Q4 DAC Headphone Amp for PC, Desktop Digital to Analog Audio Converter for Home Stereo Amplifier and Powered Speakers, PC-USB/Optical/Coaxial Inputs, 3.5mm Headphone/RCA Outputs

I love this! Listening to music and watching movies on my PC using spatial sound is great. The quality of the sound is superb! My two slight complaints are as follows: 1) To power the unit you have to use a USB slot on your PC which seems like a waste. It might be possible to use a phone charger and plug it into the wall, I haven't tried that yet. 2) The knobs could be ever so slightly bigger. But that is it. I had no issues hooking it up, it works great and I'm very satisfied with the audio. I'm using it on a Windows 11 PC in Secure Boot with no issues. One of the main reasons why I bought it was to be able to turn the volume up or down on the fly without having to go into Windows to adjust the sound. Sometimes if you're scrolling through videos online, one might be quiet and another might be loud. This is a very useful feature. Overall, great value for the money!

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.

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...?)

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.

Bought this to replace a cheap low output DAC I had been using. Running optical audio from my tv to this then into one of those little fm transmitter boards (Digital FM Transmitter Module Stereo FM Transmitter DSP PLL ) available here also. Works so much better. Can turn the volume up to get adequate output and adjust tone, great quality. Once set up I just have to turn it on. Tv sound available on any FM receiver.

Alright first and foremost this thing is awesome. Need to get that out of the way. I’ve been using this so far for about a week now nonstop and I’m in love. Before I was just swapping between my Bose QC headphones or some cheap IEMs plugged into my headphone jack off of my PC case and there was always a low audible “hum” and the sound was a bit flat if that makes sense. Heard that an audio DAC is a “game changer” from a few friends and ended up researching a few and came across this bad boy. Now let me just say yeah it’s pretty expensive just for PC audio (that’s my opinion I’m a cheapskate in this economy) but I genuinely feels like it’s worth every penny. The setup is a freaking breeze, no drivers needed, comes with all the cables, and is quite literally plug and play. From unboxing to using the DAC took me like two minutes and holy smokes is it awesome. Just with the bass & treble knobs at the stock halfway point, it already wakens my headphones to a whole new level! I spent the next 20 minutes just swapping through all my various headphones seeing how they sound using the DAC and I’m genuinely impressed. Did I mention it also got rid of the dreaded hum??? (Thank god) My favorite out of the headphones I tried was my cheap ole $15 IEMs that completely obliterated my Sony, Bose, Razer, and Skullcandy headphones. Now don’t get me wrong , none of those are “audiophile” headphones nor am I an audiophile but just from a regular ole normal dudes perspective, the combination of the DAC and the cheap IEMs had amazing clarity in vocals and all notes sounded crisp and my favorite is the BASS. These lil ole IEMs plugged directly into my PC had little to no bass, NOW they’re freaking super charged and especially with the adjustment knobs they sound freaking amazing. I keep my knobs both at 75% with volume around 50% and oh my god I’m never going back. Between listening to all types of music such as Rap, EDM, and classic rock im genuinely so impressed. Now for my gamers out there, this DAC doesn’t add any extra audio delay, the sounds are crisp and detailed allowing you to hear more than not having the DAC. From playing League, POE2, COD, and Fortnite I am genuinely so impressed by this DAC. I know I know, I’ve only had this DAC for a week, so I can’t really comment on the durability or longevity of the item, but I will absolutely update my review as time goes on!

Finally, I can write a positive review. I ordered this to use with wireless headphones with an LG TV. Read the instructions. 1. Very easy to connect. Rather than connect to electric outlet it connects to USB out on TV. After that it was simple to connect my headphones. Works great. Sound is clear. I do not have to raise the sound all the way. I have high end hearing loss so I adjust the Bass and Treble. Works great. There is one advice. If this is first time using with TV you may have to adjust something’s in TV. That is why you should read and understand the instructions. TV adjustments are just find and click-simple. If this works for one year I will be more than happy. Why do I seem happy-I don’t have to return it. The women at my local UPS store won’t hear me growl. For me, with hearing loss it works great. Hope it lasts one year. If it does I will buy another if the company is not destroyed by the tariffs? Yes, it works great. Lastly, rather than connect to the electric outlet it connects to the USB out on TV which means when you turn your TV off the Fosi Dac turns off which seems like a good idea because the last DACs I have had connected to electric outlet and never turned off and a tech told me that may be one of the reasons they wore out. Works great with my Sennheiser wireless headphones.

I had another DAC/Amp connected where the volume seemed to be only a limiter. The Amp just didn't cut it. This little guy, and I do mean little, is a huge upgrade. As an amp, it has the power to drive my Planar Magnetic headphones without breaking a sweat. Okay, in all honesty, pretty much anything can drive these, but not everything can produce that bass slam. This will do it. As a DAC, I must be honest again. I'm not comparing apples to apples. I just upgraded to a Deezer Lossless account. There are those that will swear 320 kbps mp3 is audibly different from FLAC. While it is different on a scope, it is audibly transparent. This means sonically you can not detect the difference. FLAC, on the other hand, while still compressed in transit and at rest decompresses at play to be an exact representation of the original. Do I claim to hear the difference? Not really. But I will say there IS a difference between the old DAC and this one. The award once again goes to Fosi for producing a cleaner, clearer sound. Aesthetically speaking, my old DAC looks like a piece of junk next to this. The Fosi looks like a high-end piece of professional gear. Operation? The knobs are smooth and firm. They are just large enough to operate with ease. Negatives? The headphone jack. It's easy to have the plug just slightly off so it does not push in all the way and lock in place. I also wish it had a quarter-inch jack. Seriously, that's nitpicking. This thing is crystal clear. It gets plenty loud, sounds amazing, looks high-tech, I could go on and on. Would I buy it again? Without hesitation! Would I recommend it? Isn't that what I'm doing? Oh, this is just a review, not a recommendation? Look no further. This is the one you want. Click that Add to Cart button. You won't be disappointed. I love it! Update: I've been listening to this for a couple of weeks now. My first impressions were spot on. This is small enough that I'm considering another for use with my laptops. The only negative here is it requires TWO USB connections. They use one for power and another for signal. I suspect the amp in this uses a little more current than a single USB port can provide. I have a separate USB charger with 6 ports capable of 2.4 amps per port. I use one of those for power. If my motherboard offered optical out, I'd use that, but it doesn't, so I have to use USB. I disabled the onboard audio completely and route everything to the Fosi. The RCA out level varies with the volume knob, so I set my desktop speakers to ~80% and leave it. I use the Fosi volume to control both headphone and speaker levels. Overall the sound of the Fosi DAC is on par with other DACs I've used. The amp is a notable step up. It's not quite as good as the headphone amp in my vintage '80's receiver. Comparing '80s dollars to today, you're talking about a thousand dollar piece of equipment. To say the Fosi is just a notch below that is quite a statement for a $50 headphone amp!