Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off: I am not an accomplished audiophile. I don't know all the technical ins/outs of the circuitry. I'm a programmer sitting at a computer all day and mostly have my over-the-ear headphones on all day as we now have an "Open Office" layout and it is the worst corporate decision any company can make. It makes talkative people beacons of noise, like audio lighthouses. I'm not sure but I think the guy that sits next to me is training his voice and vocal cords to become the loudest speaking human in the United States (I can't speak for other countries). It makes it so hard to concentrate on work. I needed louder input from my headphones so I started looking into these devices. I can tell you that this little device is the bomb! It is well built. It works right after plugging it in. I did have to choose it as my 'default' playback device, that was easy. I'm going to buy the Audiotechnica M50X headphones right after Christmas but right now I'm using some pretty standart Bose over-the-ear headphones. These Bose headphones were $100 about 6 years ago, they're not bad but they're not GREAT. The E10K will kick out the volume. I can not turn the volume (gain) knob past 3 or 4 without pain. As tech as I can get I'll tell you the E10K has no added hiss or noise or buzz. It is totally quiet. The sound now is more clear and a little more bass-y with the bass boost 'on'. I mostly listen to talk radio in the morning and 'genre' stations on iHeart Radio from 10:00 AM till the end of the day and the occasional song on YouTube. I like it. I would suggest it to a friend.