Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsGood *for the price
Reviewed in Canada on July 16, 2023
The dac/amp is around the quality of a typical mid-high end motherboard. Overall good but will get beaten by the majority of dac/amps on the market, though this is pretty cheap for what you get.
Pros:
- One of the cheapest proper dac/amps
- Sounds good. No glaring audio problems
- Small but not to a fault
- EQ + volume controls, which not all dac/amps at this price have
Cons:
- Hissing noise at 75%+ volume
- Had to use USB since optical has popping noises whenever audio starts/stops
- On USB there are rare popping noises but that can be reduced by turning up windows audio and the dac down
- Audio is definitely light on bass and slightly on treble so you either have to accept that or use EQ (not ideal)
- If you use it via usb, you need to always have it powered (can configure this in most BIOS) or it'll need to be manually turned on
- LED on the front is a flashbang in dark environments but you can cover it with electrical tape
TLDR; good for the money, but I would recommend spending more if you can. This competes with $150 dac/amps but will get wiped by most around $300. If you can spend more, you will in fact get more. This is for people who want a decent dac/amp and don't want to break the bank.
Edit: popping noise is quite annoying. I'm dropping this from 4 to 3. It's cheap and does what it says but it's quite terrible honestly