Cyrus Soundkey DAC & Headphone Amplifier - Aubergine

I purchased this so I could use my 3.5mm headphones with my new Note 10 plus.Contrary to other reviews, my Soundkey came with Three 150mm usb cables: 1x USB type A to Micro USB (white), 1x Micro USB to Micro USB (black), and 1x USB-C to Micro USB. Also included was a small faux velvet pouch and, of course, the Cyrus Soundkey.I've had mixed history with Cyrus products, from an owner of a £7k DAD7 et al stereo circa 1996 which was amazing to a small bluetooth speaker that was returned after 10 mins. I feared this little unit may have been heading towards the latter. Apart from making tracks louder with my more difficult to drive headphones, there seemed to be little difference than without it. Indeed, many of my older headphones, probably due to using OMTP 3.5mm jacks, wouldn't play at all. I was about to pack it away and return it but I left it playing for a day by accident. I'm generally skeptical about "burn-in" on non-mechanical devices but something happened whilst I was away.The first time I tried it, on my laptop (after I disabled the existing sockets and speakers in the control panel) the sound was too bassy and the treble was harsh and splashy, just hurt my ears. After all day playing music at high volume, even my harshest tracks (Slayer - Reign in Blood) sound buttery smooth and detailed, the bass boom has gone and been replaced with a punchy and taught kick. The biggest differences in those little details that give music a sense of depth, the breath of a musician, a pianist humming, the sound of fingerprints on strings and the physical graininess of a flute or reed.The only negatives going forward are: Carrying extra cables for my other devices (until I buy more soundkeys) and having to find OMTP to CTIA converters for my older kit.Great value and highly recommended!

A big improvement over the Fiio K1 which is fine for lower end earphones but in my experience distorts the sound with mid-range earphones such as Flare Audio Jet 3 or B&W C5/2, especially when using 16 or 24 bit streaming.Results with the Soundkey can vary depending on earphones used, generally speaking it does offer a fairly warm, natural sound, but it can be influenced by the original recording and it does sometimes over emphasise bass and occasionally the treble can become glassy.Taking into account this was bought at discounted cost and all required cables are included, I'm generally happy with it and it's certainly a worthwhile upgrade.*I paid £59 and Richer Sounds have now honoured their 3 month Qobuz deal for the same value. As I'm already a subscriber it effectively makes this free of charge.

Bought this DAC mainly for listening on my tablet or phone. I have Pink Floyd Sennheiser headphones... Tablet (Samsung S2) died after connecting it to DAC. Phone (CAT) can play music only on Onkyo player. YouTube, VLC stutters badly... Although I had no issues connecting it to laptop, but improvement in sound quality on laptop is practically unnoticeable. And there's no possiblity to use ASIO, which leaves a big question what's the purpose of this device. I'm not returning it, because I'm too lazy to do it.. Just wanted to warn you guys, if you consider buying this so called DAC.

Small and very good sound for the money but clumsy connectivity for iPhone users let it down badly.I auditioned the Cyrus against an Audioquest Cobalt and actually slightly preferred the Cyrus the Audioquest was slightly smoother but certainly couldn’t justify the price difference. Will try a Chord Mojo next.

A good friend recommended a soundkey , its revived my love of music, small and uses very little power but sure does pack a punch music wise !! I plug it into my galaxy S8 and the other end I got some over ear AKGy50 headphones(highly recommend) really brings the music to life its vibrant clear and punchy with plenty of bass , unfortunately finding hd , flac or lossless audio can be problem(limited amount on YouTube but even so it still brings lower quality music to life ...