Syba Sonic 24bit 96KHz USB DAC Stereo Headphone Amplifier 2 Stage EQ Digital/Coaxial Output and RCA

Summary: Excellent sound for the price and a really good basic DAC for PC and Playstation. My listening is exclusively through a pair of Philips SHP9500 headphones, so take that for what it's worth. This DAC can drive them uncomfortably loud but clearly. It is a mostly neutral sound stage with little or no effect to the sound or sound stage. In fact it is quite flat. You can change that with the front panel switch but it just toggles between three positions: treble boost, neutral, and bass boost, there is no fine tune adjustments of any of the switch positions. The unit does not seem to support any digital decoder formats like Dolby ATMOS or DTS, when I sent those signal formats down the pipe it was just noise. There are supposedly software solutions to enhance the experience but I haven't searched yet. Speaking of volume, the volume knob on top controls the unit's internal output volume and does NOT control Windows volume in any way. This can be both good and bad depending on how you normally use external volume controls, but make sure you adjust both before calling it a dud. As for input I am using an Audio-Technica ATGM2 boom mic attached to the headset and it is able to get good sound and volume. My only "hiccups" were with the way Windows 11 handles basic USB input methods and trying to wrangle the system to listen to the correct input. Since this is simply a "USB Audio Device" it may take trial and error to find which one it is. I like the bit rate/hertz display (44.1, 48, 96) and visual feedback of the sound (might be distracting to others to see a flashing LED). Because this is a basic USB audio device it requires no software for setup on Windows 11 (and *should* be the same for a fully updated Windows 10 computer).

Robert M. · 2024-02-06 · via amazon

Note: I am nowhere close to an audiophile. I ordered this looking for a good DAC/AMP combo for my headphones (steelseries arctis pro) while gaming or music that supported mic pass through and 96khz 24bit, and this worked very well. I tried using the analog out but it didn't seem to actually utilize the amplification, and I also tried using an optical cable as well, though it did not work. I was fine using it with USB however, and with the bass toggle, there is a noticeable difference in sound quality. There was less overall static and buzzing when playing music softly or too loud, and the bass was very noticeably amplified when on the bass preset. I used the Peace EQ for Windows 10 (a free virtual equalizer software) to further tune the bass and it worked really well. I would have given this a lower score for my analog/optical out not working, or also due to the fact that the mic passthrough doesn't work through the 3.5mm or 2.5mm jack requiring a splitter, but just the fact that there is treble/bass control and mic pas through for such an inexpensive dac/amp that supports 96 khz 24 bit is good enough. If anyone is worried about the build quality, it is better than it looks. The plastic is smooth and matte and the printed-on words and legends are legible and aligned properly. The LEDs on the interface are not too bright but bright enough to be noticeable. (One LED shows power, one for 44.1/48/96 khz, and one for activity).

Arnav Dashaputra · 2021-01-11 · via amazon

After 3 months of use, I can say that with a good pair of headphones and a little bit of patience, you can get a lot of mileage out of this dac/amp combination. The volume knob feels good, and the treble and bass boost have a definite effect. There is one key factor that makes this a 4 instead of a 5, and that is the disconnection issues. This does not want to stay connected, but after setting this on a stable surface and giving the cable enough slack, these issues go away quickly. Make sure to adjust your sound settings to make sure the 96khz is enabled, and you're good to go. Perfect price for this product and I would definitely buy it again.

Andrew · 2020-04-30 · via amazon

This is possibly the favourite little piece of affordable tech I have ever gotten, a someone who is often very limited in budget but also very much enjoys good quality listening experience.. This will do the trick. Sounds amazing, the simple toggle switch with preset calibrations for tone range amplification (warm, neutral, bassy) works a charm and is easy to flip to adjust on the fly for different sets of headphones/speakers range and your purpose. It hasn't worn out at all and I have been using it for some months now. It's a simple and effective addition to my little setup.

zero c · 2021-08-10 · via amazon

Easily the best budget DAC on the market, I use mine daily and love every minute of it, but it comes with some notes you have to be mindful of. First, ditch the stock mini-USB cable, it's thin and noisy enough that it picks up EMF and makes low buzzing noises on hyper sensitive headphones. With a thick, braided ground cable the problem vanishes instantly. Second, don't use the stock 3.5mm port, it bleeds into the microphone line. Use a 1/4inch (6.33mm) to 3.5mm adapter in the socket and the problem not only vanishes, but the sound profile flattens out nicely. Third, you have to setup Windows/Linux/MacOS to actually use the 98khz and 120khz ranges it supports where available, it's not a massive boost in quality, but it can help pickup some of the higher and lower sounds you won't hear on the default 92khz settings they use by default.

Ginger S. · 2022-01-08 · via amazon

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