
•	Dynamic Range: 128 dBA

Both outputs provide excellent power and as you will see in the following section, they make the Macaron a very competitive device in this price range.

Practical Measurements

Why I am calling this a ‘practical measurement’ section?

DAC are like transparent windows

You will often see reviews on head-fi (and other websites) talking about the subjective differences between different headphone DAC amps, one having a better bass response or another focusing on the midrange while a third might give you a more detailed treble and this was certainly the case in this market as recent as 3 years ago. And especially the case at both the cheaper end of the market (as the technology was not as matured) but it can also for the very high end where manufacturers want to distinguish their devices with unique sound signature.

But in my opinion, DAC and Amplifiers should not (by design) change the sound signature, though obviously some implementations are better than others and some implementations (like Tube amps) will deliberately ‘colour’ your sound (like a stained-glass window). Older cheaper designs would also affect the extremes of your sound (the sub-bass) or poor filter implementations (near 20,000Hz) - maybe like glass that has ‘blurry’ or ‘frosted’ edges but then crystal clear in the middle.

I believe the best DAC and Amplifiers should be perfectly transparent and let your music be ‘seen’ perfectly clear by your headphones and IEMS (and Speakers), unless you choose some EQ to your preference.

Measurements of an old DAC compared to a modern one

Few manufacturers would publish their measurements but as an example I did find during my recent review of the FiiO KA15 some earlier measurements of the FiiO K3, for comparison and the difference I think perfectly illustrate the point that the industry has moved on. Below is the FiiO DAC K3 from 2019 compared to the latest KA15:

K3 - roll off at extremes	KA15 - perfectly transparent

While from 20-20,000Hz the K3 was a mostly flat it does roll off while a modern DAC will (should) be transparently ‘flat’.

Selection of a Headphone for ‘Practical Measurement’

Rather than compare DAC Amp SINAD charts, I thought for this review it might be more fun to see how well does this DAC Amp (and a few other portable DAC amps) perform when driving a real headphone to loud ‘90+ dbSPL’ volumes and then measure the output from that the headphone to see if it is still transparent. This is to remove most of that typical uncertainty that I read when people just read DAC or Amplifier measurements (i.e. ‘but how will it perform with my XXXX headphone’ ).

So over at AudioScienceReview Amir has been putting together an interesting graph of how hard it is to drive any headphone that he has measured, and it is becoming a very extensive and interesting list covering most of the ’normal’ headphones (and some very expensive ‘high end’ headphones). Here is the latest version of that chart:

For those interested here is the source of this version of the list is from his latest: DCA Noire X review

So I thought I should use a headphone from the bottom end of this chart as a good ’test’ of these DACs, so I picked the Hifiman Sundara (as I am about to publish a review of that headphone). So here is that section of the list zoomed:

As you can hopefully see I thought the Hifiman Sundara was a good ‘challenging’ part of this chart. So lets see how the Macaron does. But first I thought I should measure the Sundara with various Headphone DACs to compare if there is any ’tonality’ differences:

Hifiman Sundara FR with various DACs

So in this test I measured the Sundara using my KB501X softear pinna and a 711 clone coupler and I decided to ‘volume level’ the output measured (as close as I could) with the various DAC Amps:

As you can hopefully see each one of the devices used produced the same result (i.e. they were all transparent at 90+ dbSPL). I even started using my Macbook Pro own headphone jack, then the Apple usb-c, and then I followed up with both the single ended and then the balanced output of various dongles.

Here a photo of the dongles (including the Macaron) that I used in this measurement (though I didn’t measure the Qudelik 4K and the FiiO KA17 in this particular comparison):

So in this photo the ones I used are Fosi Audio DS2, FiiO KA15, iBasso Jr Macaron, Kiwiears Allegro and the Kiwiears Allegro Mini on the right-hand side of this photo.

So the point of this is each of these devices can drive a ‘hard to drive’ headphone but what ‘headroom’ do they leave for that track that has high dynamic range or for applying EQ filters (often needing an extra 10dbSPL).

To capture this I used my Macbook Pro to ‘record’ what volume was needed to drive each device to this ‘volume matched’ level (except with the Macaron I had to use Macaron own volume buttons and I did not enable the high gain or turbo modes within the iBasso UAC Companion application as this was the default).

I believe you should always have some headroom when driving headphones so having more volume available, the better but which of these devices has ’enough’ for your use-case (on this relatively hard to drive headphone), so low volume is better:

I think it’s pretty impressive that all these devices could drive the Sundara to a pretty loud 90+ dbSPL, but what does each cost:

So the KA15 is considerable more expensive but does have a little more power, a screen and PEQ capabilities via a companion application.

Since, the Allegro Mini is really just slightly more powerful than the Apple USB-C dongle it benefits are the conveniences of having both a 3.5mm and 4.4mm and its super compact size.

While the iBasso Jr Macaron is the cheapest of the “dual CS43131” models, it also has a ‘companion’ application and if you are an Android user I think it provides the best price to performance ratio here. But the Kiwiears Allegro provides similar performance (with it’s ES9028Q2M ) and the Fosi Audio DS2 also provide excellent price / performance ratio, as you will see in their individual reviews it a more personal choice of what design suits you, but my favourite for Android and for my WiiM Ultra “headphone” use-case is the Macaron.

Given that all these devices are “transparent” with a relatively ‘hard to drive’ headphone at 90+ dbSPL we are at a golden age for ‘pragmatically’ price portable audio devices.

Rating

The iBasso Macaron earns a very pragmatic 4-stars at the moment, if you are an android user I feel its an easy 5-star as its mostly perfect, powerful, configurable yet small enough for your pocket and extremely good value. If you are an iPhone user it still sounds great, but be aware that you will be using the Macaron own very high quality volume rather than an integrated volume control.

Conclusion

The iBasso Macaron is an excellent choice for those looking for a compact, high-quality DAC/amp with a stylish twist especially if you are an Android user but really for everyone want a powerful and portable headphone DAC. Available in four colors and supporting both 3.5mm and 4.4mm outputs, it offers versatility and sound quality that’s impressive at its price point. With its neutral sound profile and minimalist design, the Macaron makes high-quality audio devices more accessible and enjoyable, especially for users who prioritize simplicity and portability in their audio gear.