FiiO Q3 THX Balanced Amplifier & DAC for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android Mobile Phones Bundle with Blucoil 5000mAh Portable Power Bank, and USB Wall Adapter

This is a wonderfully sonorous DAC/amp combo with a number of unfortunate flaws.I'm very sad I had to return it because it sounds fantastic on all of my headphones.The flaws are as such:1. The USB-C port has a bad connector. It randomly disconnects while in use. If I'm using the device for the sound output on my computer, it will randomly disconnect, causing whatever application I'm using to encounter an unhandled exception as the sound device suddenly disappears, usually resulting in a crash. This is a known issue that many pro audio reviewers have complained about.2. The device cannot be charged and used at the same time. This creates the headphone amp equivalent of range anxiety. You never know when the device is going to randomly power off in the middle of a listening session.3. If the device's battery runs low it will start to charge itself from the device it's plugged into regardless of the position of the "charge" switch. This is a problem. Not only does it cause power drain on the host device. But it draws a tremendous amount of power. When the device forces the charge mode on, it causes my Fiio M11 DAP to boot loop. When connected to my desktop PC it overvolts the USB port on my computer's motherboard, causing the BIOS to disable power delivery.4. The Fiio audio driver is buggy and crashes frequently, requiring a reboot of the whole operating system to get it working again. It hasn't had an update since 2019.5. The cable for connecting USB-C hosts is UNI-DIRECTIONAL. It can only be plugged in one way. If you plug the wrong end of the cable in the device is completely non-functional.6. Operation with any USB-C cable other than the one that comes with the device is unreliable. In addition to the faulty USB-C connector causing random disconnects, using any other cable with the device causes MORE random disconnects. There's no way to order a replacement if you lose this random cable. You have to contact Fiio's customer service and wait days or weeks between responses and then pay way too much for a replacement proprietary cable.The primary reason I bought this device is so I can take my nice headphones on visits with friends and show them off.Imagine this scenario:"Check out how awesome these expensive headphones are! Oh, wait, hold on. Let me unplug the amp and plug it back in a few times. Oh now the Fiio ASIO driver is crashed. I'll need to reboot my computer. Hang on. Oops, now the battery's dead. I'll just need an hour to charge the amp back up, how much time have you got? *an hour passes* Okay, now, just hold this cable at this specific angle so it doesn't disconnect with one hand while you operate the computer with the other. See, isn't this a wonderful listening experience?"

Sound: ExcellentPrice: GreatPortable: Sort ofHeadsets: Sennheiser HD555 / Sennheiser Momentum 2I've tried lots of headphones to get a good sound quality but this is my first DAC/AMP. This simply makes all my headphones sound better.The one little issue is if you do not use (or have) the USB C on your playback device you need to use the 3.5mm jack for input instead of output. this leaves you two other jacks but the sizes of those are not all that common, for me anyway. I needed to buy a 4.4mm (male) to 3.5mm (female) adapter to use one of the other jacks. Would have been nice to include one. They do throw almost everything else you need in the box so no complaints there. They even include several sizes of bands you can use to strap the DAC to your playback device (my phone). That makes manipulating your screen a little cumbersome but I knew that was going to be a thing with an addon device. The sound quality makes it totally worth it.The battery pack they include is just ok nothing super special as far as I can tell. I already have several of those laying around so may be a bigger deal for others.

I’m going to address some of the issues you see on the top review with my own experience:1. I’ve had no issue with the USB-C port. It is a tight fit depending on the cable so I had to push it in with more force than usual but have not encountered random disconnects.2. I can charge the device and use it at the same time. I’ve used and charged on an iPad Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and an iMac.3. No issues with overvoltage or charge switch issues.4. It is plug and play on my iMac, iPhone and iPad so no issues with drivers5. The cable it comes with is uni-directional. I use the USB-C to USB-C that came with my iPad instead and have no issues.6. I’ve used multiple USB-C cables and have had no issues. The only issue is that to use it with an iPhone you’re kinda stuck using the cable that’s included.I haven’t tried it on a Windows PC so YMMV but it works well for me and my use cases and sounds great! Drives my Sennheiser HD 560s with no issue.

If you're using it for pc the Fiio k3 sounds better. If you're using it for your phone the Qudelix 5k is just as good if not better but with the added benefit of bluetooth. Personally I dont think there's anything wrong with this device there are just better options. Also both the k3 and the qudelix 5k are $50 less than this and more portable. On a more personal note, this worked fine on my laptop but didn't work at all on my galaxy note 8.

The reason I purchased it, is because of its THX AAA technology. But to have the settings right was too difficult to comprehend.Played around with the settings but could not get it to produce deep bass. The Helm DB12 THX headphone amp is easy to use. It is not a DAC. But have the same THX AAA technology.

Good device from Fiio, but it doesn't have enough of output power for some low sensitivity headphones.