I do most of my listening through the standard 3.5mm audio jack on my Windows laptop. It has never given me any problems, but a variety of sources had told me that a USB DAC would improve the sound quality of my music to some degree. None of these sources were clear on exactly what would be improved, but I decided to trust them and give a USB DAC/AMP a chance.
Well, this thing has improved the quality of my music considerably and I believe I now, roughly, understand why. I usually either listen to spoken word through highly compressed sources such as YouTube or listen to very dense music (think Clipping, Death Grips, Aphex Twin, etc.) through .flac files. For the spoken word, this USB DAC/AMP simply increases the amount of volume I have available. For the .flac files, though, it has noticeably increased the instrument separation and given new depth to the music I enjoy. I can also push significantly more volume if I wish, but I tend to keep the volume within the 20%-30% range of Windows 10.
As for the device itself, the metal housing feels very solid and the very faint green LED isn't distracting even in pitch darkness. The female 3.5mm connection feels extremely robust and allows all of my cables to be fully inserted with a firm, audible "click". The USB-C connection also feels very solidly built and requires a small amount of force to insert and remove from my laptop. This gives me confidence that it will not quickly wear out or break.
My only minor gripe is that the DAC/AMP gets slightly warm (think around 80-90 Fahrenheit). I have been told that this is completely normal for such a small DAC/AMP as, due to its intended function, it must transmit more electricity than a normal 3.5mm, 2.5mm, or 4.4mm connection would by itself.
I don't have anything from the higher end of audio equipment to compare this device to, but I can say that as a novice I greatly appreciate this device and would recommend it to anyone who is already interested in picking one up.
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