SYBASONIC 24bit USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier

 

    While I prefer home Hi-Fi I do find myself on the road for work and would still like to have a decent music experience while living out of a hotel something that a laptop or phone even with a competent portable speaker is lacking and with the vast majority of smartphones ditching the headphone jack you are forced to go the BT route (I have a decent pair of Tozo earbuds but they are more for music and podcasts while working in the field as apposed to just relaxing with some music) or use the headphone jack on your laptop. I've tried using my Audio Technica ATH-A700's with my laptop and the results are underwhelming to say the least, no real bass, muddy mids, and shrill highs. So for my most recent out of state trip I decided to see what a budget USB DAC/Headphone amp could do for me. 

 

Enter the SYBASONIC USB HI-FI DAC & Headphone Amplifier...With EQ. 

    At $42 next day shipped this usb DAC/Heaphone amp is one of the cheapest options for a mobile Hi-Fi setup. It's available in both a black finish and a more classic silver. I was expecting a fairly plasticy experience but to my surprise the chassis is all metal with only the volume knob and "display" lens being plastic.

 

    It features a traditional 1/4" headphone jack as well as a 3.5mm jack giving it flexibility as far as headphone selection goes as well as a mic input and line in. It doesn't have a balanced out but at this price point be happy that it's got a 1/4" jack.

     On the rear is a mico-usb for power and data (why is a product this new still using the same port as my Minidisc player from 2002) both a coaxial and optical out as well as traditional rca connections for analog out, which honestly unless you really are using this as a budget multimedia hub (which seems above this products capabilities) I don't see any real benefit to having these outputs.

    Now it does say it has an "EQ" which is just a simple three-way toggle switch; the middle setting is defeat, down is bass boost, and up is Treble Boost. I've found bass boost to be far too boomy in all but a few instances and the less said about treble boost the better. So I've just left it in the "direct" defeat setting; which would be my suggestion, unless your headphones have very poor bass response or very dull highs then I guess give it a shot. 

 

The sonic experience that pairing this budget dac/amp with my A700's has been quite pleasing (with the" EQ" defeated), While definitely not the same experience as using one of my beefier home Receivers or even the bookshelf TEAC MC-D95 receiver that I use at my computer desk, this little portable nugget is more than powerful enough to get the A700's singing. 

    Spec wise it's pretty solid. SNR is 91 db and though I can't find any THD specs; it is dead silent at full volume so I'm guessing it's around .1% at the most. the manual says it delivers 140mW at 16omhs and 100mW at 32ohms (which is what my A700's are), based on my completely scientific method of plugging in headphones and cranking the volume I think those ratings are pretty accurate. Though it does completely run out of steam at 3/4 volume with my AT's; which is still more than loud enough. It also claims to be able to comfortably drive headphones up to 150 ohms which gives you some options but if it's dropping from 140mw at 16ohms to 100 at 32ohms I don't imagine it's putting out all that much at 150ohms so keep that in mind before you run out to get this to power your higher impedance cans.

    I will fully admit I'm not very well versed in headphone amplifiers and DACs. I know there are lots of really really amazing headphone amps out there as well as some absolute crap masquerading as "quality". The Syba isn't the end all be all hell it's a 100% budget entry level/stepping stone/gateway product. Though when you look at it in that light, I think you'd have a hard time beating it...personally I'd recommend this to anyone that's looking for a competent budget DAC/Headphone amp. 

 All in all it's a pretty appealing little package for under $50 bucks. Could you do better? 100%...Could you do better for the price? I don't think so.  

Pros:

• Cheap (under $50 for reasonably powerful amp/dac)
• Decent Power output 
• Quiet
  
• Metal chassis
• Silver finish option
• 3.5mm and 1/4" jacks
  

Cons:

• Worthless "EQ"
• Volume knob is plastic and feels cheap
• superfluous inputs and outputs 
• Poor documentation
• Still Using Mini-USB