Q4

After losing five $20-30 headphone amplifiers in a row, within days or weeks, just because we're tripling the cost here doesn't necessary mean this will do better. In the q&a section one person warned me it died within two months, another person says it's been running for two years. Why a solid state device should have any life is beyond me, my beloved 50+ year old Nakamichi RE-3 receiver is still running fine.My question was, since this does not have a 3.5 audio input, can it be fed by a PC into the coaxial input with a converter? Four people said yes, one said no. It's no. So, what use is a 3.5 to coaxial conversion plug? Never mind. Since I cannot get my Dell running Windows 10 to put any sound into this through the USB route, it's useless, to me at least, as a PC headphone driver. One of the days I suppose I should get the headphone jack fixed, it's dead for some reason. Still working on that, the last headphone amp I had died, so my PC is going through the Nakamichi for awhile, rather clumsy.I also need an amp for my new Vizio TV. It also has a 3.5 audio out, forget about that. Therefore, I hooked up the optical input, and nothing, no sound at all. I checked all the connections, seemed to be okay, but just before I ripped it out to send it back to Azon, the darn thing turned on. Is there a warm-up delay?? It will be on all the time, so hopefully it will keep running.One other slight problem, the cords are absurdly too short, the optical cable isn't even as long as my TV. No biggie of course, but if you're going to put cords in the box, at least make them long enough to be useful.So, I'll live with this for awhile, and then edit the review . . . one way or the other.Ed: One thing, normally I set the volume control at about 75% on everything, and adjust the volume to my earphones through an in-line control. When set like that, I was picking up sputtering sounds on some Youboob videos, but it was fine on video files played from a USB stick (the only two ways I use the TV). Youevil volumes are much higher than typical USB files, I knew that, and the USB files play fine. I was not picking up any problems on my PC, so I switched out everything, the in-line volume wheel controls, the earphones, both combinations, and it was definitely something in the TV audio.I turns out I had the volume set waaaay too high on the Fosi box, with the in-line control taken out, the headphones were blasting. I played around with the volume knob, and lo and behold, the sputtering sounds went away. I had to fine tune it so the in-line control had enough room with both Eviltube and USB sources, which worked out to be around 55%. If you're having problems, you might try turning it down. Note, the variable audio output on my TV does not work if you plug in something to the optical output, so unless you want to get up off the couch every 30 seconds to adjust the Fosi volume, in-line controls are a must for my setup. They're very cheap, but buy them by the handful, they wear out. They work very well with YT when you run into a commercial, you can cut the volume to zero instantly.Ed: I'll bump it a star, for two reasons. First, the original unit I bought is still alive, and in the headphone amplifier world, that seems to be a real accomplishment. And, I bought another one for my 2015 Vizio, now relegated to the bedroom, and it fired up and worked as well, on optical. So now I have two of them, and I'll see how long they last. Maybe someday down the road this will get the final star.Also wik: Two months now, one is on 24/7, the other with the second TV off and on. No problems. That should be long enough for any glitches to show up.Update: Over two years now, it's on all the time, and it still works.

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.

My unit had an audible hissing sound (white noise) that was more pronounced on the left channel than on the right.The hiss was always there when the unit is connected, regardless of chosen input, or if it is usb powered from the PC or directly from a power socket.After contacting Fosi support I was assured these units do have white noise and that it may be more pronounced in certain headphones.I later changed from my low impedance headphones (32 Ohm HyperX Alpha's) to a medium impedance headphone (150 Ohm Sennheiser 58x Jubilee's), and on the higher impedance phones the hissing is barely noticable - so much better performance there.Pros:1. Good sound quality, clear and loud, especially for the price.2. Much smaller and lighter then I expected it to be. I can take this in my backpack with my laptop to have good quality sound on-the-go.3. Physical bass and treble eq that works very well.4. High quality materials, especially the knobs (!) - bass and treble knobs have tactile "clicking" when turned, the volume knob has a smooth turn operation. All knobs are from metal, heavy, and feel very high quality. I greatly appreciate this.5. Lots of connectivity options - IN usb / opt / coa, OUT front 3.5mm headphone jack or back RCA.6. True plug&play - Easiest setup I had.Cons:1. White noise. Especially noticeable in low impedance headphones.2. Left and right channels differ slightly (white noise at very different levels between them), so it may not be very balanced.3. Cannot compete with DAC/AMPs above the 100$ range in sound quality (is that even a con...?)