The Sound is Phenomenal

FIIO E10K Digital to Analog Converter (basically, a sound card with dual-channel balanced amplifiers).

How to describe? When paired with Audio-Technica ATH-M50's, the sound is unbelievable. After years of using my onboard soundcard from my Asus motherboard - while fine, offers decent audio but poor amplification and balanced outputs.

Plugging this bad boy in, you get past all that. The computer detects it as an audio device and will automatically direct all audio data channels to the sound card. It uses a sophisticated digital to analog chip in conjunction with onboard left and right channel balanced amplifers. Distortion is undetectable to me, but I haven't had the courage to play it past volume setting 3.

It also has a goddamn bass boost switch. This magic device is a low-pass filter which cuts out the high frequencies and amplifies the lows even more. What's not to like? This DAC can drive the headphones hard. I am afraid, afraid to turn it past 3 (seriously, don't do it). The headphones shake from the bass. It's unbelievable.

The soundstage is so wide I feel like I'm in the center of the concert - live. While the first headphone amplifier I bought was a real POS which had a noisy volume knob. Who has time for that bullshit? Spend 2x more and get a decent set, no noise, smooth, and reliable.

I've also been using my Sennheiser's lately alot more. I find them more comfortable for gaming verses the ATH50's. I use those for the street mainly.

What's even nicer, is you can put this thing in your pocket, take it to work, plug it in - no drivers required. Windows 10 automatically detects it properly and it takes seconds to work. I'm going to take it to work one day to show my colleagues. Some people I know don't believe me when I say it sounds incredible. I guess they're used to basic in-ear headphones. Each to their own.