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A $60 USB/Bluetooth DAC that looks like a cassette tape!

  • “Instagram gold!” is how I described the cassette player animation running on Sony’s NW-A306 Walkman (aka DAP) when playing files from a microSD card. That was 2023. Almost two years down the line, another head-fi manufacturer has caught on. Under its new Snowsky sub-brand, FiiO is introducing a portable DAC called the Retro Nano whose most visually arresting feature is its cassette tape fakery. The animation runs on the unit’s 0.96-inch TFT (80 x 160px) display when decoding digital audio received over Bluetooth or USB. Instagram gold!

    Take note: the Retro Nano is not a portable audio player but a 28g DAC that talks to smartphones and laptops over Bluetooth or USB. iPhones link up wirelessly via the AAC codec but Android users enjoy the benefit of higher-quality codecs like aptX HD and LDAC. Connecting the Retro Nano to a smartphone, tablet Mac or PC using a USB cable nets another step up in audio quality.

    From the press release: “Simply start an album from your smartphone and let the Snowsky Nano do the rest from volume control to track selection. And yes, it even lets you take calls thanks to a built-in mic and features full app control via the FiiO Control app on Android or iOS. The physical controls recreate memories of 90’s cassette players as does the animated screen which starts to move as you play a track.”

    A Qualcomm QCC5125 chip takes care of Bluetooth reception. Headphone outputs number two – 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced – but the press release says nothing about output power, only that high- and low-gain are switchable. In between input and output sit a pair of Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC chips that execute the D/A conversion.

    Oh — the internal 3.7V 10440 7.5hr battery is USB-C rechargeable and replaceable.

    Price? £59.99 or US$59.99

    Further information: FiiO

    Written by John Darko

    John currently lives in Berlin where he creates videos and podcasts for Darko.Audio. He has previously contributed to 6moons, TONEAudio, AudioStream and Stereophile.

    Follow John on YouTube or Instagram

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