FX AUDIO Bluetooth USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier HiFi Stereo Digital to Analogue Converter ES9038Q2M/XMOS XU208 Support APTX/HD/LDAC/DSD512 with 6.35mm to 3.5mm Headphone Converter(Black)

It is a very good DAC, improves the detail and clarity of the sound of my Sony STR-DH190. The Sony is an integrated cheap amplifier A B class. more like an old school amp. The sound of the sony is very good, a kind of flat or warm in the mid highs. with this FX AUDIO DAC, a lot of detail and clarity appears without compromising the bass, it is a very good product. And the best of this is that have a headphone amp lot way better than the one on the Sony amp . The sony's have a lot of noise even when is not anything sounding, with the port on the FX AUDIO D01 the headphones shines. ( I have the sennheiser HD 560s, the AKG K361 and the KZ X Crinacle Iem earpods) I use the tones controls of the amp or the Schiit loki to get my perfect sound. I also tested with a Fosi BT20A and Aiyima D05 amplifiers. These are two class D amplifiers and the FX audio makes a great match with these also. I am not an audiophile at all but I like to play with everything to get the sound that I like. I'm more rock/alternative listener and I use schiit loki (eq) and sometimes eqmac app on my desktop to have eq and listen what I want, I found very good quality sound out from this DAC.The bluetooth is amazing, it have LDAC ( one of the best (sony) BT protocol that claims to have much more info than all the aptex protocols), sounds very very good. For me as good as having optical, coaxial or usb plugged on it. And also same quality sound from my apple devices ( iphone and Macbook pro ) that use I think AAC BT protocol. Great with these also.Very recommended!!!The only downside was that one of my music sources is a FIIO M6 player, and you can use that fiio (that already have LDAC and all the APTEX bluetooth as a TX ( and it recognize the LDAC from the FX AUDIO DAC)), and you can use it as a USB source to plug it in into the a DAC. But unfortunatelly it is not compatible yet with this DAC, Sounds very bad, so I wrote to the FX AUDIO seller and send videos of the problem, and they refund a part of the money to me and let me keep the DAC to use it t in other system that i can build. VERY GOOD SERVICE from them, and for me that is VERY IMPOIRTANT. They were fast and helpful with my problem with the fiio.Overall this is a very good and versatile product because for example in a desktop situation you just need this FX AUDIO DAC, an amplifier as the cheap aiyima A7 or A8, or a cheap Fosi BT20A with tones controls, ( or a equalizer app for your computer) a pair of good speakers as the sony CS5 , neumi BS5, klipsch R-41M ( this needs tones controls to get the best of them ) or even the cheap and great Moukey M20-1 and you're set with a very high quality sound system for your small/medium size room sounding system, and you also have a very good (for my headphones) headphone amp for your desktop. (its important to say that this DAC remember the volume of the headphone to not damage the headphone or your ears).FX audio D01, very recommended product and company!

This DAC is a wonderful device. The plug-and-play aspect works perfectly. It responds very quickly to changes in the PC's audio output stream.I'm not a fan of the input switching method. A short press of the power button is annoying when trying to switch off the device. Since I didn't buy it for frequent switching I have learned what it considers a long press for power off. Still could be better.The Achilles' heel of this snappy little box is the volume control. You can 'wear out' a wrist when changing the volume from zero to max (99) or vice versa. There has got to be a faster way to control the dang volume. The single unit steps seem like a nice idea for a precise adjustment. However, cranking and cranking a small, slippery knob just for a minor adjustment is a PITA! Not to mention the accidental press to mute function that happens when in a hurry.

[Edit Feb 2022] I went to the drivers website again, found new drivers, and it now works on Win 8.1, so my initial issue is resolved, hence I changed my rating from 2 to 5 stars.Now that I have a working product I can say it is good value for the money and provides nice quality sound, the volume knob has too many steps but that is a small detail.Original review without drivers support:I wasn't expecting the best sound or build quality, and I am OK with those. However, Windows drivers support is almost non existent. Under Windows 8.1 the drivers from the website do not start, nor it includes the device a as an Audio Device. I could manually update the driver in Device Manager so it removes the yellow bang, and a sampling rate shows in the screen, but players such as foobar2000 or JRiver cannot start the driver, hence it is useless on Windows 8.1.I tried it on a different Windows 10 laptop. In this case Windows assigns the generic USB 2.0 Audio Device driver, and an Audio Device is added, so at least I can use the product, but since the included app is not working, I have no control over specific settings such as buffers, etc.Bottom line, I am very frustrated with the purchase and I will not buy again these poorly supported brands that sell almost useless products without proper driver support.To be fair I haven't yet tried the other input connections, only USB. So if you intend to use it through USB I would not recommend it.

This DAC works flawlessly on a 2012 Macbook Pro running Big Sur via USB, optical, and also with an iPhone 11 using a lightning to USB cable. It's a subtle but noticeable sound quality improvement, and the headphone amp drives HD650's easily. Used this to compare Bluetooth, USB at different bitrates, the DAC in my CD player vs. this ES9038Q2M, and also some different headphone amps. A review claimed the build quality was iffy, but I disagree, it's solid enough for the price. I'll be using this DAC instead of the built in DACs from now on.

Works as expected and sounds good. BT Range is also good. I actually bought another after trying the first one.