Syba Sonic USB 24 Bit 96 KHz DAC Digital to Analog Headphone Amplifier 2 Stage EQ Digital/Coaxial Output and RCA Output, SD-DAC63057

Ok, I've only had this headphone dac for a few days but I felt I had to write something soon before I forget . For £30 , this is superb value . Set up is an absolute breeze of course and once it has been run-in for a little while ..wow . Let's understand , we are not reviewing a £200 Schiit or a £300+Cambridge audio dac-Magic here , this is a cheap unit , but it certainly doesn't sound it . My sound card output was woeful , low volume output , no life to the music and only good for monitoring .. I use external audio gear for ' proper ' listening ..till I got this ! Now I feel I just can't stop my listening sessions on the PC , stretched out on recliner chair like a lazy sod ..This little headphone/ dac / increases volume by a significant amount and more importantly , brings some life to my music ..the well recorded tracks sing out , I can separate instruments , there is sense of space and time , a depth and added bass notes that may have been present in my old sound card , but I never noticed them . I'm actually enjoying music on PC again instead of it being just background filler , and guess what ...it has an digital optical ( toslink ) out connection and a digital co-ax out too ..how many much higher priced dac-headphone amps have these , very few ? ( I checked ) . You can then use powered monitors with this device if it has these inputs ..how great is that ? OK ,it's not going to replace a ' proper ' amp, or higher priced Dac/Headphone combi any time soon , but believe me , this little gem is worth every single penny of that £30 spent . If you're on the fence , don't want to spend big , give this a try first , you'll be glad you did . Five stars for me for the sheer value for money alone .

Ignore the packaging, just go directly to the dac/amp and plug it in your computer or laptop. It is an amazing piece of equipment! Sound quality - hifi on a budget but delivers the quality you can get from expensive gears. Its a bit on the warm side which impactful bass but still keeps the crisps and room space of the mids. Build quality - its durable, made of hard plastic. The knob rotates smoothly. The ports are variety to cater your preference. Power - i only have 1 pair of power hungry headphones which is the Pioneer SE-30A and it definitely drives it very well. 1 good thing also is that, this dac/amps works as well with powerbanks for mobility. Although I mainly use it for my laptop but it can also be brought as mobile dac/amps.

The build quality of the DAC is as expected for the price, it’s okay but it’s not great. The dial feels average and the switch feels average too. The loudness is good with lower impedance headphones but if you have, for example, the Sennheiser HD600s, you’ll notice the volume isn’t adequate. The sound quality is good too, but it won’t compete with more expensive options such as Fiio. When I had just bought this DAC, everything was fine. However, after 3 to 4 weeks, a buzzing noise started. This buzzing comes after 2-3 hours of constant use. I may have a defective unit but it speaks to the quality control of the product. On the positive, with my Philips SHP-9600s, the volume can get very high. Also, there is a good amount of ports for 5.2mm, 3.5mm and microphones. In conclusion, this is actually a good buy for the money, since good quality DACs tend to be much more expensive. However, more expensive higher impedance headphones will not work well with this DAC, since it has a low power limit. But if you have expensive headphones, it’s likely you can afford a better DAC.

I bought this DAC/AMP to power some new studio monitors (Mackie CR3's) and some new headphones (Sennheiser HD559). I needed a device with RCA out and a 6.3mm jack for the headphones (The sennheisers only have a 6.3mm cable included in the box...). The DAC/AMP powers both of these devices amazingly, albeit the headphones are only 50 ohm impedance. All the necessary cables are included in the box - which is great*. The RCA cables are actually really good quality for a cable bundled with an item. What I liked about the item: 1: Multiple options for inputs and outputs: USB In (The DAC), 3.5mm Line-in, 3.5mm Microphone in. 6.3mm jack output, 3.5mm jack output, Digital Coax out, Digital Optical out, Line-outs (RCA**). 2: Supports from 44.1Khz to 96Khz sample rate, A nice volume control on the top of the unit. 3: Built in equalizer: 3 settings, TDB. T = Treble Boost, D Direct (no EQ), B = Bass Boost (+6db...) What I didn't like about the item: 1: *The cables: The included USB cable is not good. Its a bit short and threw up an error with my PC. Windows was saying an issue with power draw. Swapped to a different cable and it worked fine. 2: **The outputs: While I said I liked them, there is a little issue. Those RCA Line-outs? They are not Line-outs (even though they are labeled line-outs)... They are actually Pre-outs. What does that mean? A Line-out typically used a fixed signal voltage and is not affected by volume control. A Pre-out is affect by volume control. Not the end of the world, but does make things a little complicated. Unless you have powered speakers, you have to physically unplug them from the device to stop the audio going to both the headphones and the speakers. (a simple 3-way switch could have fixed this - speaker output, headphone output, both output). 3: This build quality: while solid, it is quite plastic-y feeling and quite light. But then again at this price, you can't really expect any more. Overall, a really good product, but has its flaws - but for the price, those flaws are really easy to look past. It i a great unit, does what it says it will (mostly). And its made by SybaSonic (one of the big names when it comes to DAC/AMPs in Audio - even if you don't know them, you probably know of devices that have originally been designed by them, so they know what they are doing). If you are looking for a cheap all-in-one solution for a DAC/AMP - buy this device.

I wanted to add some depth to the music I listen to on my PC at work as digital music on a computer can sound a bit dull. I took a punt on this, despite my concerns that it was too cheap. I am impressed by its build quality. Unlike the photos which make it look white, its actually silver. Overall it feels pretty good quality. It worked plug and play out of the box [Windows 10], but I did have to change the source in the sound settings. The sound is good and the boost is in performance is apparent. The pre-set EQ settings are selected via a little switch and make a marked difference to the sound. All-in-all, this is nice piece of kit and I am glad I made the purchase. Pair it with some reasonable/good headphones and you'll not be disappointed.

I bought the Syba unit as one of the very few I could find that had optical audio out at 24/96, as well as a headphone port on the front. Both work well with quite a few quirks. Firstly, both the optical audio and occasionally the headphone audio switch off when the channel isn't active. For the optical output, this means that if no sound is playing then the receiver at the other end shows no signal. When you play sound, there's a pop from the headphone jack, or a delay on the optical channel whilst the receiver syncs with the signal. Using optical with quick starting and stopping audio means it quickly gets irritating as the start of audio is cut off. It's not much, normally less than a second, but it's frustrating. Syba told me they are "unsure" of a way to fix this. At higher dial volume settings, the headphone volume is far too loud. This, I suppose, is good for those who want to power something chunkier. However, I use a media keyboard to change volume levels for the headphone output, and an annoyance is that at lower dial volumes changing the system volume using the media keys results in pops of varying intensity through the headphones. I also have noticed that setting the system volume to one of the volume levels (somewhere around 25%) via the media keys causes a gentle hiss through the headphones. One level above or below removes the hiss. Note that only using the dial does not cause these issues. All that being said, when you can get it to play ball the audio quality from the Syba is high quality. If you want to use it to play high quality music, or game, or watch movies then it's just fine. You might buy it for the audio quality like I did, and this works well over optical even over the USB 2.0 connection given the above caveats. But I can't give it any more than three stars simply because of the annoyances I've experienced over both optical and headphone outputs.

If you've seen videos about this little bad boy online, or read reviews from Reddit or whatever far reaches you've come from; trust me, they're right. This great little bit of kit is the best value for money you can get if you're looking for a DAC. I'm currently using this to boost my Senn 560s' while my higher grade one is being shipped (up to a month so, kinda needed in the interim). Easy set up, plug and play, drivers recognised no issue. Output really is a great boost to performance for any high ohm headphones that just wanna suck the life out of any electrical equipment. The switch on the left is for direct audio (mid), treble boost (up) and bass boost (down), and boy do they work. Don't get me wrong, it's not a high end piece of equipment but for gaming or casual audio, don't look anywhere else if you're on a <£50 budget.

Was a really good buy for my Fnatic REACT headset and did generally help the audio quality (highs, lows, bass, etc) when listening to music, slight difference for gaming as sounds a tiny bit clearer but didn't really notice a difference for anything else but music. The price paired with the equalizer and easy use is good but the double jack cable bits are loose in the socket. The scroll has a weird feeling and gets tough and grindy about 70% of the way in and there is no grip pads on the bottom but that isn't really an issue. For the price it's good but if you really care for audio, spend more and get one that brings out the true audio quality of your headphones.

it is very nice, but if you need more control of your sound do not buy this one go for a more advance product

A great budget option for gamers looking for an entry DAC/Amp combo that has a microphone input. There is no gain option/toggle and only a Treble/Direct/Bass toggle switch as a built-in equalizer. Overall, works well for my needs as someone who isn't looking to spend above $100 for DAC/Amps.

Combine this with a pair of Phillips sh9500's and you have an amazing setup for gaming which blows pretty much all 'gaming' headsets out of the water. Add a Modmic attachment and you're all setup for gaming and streaming. Will drive most headset's easily that aren't full audiophile grade.

My Encore mDac has been working intermittently as of late. I have the pleasure of listening to headphones for about 6 hours of my work day, so having a DAC/Amp combo at my desk is nice. However, with a 4 week old baby, my budget was super limited. I came across the Syba Sonic SD-DAC63057 and decided to give it a try. It checked all the boxes. Cheap ($37). No driver install needed (work computer, can't install anything). Enough power (100mw) to drive my IEMs and more sensitive over ears. USB only power. Full specs can be found here The unit features variable line outs, top mounted volume knob, optical out, coax digital out, usb in (for power and signal), mic input, 3.5mm input, 3.5mm headphone out, and 1/4" headphone out (both headphone outputs work simultaneously. The unit has indicator lights to show what signal is being received (96, 44, or 44.1), and an indicator light of sorts that flashes with the music, that comprised of a red and blue LED. Kind of neat. The unit also features a hardware EQ that includes a 7db (yes, 7db!) treble boost, a direct no EQ option, and a 7db bass boost. The hardware EQs are a bit much for me, and I find I leave the unit set to direct most of the time. However, there is one expectation. I have set of custom reshelled Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10's, and in the process, the treble took about a 6db drop. So, for that one set of CIEMs, the treble boost is just right. However, that is a pretty oddly specific scenario, and I would imagine most people won't want to use the hardware EQ. Of note, the device is always on, as there is no power switch. The volume knob has the most minute channel imbalance as the absolute lowest setting. And, there is an uncomfortable audible crackle / pop when plugging in sensitive headphones to the 3.5mm headphone out. All be it, it doesn't seem to be enough to damage anything. I have successfully used the Syba Sonic DAC/Amp with my Chromebook, MacBook Air, and my Windows 7 work PC. I have not tried it on a Windows 10 device, but after scouring the Amazon “reviews” it seems that it may not play nice with all Win10 installs so YMMV. As the unit is not battery powered, it won’t work with mobile devices. When compared head to head with my Encore mDac, the Syba Sonic unit sounds a tad better. The bass is a bit fuller and the treble has just a hair more sparkle. Detail representation is on par, if not better than anything in this price range. All in all, for $37 I am super pleased with the purchase. I love the design with the volume knob on top. And the fact that the RCA outs are variable makes this a great option for those that want a budget option to use with powered monitors. I have run the unit, as mentioned, with my CIEM reshelled TF.10's, as well as with my UM3X, Fischer Audio FA-003 wooden cup over ears, NAD VISO HP50's, AKG K7XX, and handful of other mid-range to lower IEMs. I did find that it struggled a bit to run the K7XX with any authority, but all the other headphones / IEMs I have tried have worked just fine. The only other negative is that, with the volume knob at full tilt, there is an audible hiss on most sensitive headphones (read: 32ohm and below). I would recommend this unit for anyone with a tight budget that wants a somewhat feature rich DAC/Amp. It would also make a great external sound card thanks to the mic input.

Was hesitating to buy Hyper X Clouds headset because I was told the sound wasn't so great but saw in the comments someone saying it sounded great with this amplifier and thought I'd give it a go... Annnd I don't regret it at alll ! That amplifier brings my headset to life and also greatly improved the sound of my sound system too. Great value for money and overall great product ! I recommend !