Audioengine D1 32-bit Desktop DAC and Headphone Amp, Preamp, Laptop, Amplifier, Gamers and Musicians

The amplifier is rather tiny, but creates a big sound. I used it with Sennheiser HD-600 high impedance (350 Ohm-cm) reference headphones, as well as Sony WH1000XM4 noise cancelling headphones, but Sony headphones sound so distinctly worse than Sennheiser with a good quality headphones amplifier.... There is no comparison. The sound was very sweet and balance right out of the box. There is a (never ending) discussion about burn-in of audio equipment, even though there is not much, if any at all, data confirming that such thing as burn-in even exists. I actually think that mechanical parts of headphones may break in and headphones, if new, may sound better after some hours, but I cannot explain why transistors would change in any way. Anyhow, the manual recommends an up to 50 hours burn-in. I put together a very simple 30 Ohm per channel passive load to use instead of headphones, and played music into this passive load for two days. I did not notice any difference at all after this burn-in compared to "out of the box" sound. Plenty of power to drive HD-600. As an experiment, I plugged in a Creek headphones amplifier into line out of the motherboard, and sound was quite unpleasant, Audioengine D1 sounds way, way better! I also tested the sound with a setup with Audioengine D1 converting digital signal to analogue, and then connected Creek to Audioengine via RCA stereo cable. I found that base was a little cleaner and punchier with the Creek, but overall they were close, and this confirms that the analogue part of Audioengine D1 is also well designed. I am very happy with this purchase, HUGE improvement compared with sound directly from the computer headphones jack or motherboard line out. Of course high quality headset is a must to hear the difference. Very well packaged, nice box which projects quality. A small but good manual (although who reads it, the operation of this little unit is self-evident). I rally like it and happy with this purchase, an excellent value for the money! I need to mix some piano recordings in my home studio, and this amp will be of huge help. I'd say, it sounds cleaner and better than amp in Focusrite Scarlette and Clarette interfaces which I used until now.

This is my 3rd DAC over the past few years. It is the smallest of the bunch and a nice package. I've learned a lot about sound sampling and how Apple Music does it. It gets complicated and confusing, but I prefer to just listen and enjoy now. The Dac3 design is simple, two ports, USB C to feed the source material (phone or computer/tablet) and an analog output to your phones or speakers. The volume is a simple rocker switch that I sometimes find difficult to use. Still, you can vary the volume from the source, or if your speakers are powered, you can change the volume on them. The indicator light is where I got my education. The light will change color to show the resolution of the source material. It works well, especially when using an iPhone. On a Mac running Apple Music, however, the indicator does not change automatically, (The company should explain this in their literature). If you use 3rd party music apps like Tidal or Roon, you can see the indicator light change automatically according to the source input signal. Apple Music is unable to do that on the Mac for reasons I won't go into to. However, on the iPhone, things work as you would expect. So, I restrict using the Dac3 with my iPhone (14 Pro). I listen through UE CSX 18+ and Westone W60 IEM's and Beyerdynamic DT990 headphones. Each has their own sound signature, with the Dac3 sitting in between feeding them pure converted analog signals. All I can say, is it sounds just great, and there is plenty of amplifier power for them. I have an Ifi Zen dac connected to my Mac Studio driving Audioengine 5+ speakers. Those speakers (and a subwoofer) are my main source of musical appreciation while in my office. Now, with the Dac3, I have a great way to have a quality MOBILE music system that I can enjoy just about anywhere. The price is fine, considering what you're getting.