Introduction to the Khadas Tea Pro review
Let’s start with a small introduction. Khadas is not only an audio manufacturer. They started their journey in 2016 with the release of VIM1 – a SBC (Single Board Computer, think Raspberry Pi) for makers. After quickly gaining recognition, in 2018, it released VIM2 and became Google’s partner. The VIM2 was one of the official development boards for Google’s OS Fuchsia. Also in 2018, they released their first audio product: the Tone Board. It was an add-on module with the ES9038Q2M for their family of SBCs; there was also a version called Generic that worked with multiple boards, most notably Raspberry Pis. It gained a lot of traction among the DIY community.
Over the years, their cooperation with Google flourished, as their VIM3 became one of the official boards supporting Android development. Then, in 2020, Khadas launched their first audio product utilising balanced RCA standard, the Tone 2 PRO. It uses a modified RCA connector for both single-ended and balanced connections. Very clever solution. In 2022, they released the Tea: portable DAC/AMP, the predecessor of the reviewed Tea Pro, which was released in mid 2025. Tea Pro took the idea of Bluetooth-enabled DAC/AMP and cranked it to 11/10.
The main idea behind this product is to deliver high-quality audio in a small, convenient, and stunningly good-looking package. It’s not often that a non-audio company does a product this specialised. It makes it that much more interesting to see what a fresh look at portable Hi-Fi looks like. Let’s dive into it.
Packaging & Build Quality
The Tea Pro is positioned as a premium product, and the packaging matches that very well. It’s basically the same packaging as you can find with premium smartphones. High-quality, white box contains the device in protective foil and two cables: USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to Lightning. For your convenience, there is also a quick start guide.
Even though simple, you can feel that high-quality materials were used: USB cables are sleeved, and the box has Tea Pro pressed with reflective silver foil. It looks really sleek and instils confidence that you’re handling something special.
The Tea Pro is mostly marketed for iPhone users, and its design is meant to visually complement those phones. The general feel matches Apple products very well. A year ago, I had the iPhone 15 Pro, and this DAC/AMP is built as well as that phone. The fit is perfect, there is nothing I could complain about, regardless of price. Aluminium body, hardened glass and high-quality leather – those are the same materials that you see in premium smartphones.
That’s how dedicated Khadas is to making the Tea Pro match the devices it’s gonna be used with. All of the relevant data and options are available through buttons and a 0.96” AMOLED screen. It’s visible even in harsh light conditions. The backside is fitted with a set of neodymium magnets in MagSafe configuration. It makes it fit iPhones seamlessly. It is designed for iPhones first, so if you’re using Android phones, the fit will depend on your actual case/MagSafe ring. With my current Samsung S25 Ultra and Spigen case, I had to use an additional MagSafe ring.
The one integrated in the case didn’t align well with the Tea Pro, and the chassis slightly pressed on one of the lenses. One of the coolest features of the Tea Pro is an integrated microphone for calls. If somebody calls you, you can pick up the call and talk all through the DAC/AMP with no need to reach for the phone. Very convenient, and the sound quality of the microphone is more than adequate.
Tech inside reviewed Khadas Tea Pro
This flat fella has a very rich personality, let me tell you. Fit inside, besides a battery, is a two-level, high-performance audio circuit. To make the most of the available space and fit within constraints, Khadas designed the audio circuit on two boards that connect together, making a Hi-Fi sandwich. The Tea Pro can be used as either a USB DAC or via Bluetooth. The first input is handled by the XMOS XU316 microcontroller (just like the JDS Labs Element IV).
It is compatible with sampling rates of up to 768kHz for PCM and DSD512. It’s as futureproof as it gets. Bluetooth supports main codecs including SBC, AAC, LDAC, aptX, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive. All of that is handled by the advanced QCC5181 chip from Qualcomm. What about the heart?
The newest and freshest ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC is handling all of the business. It’s responsible for the extremely low distortion and low noise level of the Tea Pro. It is fed with a 100-femtosecond clock for a jitter-free experience. The analogue stage features four flagship OPA1612 opamps with a set of ultra-precise resistors. Together, they guarantee the performance delivered by the DAC chip will not be lost. The built-in battery allows up to 11 hours, according to the manufacturer. It was quite hard to pinpoint it with my mixed usage, but I was easily able to go days without recharging. When unused over longer periods of time, it held the charge very well. The drainage was minimal.
When it comes to output power, the Tea Pro is not going for any records. In balanced mode, it delivers 165mW @ 32Ohm and 42mW @ 600Ohm. In single-ended, it shrinks to 120mW and 21mW accordingly. For IEMs, it’s more than enough from the usage perspective. For headphones designed with portability in mind, it’s fine as well.
This amount of power limits the compatibility with more demanding headphones. User gets a set of options, including EQ with 7 generic presets and one custom. Custom setting allows the user to set 10-band equalisation in the range of +/-12dB each. There is a switchable gain to match the volume to your headphones/IEMs. Lastly, there are 8 digital filters altering the sound slightly. My listening was done on the default Linear Fast A.
Issue with Roon Arc
My go-to streaming is Roon Arc on my phone. I have a Roon Server running at home and use the app to access my music wherever I go. For whatever reason, the Tea Pro over USB doesn’t work well with the Roon Arc. Sound is forced through Android resampling to 48kHz. This issue never happened with other portable DACs that I use. The Tea Pro works well with the UAPP and Tidal app. I have submitted this bug to Khadas and to Roon. Hopefully, it’ll get resolved soon.
Khadas App
Khadas delivered an Android/iOS app dedicated to controlling over Bluetooth. It allows you to control the main functions from your smartphone’s screen. Very convenient indeed. The firmware updates are also done via this app. I don’t have much to say about it besides that. It’s stable, it works, it gets the job done.
Sound of the reviewed Khadas Tea Pro
The general sound signature of the Tea Pro is best described as neutral with a slight tilt towards transparency and detail over warmth and bass. This will also depend slightly on your matching with other gear.
It delivers excellent resolution, pitch-black background and dynamics. It’s basically the generic description of many ESS-based products, I know. I found it surprising how mature the sound is, especially in comparison to the competition. In some aspects, I feel it’s closer to JDS Labs excellent Element IV than to similar-priced devices. The soundstage is solid, circular in shape and placed rather close to the head. Precision is also commendable. Its cons are mainly based on taste – it won’t be right for people expecting warmth and lots of bass. But if you like precise and revealing sound… You’re in for a treat.
Bass
Let’s kick things off with some electronic music. It’s one of my favourite genres to listen to on the go. I’ll go with Tiësto and his hit The Business. It features big, pumping bass. I was curious to hear how well the Tea Pro will handle it with different headphones. As long as your headphones don’t require a lot of power, it handles things very well. The bass stays tight and controlled. It’s not thunderous and extremely deep. More like snappy and rhythmic. A similar story with natural instruments. While listening to Gold on the Ceiling by The Black Keys, I had a similar experience. The drums were quick and pinpoint with no space for muddiness. It’s a precise and layered sound rather than something for bass heads. Could be a nice combo with bass-focused IEMs if you want to give them some control or clarity.
Midrange
From the start, I decided to throw the Tea Pro in the deep water. The White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane is a very demanding test. It’s not easy to deliver the dynamics and textures in Grace Slick’s voice. I think that the fact that a DAC/AMP in this class can do it is a testament to where the audio technology is currently. The Tea Pro surprised me with how mature its presentation is, especially compared to it’s competiton. What about some male voices? I decided to keep the difficulty up and went with Linkin Park’s Breaking the Habit. Chester’s voice sounded with as much power and emotion as I expected it to. It shows more and more that the Tea Pro is focused slightly towards resolution than tone, but it still orbits around neutral tuning.
Treble
How is that? In terms of resolution and precision, more than satisfactory. While listening to Floating Points, Pharoa Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra – Movement 1, I was impressed by the separation between each note and how well the sense of verticality was represented. I find it excellent for this price range. I want to note that this level of transparency is pretty merciless to bad or simply bright records. It’s mostly noticeable in the treble. For something calmer, I selected Harlem River by Kevin Morby. The cymbals were crystal clean and airy. There are a lot of textures in those, and Tea Pro makes it easy to enjoy that.
Soundstage
When listening to Dagger by Slowdive, I heard how well the tested DAC/AMP creates ambience and how the sound decays. It performed well, with soundstage being quite close, but had very good extension and a circular soundstage shape. The sound freely flowed around me, and the reverb was clearly noticeable. For layering, I went with Stressed Out Live from the Twenty One Pilots’ Unplugged album. The Tea Pro did an admirable job at the separation and placement of sound sources. All of the electronic effects in stereo were completely separated. Each layer was well defined. It’s one of the things that made me call this device mature-sounding. It is done very well indeed.
Comparison
FiiO BTR-7
They are as different as two devices based on a similar DAC chip can be. The main difference: FiiO uses a dual ES9219C highly integrated SoC. Besides DAC, these integrate an amplifier and switching circuits. ES9039Q2M used in Khadas is the top-performing portable DAC chip from ESS. Technologies used in both are similar; the implementation is different. So is the sound produced by both devices. FiiO’s BTR7 is the fun uncle that sneaks you beers at a family BBQ.
Its V-shaped sound signature is extremely engaging. In comparison, the Tea Pro offers a more mature sound signature. It’s neutral, but what it lacks in excitement, it adds in resolution, dynamics and soundstaging. Looking purely at performance, the Tea Pro is a better-sounding device. IT reveals moe, stays truer to the source and has better dynamics. The BTR7 wins in terms of enjoyment, especially if you like more bass. It also has more driveability for more demanding headphones. With IEMs, the difference wasn’t that big, but with DCA Aeon Flow, it was noticeable.
Questyle M15
Another contender that’s running on an ESS chipset. The M15 was my daily driver for the longest time. It’s extremely energy efficient thanks to using a highly integrated SoC for USB input and DAC. It’s important as it doesn’t have a battery built in. It might be mostly down to the chip used, or the fact that Khadas has a built-in battery and doesn’t rely on the phone, but I prefer the Tea Pro to the M15.
Even over Bluetooth, I find it to sound better with more detail. Unlike with BTR7, the M15 and Tea Pro have very similar sound profiles. The main differences are resolution, dynamics and effortlessness. The Tea Pro has more noticeable punch as well. It’s just performing better. Due to this, it becomes my new daily driver, retiring the M15.
Pairings
Craft Ears Omnium CIEM
These are my best IEMs and what I use daily. These are quite demanding of companion equipment. I’m happy to report that the Tea Pro handles them well. You can do better, but at a much higher cost and weight. The sound qualities of both add up: you get a spacious, detailed, textured effect.
Omnium is a precise tool, like a scalpel, and it didn’t reveal any large weakness of the Tea Pro. I can listen to those for extended periods of time with zero fatigue. Part of it is thanks to having custom shells, and part thanks to Tea Pro’s open, clean presentation. Not an unusual combination price-wise, but it works while maintaining a small, convenient and portable profile.
Campfire Audio Andromeda Emerald Sea
This is an excellent pairing. The Andromeda’s warm tone adds musicality and emotion, while Tea Pro’s precision allows them to deliver an incredible amount of details. It’s a very enjoyable system that is much more forgiving than the previous one.
This is the direction that I would recommend for people wanting to get the benefits of both worlds. It excelled in genres with less intensity, especially when vocals are the focus. It puts the timbre and textures first and foremost.
Khadas Tea Pro review – Summary
In my opinion, the Khadas Tea Pro is an excellent proposition in its price point. You can tell that going a different way than the usual brands paid off. It offers a unique shape made to be easier to carry with a phone. The build quality is stellar.
On board Bluetooth is excellent, which means you can lose the cable, but not the sound quality. It ended the „dangling dongle” days for me. It’s a very competent DAC/AMP that will surprise you with how good it sounds. Long battery life only adds to that.
The main con is limited output power. It works well with IEMs and portable headphones, but anything more demanding and you’ll feel it’s lacking juice. It became my daily driver, together with my Craft Ears Omnium CIEM. Highly recommended if you like neutral, detailed sound.
Recommended.
Big thanks to Khadas for providing us with the Tea Pro for this review. I wasn’t paid or asked to say anything good or bad about this product, all of the above is just my personal, unbiased opinion.
I can really say “been there, done that” in regard to audio. Designing, building, fixing, reviewing, selling. All of that for big boy stereo. Headphones are something new and fresh for me. We all need something exciting now and then, so join me in my quest of discovering this cool world. We will listen to, drink and WE WILL bring the balance to the force. Oh, I like beer.
