FX-Audio DAC-X6 MKII DAC&Headphone amp

I spent a long time shopping around for a DAC/Amp before I landed on this one. I am definitely a fringe user for even needing a DAC/amp to start with, so I didn't want to spend a lot. I mainly needed the safety feature/ability to control volume externally to my PC for my headphones, as I needed protection from sudden changes in volume on my PC that can sometimes occur from simple things such as an accidental flick of the mouse or keyboard, or a driver install, and needed a physical knob to protect my hearing.This is exactly what I needed. This actually has some good safety features I wasn't expecting, like ramping up the volume on a curve over a second instead of hitting my ears with full volume all at once after pressing play. The volume knob does take many spins to reach max volume, I see this as a pro, not a con, as I have excellent control over the volume, I am very paranoid about listening to something too loud, and I like the LEDs that indicates where volume is, that helps me not not get "lost" in volume placement during silence and accidentally blast my ears.In terms of sound quality, this seems to pass the sound through to my headphones just fine, no more no less. I would say this isn't coloring the sound. My headphones sound just as I expect they should plugged into this dac/amp.I'm using this to power a Beyerdynamic DT 770 80 ohm and HD 599 50 ohm and it powers these no issue, lots of headroom for playing around with an EQ, no hiss or crackle at all, the silence is perfect silence for my higher ohm headphones, I am very sensitive to background static/hissing, I'm very grateful there is none. I believe this product is rated for 32-300 ohms on the box. You will probably hear a quiet static noise if you try to power headphones that are below the minimum rated 32 ohm, this was my experience. The Bluetooth is really nice to pass through music to my wired headphones since none of my mobile devices have an audio jack anymore.Overall I feel this is a good value DAC/amp. Nothing about this annoys or offends me. So far it's holding up well. If it breaks before I feel it should I'll update this review accordingly.Sure, there's probably better out there, but for something else with comparable features you're probably going to wind up paying double for a much smaller return. I'm not sure why the MKII doesn't seem as popular as the non-MKII version, this really does seem to be a thoughtful upgrade from its predecessor.

OK, so... It's not a great headphone amp. It can't drive my AKG K702 cans without distortion, and those aren't even particularly power hungry. It does, however, perform decently enough as a DAC using the RCA outputs on the back. I run audio from my iPad through it into a Digital Audio Workstation on my PC and the resultant files are relatively clean sounding without any audible artifacts. That wasn't what I originally bought this thing for, but I suppose I'm still getting my money's worth. Decent buy....sorta. *shrug*

I just wanted to say how much i love this dac amp. It feels a little cheaply made compared to units 10x the price, but otherwise, it sounds really good, perfect desktop size, great features and not very expensive. (no DSD support, but I dont care about that,) Many here complain about the volume knob, but its actually well designed good IMO. First of all, its digital, so you wont get that scratch sound you normally hear with analogue volume pots. The fact that you have to rotate it many times is fine, it gives you good control over the volume range. I use that as the main volume, and then fine tune or lower the volume as needed from the application like Spotify, winamp, etc.. I use streaming as well as lossless FLAC and some HD audio. I have it connected via optical toshlink to my motherboard. The LEDs are perfect! easy to see from across the desk, but not too bright and distracting. They give you the important details, power on and mode (red) and the current signal sample rate (to make sure your settings are correct). When you turn the volume, it then switches to volume meter for a moment then back to sample rate. The brightness is perfect for well lit and dark rooms. The volume knob will last a long time because its a digital encoder. It 98% as good as a unit 10x the price. I'm pairing this with the Audio-technica M50x, also an excellent budget headphone with plenty of base and very clear. I also have E-mu and Denon Ah-d2000 headphones and compared to my other dac/amps like Octavart Champs-Elysees, its hard to tell the difference. The bluetooth is a nice option for connecting to your portable devices like phone and tablet / ipad.

This DAC sounds AMAZING (particularly for the money) from it's headphone jack and provides great clarity to my tube headphone amp.HOWEVER, it has an extremely aggressive auto power savings. To the point where low volume parts of a song will trigger it and you loss audio for a second. Additionally, it doesn't always play nice with Windows.I have been using it for months and haven't replaced it, so obviously I like it. But you should know that it will be a little weird when in use.

Extra Power supply I ordered met the specs of the mkii and it still was zilch no lights no turn on completely dead disappointed. I also wouldn't recommend fx audio in general unless you wanna take a gamble, it is inventible that a product you buy from them, will die from them...This is probably why the product has so many returns, was really looking forward to keeping/gifting this dac for the holiday guess not. I hate that they're quality is so bad but the sound they make is always so sublime and heavenly for dacs and amps game changing at this price range JUST WORK ON YOUR QA.