Khadas Tea Ultra-slim Headphone Amplifier for Smartphones with Apple MagSafe

Khadas Technology Co. Ltd. describes the new Khadas Thea as an ultra-slim headphone amplifier specially designed for use in conjunction with a smartphone. As a special feature, it even features Apple MagSafe.

Khadas Tea is the name given by Khadas Technology Co. Ltd. to its latest solution, an ultra-slim headphone amplifier specially designed for smartphones. This solution is aimed equally at users of a smartphone with Google Android, but also of an Apple iPhone.

For the latter target group, the new Khadas Technology Co. Ltd. even comes with Apple MagSafe for particularly easy use on the move.

Khadas Tea Ultra-slim Headphone Amplifier – D/A Converter and Headphone Amplifier

As has long been customary in this special product group of the Personal Audio Devices sector, the new Khadas Tea is not just a headphone amplifier, but also has an integrated D/A converter. What’s more, the product also comes with Bluetooth, so that smartphones can be connected “wirelessly” in addition to the cable connection.

Very flat design

The most remarkable thing about the new Khadas Tea is its very special design. There are many solutions on the market that are primarily designed for use with smartphones.

Frankly speaking, however, this is aimed at a comparatively small target group, because the solutions available so far have all turned out to be quite “clunky” in direct comparison with slim smartphones.

And this is exactly where Khadas Technology Co. Ltd. wants to start, promising with the new Khadas Tea a very, very flat solution that has just as elegant a design as the smartphone itself.

The new Khadas Tea measures no more than 95.5 mm in length, 63.8 mm in width, and 6.25 mm at its shallowest point and 7.95 mm at its thickest point. Thus, this solution is mostly as thin as the smartphone itself, and even combined with the smartphone, it results in a solution that is truly not “bulky”, if you want to put it that way. With a weight of only 73.5 g, the new Khadas Tea is also very light.

Elegant design with aluminium and glass

Like current smartphones, the Khadas Tea is based on aluminium for the slim casing, which is anodised in either Teal Blue or Granite Grey. An AG Glass panel provides the final touch of elegance.

Apple MagSafe compatible

A special feature is that the Khadas Tea is Apple MagSafe-compatible, which means that it docks directly onto the back of a correspondingly equipped Apple iPhone (Apple iPhone 12 or higher) using a magnet. By the way, the Khadas Tea officially bears the corresponding logo for certification by the Apple Corporation. Users of a smartphone with Google Android should also be able to benefit from it, according to the manufacturer, but they need a corresponding case for their mobile device.

Bluetooth or cable

The connection between the smartphone and the Khadas Tea can be made in two ways, whereby Bluetooth and thus “wireless” is probably the most comfortable solution.

The Khadas Tea is equipped with Bluetooth in the form of a Qualcomm QCC5125 and supports SBC, AAC and LDAC as well as aptX, aptX LL and aptX HD. Depending on the smartphone, signal transmission up to 24 bit and 48 kHz or even 24 bit and 96 kHz is possible.

The second option is of course a simple, short cable, whereby the Khadas Tea comes with a USB-C interface. For smartphones with Google Android, a USB-C to USB-C cable is included with the device; for Apple iPhone, the corresponding USB-C to Apple Lightning cable is included in the package.

Hi-res Audio up to 32 Bit and 384 kHz and DSD256

At the heart of the signal processing of the new Khadas Tea is an ESS ES9281AC Pro D/A converter, which processes signals in Linear PCM at up to 32 bits and 384 kHz, and also supports DSD natively, up to DSD256. Content encoded in lossy MQA is also to be supported as an MQA renderer with the new Khadas Tea, according to the promise of the Hong Kong manufacturer.

The signal processing is carried out with the help of a particularly accurate clock generator, according to the company, and a Ricore RT6863D High-quality Audiophile Operational Amplifier is used as the output stage.

3.5 mm stereo mini-jack for headphones

For the connection of headphones, the new Khadas Tea has a 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack, whereby the manufacturer allows an adjustment to different headphones by means of high-gain mode and low-gain mode. For an impedance of 300 ohms, the power output is 20.8 mW (2.5 Vrms), for 150 ohms 42.7 mW (2.5 Vrms), 32 ohms 165 mW (2.5 Vrms), and for 16 ohms 130 mW (1.44 Vrms).

In addition to a power button, the Khadas Tea has buttons for volume control and an RGB LED as a status indicator. In addition, a microphone is integrated to use it as a hands-free function when using headphones that do not have such a feature.

The new Khadas Tea is adorned with the “Made for iPhone” and “Made for iPad” logos of Apple Corporation, it complies with Apple MFi 3.0 and can therefore be used for Apple iOS and Apple iPadOS, it also functions as a Google Android OTG device and can even be used with Microsoft Windows via USB, although a corresponding ASIO driver is required for this, which is provided by the manufacturer. The Khadas Tea can even be used with Linux with a UAC2-compatible kernel.

Integrated lithium-polymer battery

Of course, the new Khadas Tea has an integrated battery, after all, it is supposed to guarantee its own power supply and not suck on the smartphone’s battery. The integrated battery is designed as a 1,160 mAh lithium polymer battery and should provide up to eight hours of playtime.

Prices and availability

The Khadas Tea is still a project that is being offered for sale on the Indiegogo platform, although the company Khadas Technology Co. Ltd. promises Early Bird Backers a first delivery in March 2022, as the funding target has already been reached. The final price for the Khadas Tea is likely to be €159.

Getting to the point

Of course, there are already numerous solutions on the market that can really bring out the best in hi-res audio in combination with smartphones. However, it must be clearly stated that these are mostly rather clunky solutions. The new Khadas Tea Ultra-slim Headphone Amplifier is designed to be completely different, flat and light and just as elegant as the smartphone itself. Nevertheless, the manufacturer Khadas Technology Co. Ltd. promises to offer a solution for audiophile users with the Khadas Tea Ultra-slim Headphone Amplifier.