Laying to Rest the Apple Dongle with the Protocol Micro

If you've been in the audio hobby for any length of time, you know about the Apple dongle. It's a simple USB C or lightning to 3.5 dongle you can plug into virtually any device and serves as both a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and amplifier. This was Apple's solution for killing off the 3.5 port on their phones and devices, which has helped spur an entire micro-industry of USB C dongle DACs. Crinacle's CrinEar brand has finally released a worthy competitor to the Apple dongle with their CrinEar Protocol Micro. It features enough power, solid noise floor and PEQ support. Note: After recording this video, I did play around and discovered you can use the WalkPlay app on your Android phone, which you can find on EPZ's website: https://epzaudio.com/pages/driver-dow... ATechReviews Interview from SIAS with Crinacle:    • SIAS 2026 Part 1: Crinacle & Amir (ASR) In...   My Squig Link: https://dvewlsh.squig.link CrinEar Protocol Micro: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/325681... Social Patreon:   / dvewlsh   Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/dvewlsh.com Discord: dvewlsh Instagram:   / dvewlsh   TikTok:   / dvewlsh   All content created by Dave Walsh, without the use of AI-generated anything. Graphics, script, video, music, etc. I use Amazon affiliate links and may get a small percentage from any purchase made through the above link. 00:00 Intro 01:15 The Apple Dongle Argument 01:55 Enter the Micro Crongle 02:20 Product Overview 03:20 Features and PEQ 03:50 Is it better than the Apple dongle? 05:20 A no brainer at the price 06:15 Outtro