Dossier — iBasso Jr. Macaron

The brochure speaks; the silicon answers. What follows is what each has said.

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Claims breakdown

Claim Bucket Witnessed Verdict
PCM up to 32-bit / 384 kHz PCM Alt 1, Subslot 2 — 16-bit PCM. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384Alt 2, Subslot 3 — 24-bit PCM. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384Alt 3, Subslot 4 — 32-bit PCM. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384 Match
Native DSD256 DSD Alt 4, Subslot 4 — Type-1 RAW 1-bit DSD. Sample Rates Supported (kHz): 44.1 48 88.2 96 176.4 192 352.8 384 (DSD64 to DSD256) Match

Remarks

The first iBasso instrument to enter the Concordance, and it arrives in good order. iBasso specs the Jr. Macaron's USB input at PCM up to 32-bit / 384 kHz and native DSD to DSD256. The descriptor ratifies both: an asynchronous USB Audio Class 2 interface carrying discrete 16-, 24-, and 32-bit PCM containers to 384 kHz, and a raw DSD alt carried natively to DSD256. Every weighable claim met at the wire.

Two notes for the reader. Where many dongles fold 16-bit source into the wider container, the Jr. Macaron declares it as its own alt-setting — the full 16/24/32 ladder stands witnessed, each to 384 kHz. And on DSD, iBasso names native; the descriptor settles which the wire honors: a native one-bit stream, not DSD-over-PCM. DoP remains a route the descriptor cannot confirm — a PCM pipe wide enough to carry its markers says nothing about whether the firmware parses them — so the native reading is the one the Concordance weighs, and it Matches. The dual Cirrus CS43131 conversion iBasso markets sits behind a shared USB platform block: the USB identity the wire presents is the silicon vendor's, not a mark unique to iBasso.


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