Gadgetory

hello everyone this is Dimitri with hurricane accent on the review table today we've got another digital to analog converter or DAC that will convert the digital audio signal into a waveform something your headphones can understand so this is the d3 DAC from audio engine that has been sort of specifically designed for portable needs and that is reflected in its incredibly small form factor and also the price for just under two hundred dollars you are buying into the size so if that's something of a priority to you when you travel or just want that minimalistic setup d3 has you covered and it is as big as a USB Drive which is deceiving as it packs quite a punch for audio and by the way we have viewed their d1 DAC also from audio engine that is more of a on a desk solution so make sure to check that out if you're interested the d3 comes very well packaged and for almost two hundred dollars I was expecting nothing less we have a little wool pouch that is included that would house the DAC plus we have a quarter of an inch extension as the unit has a three and a half millimeter jack output overall I'm very pleased and impressed with the build quality of this unit with full aluminium body clean design with audio engine logo and two LEDs in the front one indicating power so as long as you're using USB 1.1 or above you'll be fine audio engine has also placed the power supply into a separate circuit to avoid interference and help with the thermals there's a second blue LED that will indicate a sort of HD audio signal so anything above 48 kilohertz that you select through speaker properties in the windows and it's also automatically selected if you're using a Mac it is a 24 bit DAC with a maximum of 192 kilohertz sample rate that will be down sampled to 96 kilohertz for output there's no volume adjustments on the actual DAC all of that is controlled through the operating system instead and so plugging in the d3 DAC into my notebook and really the aluminium body does complement the appearance of the setup and this would really work well for mac books however every single notebook that I plug this in III wasn't totally stable and wobbled quite a bit and this is part due to the USB port design and the DAC itself however it is very slim allowing nearby USB ports to be populated so audio engine certainly created this DAC with portability in mind without compromising on either the DAC module no the amp the d/a-converter is the ak4 396 DAC that's known for its natural and detailed sound and the opamp is the LME for nine seven two six hundreds capable of driving high impedance headphones without Distortion and from my initial impressions with the d3 plugged into my notebook using a few pairs of headphones the DAC is certainly going to be an upgrade in terms of volume the headphone amp did an excellent job driving enough power to all the three pairs I was testing with the HT 8 the K 712 pros and the HT 5 5 eighths the d3 produced a very well balanced and linear response and overall battery dynamics over the headphone jack on my notebook well the difference wasn't substantial but I could pick out more mid-range detail out of the d3 and the low-end response seemed to flatten out this was particularly evident an angel from mezzo 9 as the bass kicked in with the high hats and continuous bass response didn't dominate allowing the rest of the song to sort of come to life there's a good amount of sparkle on the high end but not the fatiguing kind even at higher volumes and I actually do generally prefer brighter sound but the d3 was able to produce enough brilliance to satisfy my preference without needing to tweak the EQ the d3 also expanded the soundstage not by much but the background music instruments in September from Earth Wind and Fire were naturally more distant and not as congested coming from the headphone jack on my notebook but you really have to know the song to notice this very minor expansion I also try this with a MacBook Pro that delivered a more pronounced difference than on my Asus notebook sound coming from the MacBook Pro was sort of bass heavy and lacking detail compared to the d3 so a DAC is only useful if the source is incapable of meeting your expectations and conclude the d3 is designed to amplify the signal without distortion and coloration to preserve that audio fidelity so if you really after that natural and flat and linear response with great detail separation the d3 may be a great addition to your audio setup the incredibly compact form factor I would say sort of the main selling point here plus we have the little pouch and a quarter inch adapter so that's appreciated however it is difficult to recommend such investment unless you own good quality headphones that could benefit from a DAC especially at almost $200 so this isn't for your casual consumer the USB connection does wobble so I would have preferred a more sturdy contact and so the d3 within the right set up would be an appropriate upgrade that is if you know what your headphones or speakers sound like and can appreciate the subtle differences in the detail the DAC can bring out well that concludes our review of the d3 DAC from audio engine let us know how I feel about this type of upgrade and especially the price point would this be something you're interested in leave your comments down below don't forget to subscribe for more similar content and we'll see you in the next