Sabaj Headphone Amplifier Da3 Portable USB DAC SABRE9018Q2C OLED Screen DSD512 32bit/768kHz

I really, really like this USB DAC by Sabaj the Da3. I was a little hesitant of course spending just over $100. Unless of course money is no object to you, this item wouldn't even be something you'd consider purchasing. If you are reading this you are like me, a music lover that wants the very best sound quality at a somewhat minimal cost. Why? Because thanks to Chi-Fi, we have this option. That's right Sabaj, Fiio, Topping and many more are Chinese High End audio companies! The cost to manufacture mostly all these fabulous $100-$500 wonders is so low in China by the time it reaches the good old USA it stays low. Granted many of these companies exist only on the vast pages of Amazon. I trust Amazon. I can get 2 day and mostly overnight deliveries that are fully returnable directly back to Amazon. Amazon effect they call it. The Amazon Showroom is so vast if you saw it with your own eyes it would appear as miles and miles, as far as the human eye can see. Kinda like looking out into the ocean from the beach. You can only see so far. We are truly very fortunate to have Amazon reliability and customer service just an email or phone call away. Amazon recently introduced it's very own shipping company as well! Amazon Logistics bypasses the good old USPS, FEDEX and UPS. It's a brlliant idea and business strategy by one of the world's richest men with the largest showroom known to man, (or animal). Thank you Jeff!Back to the review....The Sabaj Da3 is quite an amazing device. It has played every file I've thrown at it for the last 8 hours. A pretty dull life for me you would think. That thought would be incorrect however. I am a music lover, yes audiophile too on somewhat of a budget. Many of you can relate I'm sure. The Da3 promises USB-C input and 2 types of output only, headphone or line out at 3.5mm or the much better, cleaner and powerful BALANCED line out at 2.5mm. Your headphones must be BALANCED High Resolution capable along with that 2.5 mm trrs cable. I've been listening now, for yes, about 8 hours to this musical wonder. I have others too: Fiio K3, Topping NX2 and NX3. Also a Sony PHA-A1 and Audiuquest Dragonfly Red. Why then purchase another DAC when I enjoy all the others? Diversification. Each has it's own attributes and qualities and problems too. I love my new Sabaj Da3 for many reasons but I'm certain you want a review, not a chapter from the book "Audiophile Choices For The Rest Of Us." (Not actually a real book). Aside from the input and outputs of this extremely well built silver aluminum, block tapered device, it's very lightweight for great portability. I've been using it now with one of my favorite media consumption device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4. Also tried it with my Samsung Note 9 and it works wonderfully! PC is next. There is, last but certainly not least, a small black 1 inch led screen on the front of the Da3. It displays your bitrate and output info in hz and Khz. It displays the output number from the volume control buttons too! There are three audio modes to choose from to kinda tweak the sound roll off. Not so sure how precise that is but no matter. The choice of standard 3.5mm headphone in and Balanced 2.5mm Headphone In is the last option. The device remembers your choices and always restarts at middle scale audio output level. Another great feature. The device does not have any internal rechargeable battery. It relies on your smartphone, tablet and PC for power. The drain is very minimal but should be mentioned none the less. You can actually stack the device with your smartphone and take it on the go. I believe it was really made for home use but it's great to have options! I love options, but not too many redundant ones. That's exactly what you get here with the Sabaj Da3. It's a pure, clean powerful sound that works with many if not all headphones on the market today. Naturally I have a little collection from some of the major players. Sony, Audio Technica, Sennheiser HD58X plus others, V Moda, AKG, and Beyerdynamic. Again, it only takes one set. But like many of you reading this (if you've gotten this far) we have our fav's. I happen to love my Sony MDR-1AM2. It has a removable cable allowing me to switch out for a separately purchased higher quality 2.5mm Balanced Cable. I could go on and on! I wont do that in an attempt to stay focused. Please take away this from my review... this is a high quality, very reasonably priced HiFi device for audiophiles and everyone else too. The sound is uniform with punchy bass and excellent fantastic highs. The mids are the hardest to recreate and the Da3 does it beautifully. No treble sibilance or over hyped bass. A truly natural, very high definition sound that puts you right in the front row of the recording studio or stage. Picking out and hearing individual instruments and vocals is astonishing. It will keep you up past your bedtime I am sure. And that's the only downside I can think of! After a lot of research I landed on the Sabaj Da3. An amazing DAC/AMP that really ticks all of the boxes. It's my new favorite USB DAC. Sabaj should be recognized here as a quality audiophile company for those of us still on a budget. And that's a very good thing to be.

The product is very nice and the size is slightly bigger than the normal USB DAC like the DragonFly. I can use it with both Android and Iphone. I use it with a Lightning to USB 3 camera converter with the extra power lightning port... you will need it for sure. If you drive a high end headphone that needs a bit of power (I was using it with Hifiman HE-560 v2), if you turn it up louder, the iPhone 6S+ that I was using cannot seem to deliver enough power to the unit to keep it going and will randomly reboot. When I use it with Essential PH-1 with USB-C OTG cable (please make sure you are using OTG cable), it doesn't have the power problem and I can crank it all the way up.I am toe-tipping into external DACs so I cannot describe it as well as the audio geeks, but I do feel that it sounds a bit cleaner and more analytical than the DragonFly USB V1. This can be good or bad depend on your taste.

I am surprised at this little DAC. For only $62 (At the time I purchased it), it is a steal! It is small, portable and the specs are amazing, it really does support DSD512!If you are not familiar with DACs like this that support DSD it may be a bit confusing to set up for DSD playback. There are plenty of online guides on how to use a DAC and play back DSD format using Foobar for PC or JRiver for MAC using DoP format. Keep in mind for DSD using DoP, you must double the format, so DSD128 requires a player that can do DSD256, DSD256 requires DSD512 capability.Once configured you will really enjoy this guy. Playing back SACD format files sound amazing with this guy! If you really want to make it sing, search online for free DSD files and experiment with DSD 128 and 256!Yeah you will have people say this can't hold a candle to a Topping D10s or any number of other DAC's, but those cost 2x the price of this!Some caveats with this:1. It is not really portable i.e. on a phone. Maybe if you have an Android phone it could work, but I could not get it to work at all on my iPhone 13 Pro Max.2. The shape is weird and sharp, I mean poke your hand sharp.3. The headphone amplifier on both standard and balanced is not very loud. This would be OK for most headphones but if you are using HD600's or HE400xx's like I do, it will require a headphone amp.Some plusses:1. Handled everything I threw at it.2. Great performance for the money!3. Small size4. Balanced 2.5mm output!