Syba Sonic USB 2.0 DSD DAC Audio Tube Headphone Amplifier , (SD-DAC63110)

TECNICAMENTE MUY AVANZADO EXCELENTE FIDELIDAD

By all accounts, this should be a good DAC/amp unit. It has pre-outs, a powerful enough headphone amp to push Fostex T50RP Mk IIIs to a decent degree, does 32-bit/384 playback, and is at a pretty good price (120ish USD at my time of purchase). It also looks pretty good, too.The problem? I'm in the process of returning mine.During the time I had it, in the course of under a week, I've been plagued with a number of issues:-The device will, at random points, sometimes refuse to start playing media. It will sit there showing a red LED like it's in "sleep mode" (which is no feature I've seen described on the device). It won't "wake up" short of a restart of the unit.-Strange buzzing sound , at random points, in the left channel of one of my self-powered speakers (Micca PB42X). A restart of the unit is required.-Clipping noises, at (you guessed it) random points, when having long usage of the device (like playing a game, etc.). I have to completely restart my PC for this to go away.-The drivers, for the unit, are also only available on the CD that ships with it. You can't even get them off the website. Most computers are going away from having CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives. It's pretty stupid they did this.Addendum: I am a fairly tech savvy guy going on 2+ years in the Audiophile community, and I think many of these issues are related to their bad drivers. I had to make an ISO, of the install CD, just to put it on my system. Even after reinstalling them, changing USB ports, and plugging directly into a wall outlet; I'm still having the same issues. If they had better quality drivers, or properly updated them on the Syba website, this might not be an issue.Take in mind, this was my experience, it's possible I just got sent a defective unit. Either way put, I'm going back to solid state DAC/amps, and getting a Schitt Stack (Modi 2/Magni 3) to replace my prior Micca Origen (1st gen) that this was suppose to replace.

Pro: The Syba Sonic product is well built with an aluminum enclosure and smooth volume control. The front panel headphone jack (2 sizes) output is more than adequate to drive my Sennheiser HD555 headphones.The input is digital (usb) only. There is a rear analog, line level, audio output that is controlled by the front panel volume control. The rear audio output can be used to drive powered speakers.When paired with the enclosed trial version JRiver media manager software, the audio output can be tailored to your preference using settings for spatial control, equalizer, loudness etc. Purchasing the license for the software is a worthwhile investment, in my opinion.Con: The driver installation (disk included) was necessary with my Windows 7 Pro pc system. After the driver is installed, the default audio device needs to be changed to the new driver.Summary: This Syba Sonic headphone amplifier has a DAC driving a vacuum tube (12AU7) driving a solidstate output amp. The unit sounds fine to me, although, I am not that critical. The JRiver software media manager paired with this unit allows a lot of configuration choices besides swapping out the vacuum tube. The two common size, front headphone output jacks and the rear audio output to drive powered speakers, makes this unit a winner for me.....

Connecting to iPod/iPad fails as the USB controller is not recognized by ios. (other USB devices work with the same iPad). The USB requests too much power from the iPad and the iPad therefore refuses to connect.The supplied PC driver installs a security cert, making your PC vulnerable (see related issue on US CERT).USB driver manufacturer's website (Savitech) is not functional (no driver updates).Summary: a very expensive (but cute) little blue lamp - although may work via powered USB hub if used with iPad.