A small but fierce DAC

The Rhodium DAC makes a big difference for music, but it turns out it’s not quite enough. Not everything it tries to do is entirely positive, and therefore it’s not as easy to recommend, even in light of its modest price.

Introduction

“Wireless” might be the word, but not everyone is sold on the concept. Some people understand that the best pound-for-pound performance of a pair of headphones, for example, is that of a wired pair.

But the sight of a headphone jack on a smartphone is getting rarer, and half-decent sound from the headphone jack on a laptop is even rarer. So what if you want to know what your wired headphones are capable of?

Periodic Audio of California wants to help. Its tiny Rhodium DAC/headphone amp is small and lightweight, remarkably spec’d, and has a USB-C input on one end and a 3.5mm analog jack on the other. So it can turn your smartphone into a source for wired headphones, and/or bring a big improvement to your laptop’s sound, without costing a fortune.

That’s the theory, anyway.

The Periodic Audio Rhodium DAC/headphone amp is on sale now, and in the UK it’s priced at £49. In its native America, the price is $49, while Australian customers should expect to part with AU$79 or thereabouts.

You barely need me to point out that it’s not a lot of money. Certainly Rhodium is not a lot of thing, but if its effect on the sound of your headphones is half as pronounced as Periodic Audio claims, then it will be one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make.

That’s a big “if,” isn’t it?

Design

• Weighs only 6g
• 11 x 8 x 140mm
• … and that’s all

As befits a product designed to sit between your music storage device’s USB-C output and your headphones’ 3.5mm jack, the Rhodium is small, light and functional.

At one end there is an aluminum USB-C socket (there is a small USB-C/USB-A adapter in the Rhodium’s somewhat medical packaging), at the other there is an analog input in 3.5mm aluminum. Between the two there is 63 mm of braided cable.

In short, Rhodium is a utilitarian design, which is precisely what a product like this should be.

Features

• 32bit.384kHz PCM compatibility
• Realtek ALC5685 DAC
• … and that’s all

Almost all of the Rhodium’s significant features are concealed inside the tiny aluminum shell that houses its USB-C socket. And by ‘features’, what I really mean is ‘functionality’.

This is where the digital-to-analog converter is kept. It is a Realtek ALC5685 system-on-chip, just 6 x 6 mm in size and capable of processing PCM digital audio files of up to 32-bit/384 kHz resolution.

Periodic Audio makes bold claims about Rhodium performance, including a super low 5Hz to unnecessarily high 160kHz frequency response, 108dB signal-to-noise ratio and an extremely low 0.007% total harmonic distortion, as well as very Low energy consumption.

It’s safe to say that if any of these numbers are accurate, the Rhodium will perform beyond any realistic expectations you might have when price and product configuration are taken into account.

Sound quality

• More detail, improved dynamics
• Overall more punch and low-end extension
• Relentless in its presentation

The Rhodium’s 3.5mm input is used to connect a pair of Campfire Audio Andromeda wired in-ear headphones on one end, and its USB-C plug attached to an Apple MacBook Pro (2020) on the other (because this is handy for contrasting the DAC’s performance against that of the laptop’s 3.5mm analog jack). It’s also hooked up to a Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone from 2021 (which, of course, is the only way to use wired headphones with this (and most) smartphones).

From both sources, the Tidal app is used to deliver digital audio – Big Thief’s Shark Smile and Low Light by The Soundcarriers in particular. And no matter what laptop or smartphone I’m listening to, the Periodic Audio Rhodium proves stable, consistent, and remarkably outspoken listening.

The laptop is the most useful device here, of course, as it’s possible to listen to its internal DAC and headphone amplification directly against the Rhodium. And while every laptop owner understands that their audio circuitry is usually just an afterthought, the difference Rhodium makes is nonetheless quite startling.

Compared to the unassisted sound of the MacBook Pro, Periodic Audio is an altogether more direct, candid and assertive listen. It extracts and retains a lot more mid-range information than the laptop, which means vocals are considerably more informative, more characterful and more nuanced, which is basically a long way of saying “more enjoyable”. .

There’s more punch and solidity to low-frequency sounds, and a bigger, more defined soundstage on which all the action happens. And the dynamics (both the broad “quiet/LOUD” elements and the more subtle harmonic variations of each individual strumming of a guitar) are enhanced – or, more accurately, more evident in their effects.

Control, with regards to the attack and decay of individual notes or strikes, is much improved. Rhythm expression is pretty decent too, thanks to those punchy yet controlled low frequencies. The tonality, particularly from the low end of the frequency to the point where the “mids” become the “high frequencies”, is wider in its variation, more assured in its musicality and superior in both timbre and tone. the texture.

It is in the high end of the frequency range that the Rhodium somewhat overplays its hand. All the improvements that are apparent elsewhere on the laptop’s unassisted sound – greater detail retention, better dynamic variation, more space and “lightness” are apparent, but the way this DAC attacks the high-pitched sounds is quite wearisome.

There’s a relentless quality to the way periodic audio serves up the high end, a determination to bite your teeth even when it’s not appropriate, and as a result the higher frequencies have a harshness and jitters to them. tiring at moderate volumes and almost painful at higher levels. ‘Lively’ is great sound-wise, ‘intransigence’ not so much.

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Sustainability

Trusted Reviews’ holds the fact that global warming is not a myth as a core value and will continually strive to help protect our planet from harm in its business practices.

As part of this mission, each time we review a product, we send the company a series of questions to help us assess and make transparent the device’s impact on the environment.

We have not currently received answers to questions about this product, but we will update this page as soon as we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability information page.