The Key - A DAC

Unlike other products from competing manufactures, (Light Harmonic) ALO has the good sense to copy the basic PC dongle design of the Audioquest Dragonfly DAC. This is a smart move for ALO, as it removes some of the obstacles there are to acceptance of an add-on audio hardware device. It removes the encumbrances there are such as a loss of desk space, however minimal, and "yet another doo-hickey" to the audience. By keeping the product cute and useful, the ALO Audio Key DAC is one purchase you can easily justify without worrying about whether or not you will actually use it. It's a purchase, after all. Not a life-changer.

As for actual usefulness, it improves on the Dragonfly by providing 176.4 khZ, 192 kHz, 352.8 kHz,  and 384kHz above the Dragonfly's 96 kHz at both 24-bit, and 32-bit resolution. This means The Key offers a frequency response of 5 Hz to 150kHz +/-1dB. That's more than enough for the best of subwoofers and super-tweeters, not to mention the leading headphones.

ALO Audio The Key

What's missing compared to the Dragonfly is an internal digital volume control and headphone amplifier, sadly, so the Key is geared to external amplification, and self-powered or extremely efficient headphones.

This is the second USB dongle to provide 384 kHz / 32-bit conversion, and we're excited to see ALO Audio join M2TECH and their HiFace DAC to power headphones at the o2.0 Vrms @10kOhms old-fashioned Discman work-around.


Product: ALO The Key
Price: $169.00 USD