Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

TLDR: If you're in it for the best DAC for music at this price, look elsewhere. If you're in it for a DAC for general use all around (Music, Movies, Games,) this may be the best thing for you under $250. [Update after nearly five months at the end!] Full Review: Imma start with the good. Those knobs. It drives me nuts, all the DACs and DAC enthusiasts insisting that there's just one, perfectly flat way things should be listened to. “If you want more bass, get headphones/speakers with more bass.” How about, I'm not made of money, and my already large collection still needs more variety. I do budget, but I'm all over the place within my budget. I have a drawer of "chifi" earbuds. A few Sony MH755s (the best bang for your buck if you're on a super low budget, too bad they're hard to find genuine, and the cables are short), Zero Audio Carbo Mezzo (ZH-DX220-C), those Action Pies with the dual drivers (which frankly sound better than I ever expected), Shure SE215, and a bunch of others I tested with these. By far this DAC works the best with the Zero Audios. I was shocked, as generally the Zero Audios weren't my favorite to begin with, but with this DAC they really shine. I've liked other budget DACs more for clear music with a good soundstage, FiiO primarily having some of my favorite so far. But the FiiOs are just boxes. They don't have these knobs. For music, I keep the bass and treble knobs at about 75% of their total capacity. But if I'm about to go watch a movie, rewatch Star Wars or something, that treble knob I turn down to 50%, and crank that bass up to about 90%. You feel like you're in a theater with that overcompensating sound system, and I just LOVE IT. This isn't the DAC you want for the highest quality music, but this is a very good DAC for someone who wants to tinker with the sound, and has a high priority for how they tweak their sound for movies and video games. Here's another great example. Far Cry 5, that sniper rifle is super loud. And the control for sound in that game is awful, the only option is to turn down the music. So I cranked the treble down to 25%, and it took the edge off the loud sniper while allowing me to keep my volume where it was. I cannot stress how useful the knobs can be. The only other DAC I know of that would do this well (but probably better) is the (I'm sorry, this is really the companies name:) Schiit Loki Equalizer, and that thing ALONE will set you back $200. It's just an equalizer. You would still need to buy a DAC on top of it! Maybe that's the best way they could market this, as a “gaming DAC” because I feel like gamers will appreciate this product for what it is a heck of a lot more than the hardcore music community, who will find this somewhat lacking. And that's not a knock on gamers, I'm just observing that gamers tend to be more in it for the maliable experience that pushes whatever media they are taking in more. Immersion. They don't care if it looks good on paper, they care that it makes the experience more intense. This DAC can add that but without horrible distortion, like the equalizers you'd find on “gaming sound cards” and it's half the price of some of those that I see people buying. Overall, it's a simple little plug and play DAC that looks nice on the shelf, does more than you'd expect, and doesn't break the bank. If you're more in it for mixed media, or you just want audio that sounds better than the bad thing you currently have but you don't need “the best” (whatever that really means) then just buy this sucker. UPDATE After almost five months: I've now paired this with the 1MORE Triple Driver inears, I'm sitting here listening to Above and Beyond's Group Therapy #372, and it struck me just how much my ears are tickled and pleased by this this combo. Absurdly bassy, yet very little distortion with that combo. I'm in listening bliss, and as such, I've decided to bump this thing up to a 5 star. I can't think of any accessory or part for my computer that's seemed to have done so much for so little. EDIT2: I swear the title didn't used to say "gaming DAC" and to be honest, while I KNOW I suggested it, this is not REALLY a gaming DAC, in that gaming DACs usually have weird sound positioning features this does not. Features involving positional audio enhancements, which to be clear, this does not have. As I said in the review above, if you enjoy the immersion of great audio, this will be great for games. But it doesn't have "conventional gaming DAC features." As a gamer who never plays competitive games anyway, I wouldn't want special positional audio features ANYWAY. I just don't want anyone reading this to think it has positional audio features when it does not. EDIT3: Still using this in February of 2022.