Life's too short of audio that doesn't sound great. The USB DAC Headphone Amp is the most convenient and affordable way to enjoy lossless, high-resolution audio from any computer. The heart of the USB DAC Headphone Amp is the 24-bit ESS Sabre™ conversion chip, a high performance solution that is typically found in high-quality CD and Blu-ray Disc™ players. It lets you bypass the computer's onboard 16-bit DAC and provides 24-bit digital-to-analog conversion for music sampled at 96kHz. People spend hundreds on headphones and don't even realize all they'll get is crap in, crap out unless they improve the source. Features: Microsoft Windows® and Mac® OS X® compatible Compatible with all digital audio streams, from lossless formats such as FLAC and native 24-bit/96kHz high-resolution signals to industry standard mp3 and wav files. Drives headphones directly Variable output drives powered speakers or power amplifier Fixed output feeds preamp or AV receiver Direct-coupled circuitry from the ESS Sabre™ DAC chip via analog volume control and analog output section Isolated Dual Master Clocks enable all sample rates to be ideally processed without any conversion or rounding errors Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Apple®, Mac®, and OS X® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ESS Sabre™ is a trademark of ESS Technologies. Blu-ray™ and Blu-ray Disc™ are trademarks of the Blu-ray Disc Association.  
S**N
this is a good value under $60
I've been using this little DAC/Amp for a few days now and here are my impressions so far.Features / Specs:On paper, this looks extremely similar to the Dragonfly v1.2. Similar output, same DAC chip, same microcontroller. 24/96 resolution. 2V output. Works without issues on my Mac, Windows 7 x64 PC, Chromebook, and Android phone via OTG.Listening Impressions:Drives everything up to my Fostex T50RP MK3's with ease. The MK3's get loud but the volume needs to be ALL the way up. So for quieter songs, it may be inadequate. Output is substantially lower via OTG which is not surprising considering a phone is now powering everything. As for sound quality, I've compared this directly to my Micca Origen+, SMSL M3, and Fiio E10K. Unfortunately, I find the sound quality of the Monoprice to be below that of these other DAC/Amps. If anything, I'd say the Monoprice puts more emphasis on the low end and the overall sound is less transparent than the Micca, SMSL, and Fiio units (FWIW, I think the M3 sounds the best out of all four).Value Proposition:The DF 1.2 is now discontinued but can still be found now selling for around $80. If you simply cannot have a separate box for your dac and need something this small and inexpensive, this is a good value under $60. The sound quality is good enough....but it is below that of larger boxes. That's the tradeoff I suppose. I have not listened to the newer DF Black/Red models. $100-200 is a lot to spend for such a single-purpose, limited-use device. So for it's size and price, it's hard to beat. If you can handle something a little bigger, you can get better sound quality for the $...Specs from the manual are in the pic attached since they aren't listed anywhere.
A**K
Excellent price, I think internally it's a clone of ...
Excellent price, I think internally it's a clone of Audioquest Dragonfly, but at a half price. No need to install drivers also, actually my computer recognized this as a Dragonfly (!!!!!) which I was using previously until it broke down in just 6 months.This little audio device exceeded my expectations. It produces amazing sound when connected to both my pc and my android. It has a very stylish design and it shipped very quickly.
Trustpilot
2 months ago
3 days ago
