Dayton Audio DAC01 USB Audio DAC 24-bit/96 kHz RCA Output

I was attracted to this device because it is very simple and I have a very simple use case. I have two bookshelf speakers (Dayton MK402X) and a Kinter K2020+ amp. Basic, entry level setup. For more sophisticated setups I am sure you would want to go upmarket a little bit so this is not the right device for everybody. I am rating it based on its intended purpose and price.Was a big upgrade from the onboard Aorus motherboard audio. Audible even to my untrained ears. I'm delighted how my music sounds now. For $35 this gave me a tremendous change in the way I hear my music collection. So I would say it's a good value. Maybe there are better options at this price point, I don't know. I am just saying it worked for me. Eventually I will probably upgrade but for now I am happy.Have not had a single problem with the device. Windows 10 auto-detected it effortlessly. All I had to do was change the audio output device to DAC01 in the Windows tray menu and instantly I was playing music through it.The LED indicator is a little bright lol -- it will blind you if you try to look at it. Put a piece of tape over it maybe. For $35 I am not really going to complain too much. The fit and finish? Again, $35. It is not an art sculpture it is pure function. Decent aluminum case, feels durable enough. The connectors feel solid enough. Nothing loose or weak-feeling about the USB or RCA ports. I liked that.Long-term I would like to own a really nice DAC that will last for years but for the time being this is doing the job I needed for a bargain price so if you need to upgrade your PC audio for cheap this is definitely a viable option.

better for home use

I'm not an audiophile at all, but I was looking for some way to drive my home stereo from my Mac mini. I don't recall why, but I got the impression that digital USB output would be higher quality than the analog headphone jack.It worked as expected with sound quality that is certainly good enough for me.

I got this hoping to stream 96Khz, 24 bit UHD music from Amazon on my phone. I've been using my computer with an external sound card for this but it's inconvenient. I plugged it into the phone's USB port and the best it can do is 48 Khz, 24 bit. This is the same as what comes out of the headphone jack using the phone's built in DAC, and that even sounds better. Worse, it kept randomly dropping back to SD quality. Tried plugging it into my PC to see if it could match my sound card. No good. It maxed out at 48/24 on it also. Looks like a return.

Hooked up my M audio powered studio monitors to my power mac pro Sounds great!