FX-Audio DAC-X3PRO USB DAC ESS9023 Headphone Amplifier CS8416 Support ASRC Transmission HiFi Portable Decoder Headphone Amp

I like the feel of the aluminum housing and it's pretty lightweight. It's plug and play, easy to use, and it can get pretty loud. Only bummer is that it there is no AUX in and no 1/4" out. No issues so far though!

I like the look of this DAC, slick black metal box that seems rugged while being attractive. It could perhaps use a bit more heft, in case your headphone cable were to tug at it, but I don't think it's a serious concern. The volume control is smooth, both in the mechanical feel and in the audio level that results as you turn it.The sound was good to me. I only was able to try USB, but I don't see how the other digital input ports would affect the sound significantly. Although I suppose it is possible for jitter on the clock to be different.In an attempt to do some sort of objective measure of how good the audio quality is, I tried to measure frequency response. I had the computer generate sinusoids over the 10 Hz - 22 kHz range, measured the AC RMS output voltage with a 'scope (to make sure I didn't see gross distortion) and a DMM (with 50 kHz bandwidth). Response was within 1 dB of the 1 kHz level from 10 Hz - 14 kHz, but started rolling off quickly above that, and was down 3 dB at roughly 17 kHz. I doubt that matters much to me, since I can't hear up that high, but ideally you'd have more flat response out to 20 kHz.Another thing that would indicate to me that this DAC is not quite "pro": when I tried to play 22 kHz (the digital signal was created with 96 kS/s sample rate), the output level was slowly varying over time, in a way that indicated to me that the signal was quite close to 1/2 the sample rate. So as the product page states this thing has ASRC, my guess is everything coming in is converted to the standard CD sample rate of 44.1 kS/s... that surely would make 22 kHz sine waves act a bit wiggy. I would have liked to see 48 kS/s, or even better, 96 kS/s.One of the graphics on the product page says this DAC has an NE5532 chip. That's probably what is used to drive the headphone output. It's a good classic audio opamp, but not intended to be a headphone driver. The product page says the minimum headphone impedance should be 16 Ohms. I think even that is a stretch, but I didn't have time to fully test this. Higher headphone impedance, like 300 Ohms+ would be better.All in all, in my testing the DAC functioned well, was recognized instantly on my Mac as an audio output with no work on my part, other than plugging it in. Nice product at the price.

I am not an audiophile, so it is hard for me to judge whether this colors the audio in any way. It sounds like it does not to me, which I believe most modern dacs do the same. To me it sounds pretty neutral but I didnt listen too long due to an issue (discussed below). As far as headphone output, I tested with dt 700 pro Xs so I do not know if this can drive more demanding headphones. Based on the specs, I would guess it could probably drive something like senn hd6xx, but I didnt want to switch out the cables on any of my higher impedance headphones to test. There is a line out if you wanted to feed into a headphone amp, which works well enough if you need more power. I did have one issue which I would get a popping sound occasionally, but only on my work computer, so it may have been a driver issue. It was enough to prevent me from wanting to use the device more than a few minutes.There are some limitations on the device. There is only a 3.5mm headphone out, so no balanced out. It requires an external power source, and is not bus powered like many other small desktop dacs. The device itself is at least compact, so if you need an additional headphone amp, the dac wont take up too much space. For $60 there are not many great options, however if you are willing to pay a little more, you can get the a topping dx-1 or small su-1 which both should have much better performance and likely less issues. If budget is your primary concern this device seems to work well enough, so long as you do not get popping sounds like I did.

EDIT -moving this up to 5-stars - it performs really well - sounds good and has worked with everything I've tried it on - I'm mostly using it as an interface between optical and line out -Quite a flexible little unit - the input options mean that this can be used in a lot of situations - not just as a computer interface.The USB connection worked without any difficulty on two different Macs - no issues.The headphone output is surprisingly quiet but feels like it is a little weak on the low frequencies. Listening with closed headphones, I expected a little more bottom end and a little more air on the top -This could be because I'm using the DAC powered by the USB and it may perform a little better with external power.There is plenty of power to drive my headphones to good levels - even USB powered.Size, price and input options make this a really great interface for the price - surprisingly quiet and very flexible, its a nice addition.Able to function as an output via RCA to powered speakers or an amplifier, it's also a capable interface, beyond headphone use.Nice surprise - quality unit performing quite above its price range.

So far so good. I wasnt sure what to expect from this but once I got it setup it works pretty nicely. Produces a good clean sound through either my iems or my Beyer Dynamics, that doesnt breakup or distort even when I push the volume way up. Produces a good clean signal and gives you the versatility of having a dedicated volume control outside of the regular windows volume. Has lots of options for input also which is nice so you can use toslink, usb or coax. Good to have plenty of options so you can use this for various applications or hardware setups.

I have an Audio-gd R8 dac and Master 19 as my main setup.I'm astounded at the level of sound quality for an entry level dac at this price point. It is dead silent.Obviously, it doesn't come close to my main setup but it is surprisingly good especially for this price point.I would say where it comes up short is bass, body, and top end extension, air and sparkle. This might be the best price vs performance dac/amp I've ever heard. And I've heard alot of gear.Best entry level dac/amp for the price period.