AFUL Audio SnowyNight Portable DAC/Amp Review

Following quickly after the release of the AFUL MagicOne, AFUL is back with a portable and affordable DAC/amp that promises to “revolutionize” your listening experience anywhere you may be listening (including PC and console). It’s exceptionally pocketable, comes packed with high-performance components, and a stylish design, and has a surprising amount of power for its tiny size. At $110, it’s definitely worth considering, no matter where you may be listening. 

Thank you to HiFiGo for providing the sample to test for this review.

Specifications

• Current Price: $109.99 (Amazon, HiFiGo, AliExpress) 

AFUL SnowyNight — Design and Features

Over the last year, AFUL has been one of the companies that has excited me the most. Its Performer 5, Performer 8, and MagicOne IEMs have been some of the most innovative and interesting that have come out in that time. The result is the SnowyNight.

The SnowyNight is a portable and pocketable DAC/amplifier. It is made to be used with either headphones or IEMs and has a respectable amount of power. It is what I consider to be the second tier of headphone adapters. The first tier would be composed of simple headphone jack adapters, like the Apple dongle. The SnowyNight is obviously much larger but isn't imposing in a pocket. It's about the size of a trinket you might find on a keychain, if a bit thicker to accommodate its circuitry. The trade-off for that additional size, however, is a lot more functionality.

Starting with the aesthetics, the snowy night is small and dark gunmetal gray. It's about two inches long, under an inch wide, and about a quarter inch sick at its thinnest point. It widens out surrounding its output jacks, making room for their size. It's made of metal and feels solid in the hand. I've dropped it by accident at least once and it survived without a scratch. 

The front of the unit has the AFUL branding as well as a pattern of snowflakes that appear to be laser etched. In the center of this field of flakes is a larger