Customer Ratings & Reviews

The performance of the Audioengine DAC is straightforward and clean. There's no messing around with bit rates, processing effects, or anything besides a clean signal path. Using the optical input (I have not tried the USB input) the sound quality is probably sufficient or exceeding the requirements of hifi systems costing than 5-10K. Powering the unit via USB is a great way to eliminate a wall wart, but no power supply is included for those of us using optical input. This didn't end up being a huge problem as I plugged the included USB cable into a spare iPod wall charger. Although the USB cable is included there is no optical cable. In my system the Audioengine is connected to an AirportExpress for direct wireless streaming from my laptop's iTunes application. The AirportExpress has an optical port "hidden" in the headphone jack, so you need the special TOSlink cable with a 1/8" headphone-like jack at one end and the standard optical jack on the other. Setup took less than 5 minutes and now I have streaming lossless music that's completely unaffected by the audio processing in my laptop. This solution is HIGHLY recommended for hifi applications. The packaging is beautiful so just opening the DAC is a pleasure. I would have preferred a TOSlink cable to the nice carrying bag, but that's a minor quibble. I'll never take this on the road but someone else might use the bag every day. The power button lights up white when lit for a modern look and fortunately it's not distractingly bright like many blue or white LEDs. If I had one design issue, perhaps it would be for the unit to power down when no signal is detected. The DAC is not consuming much power and I doubt there's much if any wear on the circuits (it does not run hot) but auto on & off on signal detection would be an elegant touch. Again, this is hardly a major flaw. I don't own any headphones worthy of adding to this review, but the quality of the headphone amplifier is as good as my poor test headphones can reproduce. If you've sunk a few hundred bucks into real headphones and the noisy jack on your computer is coloring your music, I have a feeling the Audioengine DAC would would help quite a bit.

Excellent converter. i use it to feed my amp for playing DJ.

Great portable hi-fi solution with excellent sound and easy setup. I use JRiver on wasapi event style and this thing just sounds fantastic. Have also connected it to a squeezebox touch for wireless audio to my Aktimate Mini speakers. Very useful device.

This little guy reveals the missing details in your music. I'm using it with my Mac Mini via mini Toslink. It even makes my basic Creative desktop speakers sound better. I'm saving up for better speakers and Audioengine is at the top of my list now.