Schiit Modi 3E D/A Converter - Delta-Sigma DAC (Silver)

Some background info, this is my first DAC. I am not an audiophile. Previously, I only had sound from motherboard. I do not play first person shooters and I cannot comment on spatial audio for gaming.I love this DAC. I have been using the same set of computer speakers for about 25 years. A basic two speaker stereo with small 6 inch sub made by Boston Acustics.After adding the Modi DAC, I could hear an improvement in music. The overall sound was much cleaner and the bass much stronger. Not sure why this is the case, as I did not modify any EQ settings. I suspect that with the music sounding cleaner, it was more comfortable to turn up the sound. Previously, turning up the sound on the speakers would lead to noise which was not enjoyable. So, basically, I can feed more power to the speakers without them sounding muddy. so, they in turn sound better.Another thing I love is, I did not have to download any drivers. The Windows 10 recongnized the DAC as USB speakers.The DAC is powered by the USB from my motherboard. So, it is a pretty minum setup. One USB cable into the DAC. Plug in the Speakers. done.I believe the DAC is a good value. But, since I have not tried any other DACs I can't be certain of that. I know I feel that the $100 price is a good price. For around $100 I got a noticiable improvement to the sound of my computer without adding much in the way of complexity. I did not have to upgrade my speakers to tell the difference. I had considered upgrading my speakers at some point. But, now that they sound better, I will probably just stick with them. After 25 years, I am kind of curious to see just how long the speakers will last :).One thing to note, this DAC is just for RCA output. There is no headphone amplifier. So, this would not be a good DAC for headphones.

My CD player broke, so I decided to rip all my CDs to .flac files to an external drive and play them through Sonos. The ripping went fine after a short learning curve, but Sonos had all kinds of trouble recognizing the drive and I finally resorted to running it thru a Roku 3 (using the USB port) with HDMI to the TV and an optical cable from the TV to to a Yamaha S301 integrated amp hooked up to Wharfdale speakers.Everything worked fine, but the sound wasn't right, actually fatiguing in hour or more sessions. (I am a painter and rely on the music as background and during breaks.) During this time I listened much more to vinyl and that was obviously part of the reason I was having difficulty appreciating the digital sound feed. The Sonos was now working, but spotty, so I was pretty much relegated to the USB thru Roku.So, after researching DACs, including those in the Yamaha and the Sonos Connect, and including all those who say there is no real difference between DACs, I decided to try one and settled on the Modi 3E.Wow. There is no question that the sound is much improved; much better than I anticipated. Sonos is now fixed and I decided to try running that thru the DAC as well. Noticeable improvement. This system has never sounded this good to me. I really look forward to my listening sessions. It is just great.Setup is: (for playing from USB stick or drive) Roku 3 (USB Port w USB Stick) HDMI>TV Optical Cable>Modi 3E RCA>Yamaha S301 RCA> Sonos Connect...and (for Sonos connection) Synology Router USB Port with Seagate 2TB External Drive; Sonos Connect Digital Cable>Modi 3E (with RCA to S301 and RCA from S301 to Sonos Connect)The difference is notable enough to me that I started thinking about how much better could it get. But even if the next level DAC would make a noticeable next level improvement, for now that's irrelevant. The sound I have is great. I don't need to improve it. I enjoy it and really don't think I need to make any more changes. The Modi 3E was a great decision.

This is a well-made product. Mine is silver - all metal case construction. It has a very simple h/w interface. The included manual explains everything you need to know. I use the Schiit MODI 3E with my desktop computer - and it allows me to use the S/PDIF optical output from the desktop computer going into the Modi 3E optical input. The resulting analog stereo output from the MODI 3E then goes to another device which is a headphone amplifier. The amplifier then drives my headphones and my desktop speakers. This setup works very well, and the sound is superb. My headphone amp is the ART HeadAMP-4 (sold separately) which has one stereo analog input, and four stereo analog outputs. Each stereo output has an individual gain control on the front panel of the headphone amp. This allows me to set the volume level for my speakers, and separately set the volume level for my headphones. But getting back to the MODI 3E - if you're just looking for a good quality D/A converter without fancy features - with no built-in amplification - but a D/A that has great analog sound, you can't go wrong with the MODI 3E. Also, it is made in the USA for those who value the origin of manufacture. I highly recommend this product.