FiiO Q3 Headphone Amps Amplifier Portable High Resolution DAC DSD512 for Smartphones/PC/Laptop/Home/Car Audio Compatible with iOS/Android 2.5/3.5/4.4mm Output (Q3-MQA)

I have a number of DACs for various purposes. This one is married to my MacBook Pro, both at my desk and on the move. It’s more than powerful enough to sub as my desktop DAC at home, and the battery allows me to work on long flights without the DAC draining my laptop battery. Hence, a perfect pairing.I appreciate the bass/gain boosts, but I generally run it at normal gain and bass levels. I like the FiiO natural sounding neutral balance and clarity it brings out of the native mastered sound, clear and full without distorting the engineer’s intentions.I have two other FiiO DACs, the KA13, BTR15, and both the UTWS3 and the upgraded UTWS5. All work great in their intended space (wired or Bluetooth + cable, or true wireless Bluetooth). All have a similar, but still individually identifiable sound signature, and I pair them intentionally with both my source and IEM choice. I like the Q3 with my FH9 IEMs to drive every detail, the portable KA13 with either my FH9 or FH15, and the FH15 or Shure 425 with the BTR15 or UTWS5 depending on how much freedom of movement I need. All told, they allow me to get the best listening experience whatever my circumstances.

This portable DAC/HPA punches much higher above it's price point, as usual for FiiO products. Paired with IEMs that cost $3100 and $2900 respectively (Empire Ears Legend Evos and Noble Sultans using a 2.5mm Project 8 Plato x Socrates cable by Eletech) and over-heads that cost $4500 each (Audeze LCD-5's and Focal Utopias using a 4-pin XLR balanced with cable with 4.4mm adapter by Cardas), the soundstage is wide enough and the 3D imaging is satisfactory considering this tiny portable only cost $150. It's sound quality is fantastic. Paired with FiiO FDX's, FH9's, and FA9's all were pleasant considering the difference in tier compared to the previously mentioned IEMs. The bass is deep and clear - and does not muddy the mids. Treble is not fatiguing. Pairing something this inexpensive with my higher end gear is something I would only do with FiiO, and perhaps Topping. I think the Q3 competes well with the desktop FiiO K5 Pro (which can support 32/768 and native DSD512) and the DAP FiiO M11 Plus LTD (which in USB DAC mode can support 32/384 and native 256) in terms of cost/value.If you are considering this versus the FiiO K3, I would implore you to buy this, the Q3, hands down.My iPhone, Samsung Fold Z, Windows 11 PC, and Macbook Air recognized the Q3 immediately using Roon. This DAC, like my other (significantly more expensive and similarly spec-ed) trans-portable DAC/amps, turned my iPhone into a fantastic Roon-endpoint. I already had the Windows drivers installed because I own other FiiO DACs and DAPs which use the same ASIO driver (which is required for DSD over PCM sampling). No driver is required for WASAPI. The driver can be downloaded from the FiiO website.Unlike my other portable DACs (Chord Mojo, Chord Hugo2, CEntrance M8, Questyle M15, iFi xDSD, FiiO K3, FiiO M11 in USB DAC mode, FiiO M17 in USB DAC mode), the Q3 is able to unfold MQA files which is an added bonus. While I do not necessarily drink the MQA kool-aid, I do own several hundred MQA files so it is nice to have a portable that is able to completely unfold the files .~~~Where the Q3 really shines, for me, is as a portable amplifier for my DAPs using the 3.5mm jack as a line-in and the balanced jacks as the phone-outs. Paired with my FiiO M11… holy buckets! The analog sound is PHENOMENAL for a $699 DAP + $149 portable amp. Blows away DAPs at twice the price without an external amp! This alone makes the Q3 worth twice the price for me.

This is the first portable amp that I bought so I don't have a point of reference or anything to compare it to.I do like the accessories that come with it, however the main cable cannot be replaced easily since fiio does not sell replacement usb c to c cables. However any otg usb c to c cable works perfectly fine with this, you just need to find one that has two right angle bends to route the cable properly. But other than the cables, the rest of the cables are good along with the little carry bag.The device itself is sleek and tiny, definitely smaller than the average smartphone, but not as tiny as those clip on mp3 players. Think of it size as similar to those thin metal battery packs that you can bundle up with your phone and you'll realise how small it is.The connection options are flexible. Usb c for things like your computer or laptop, connect any usb cable and your computer can recognise it as a sound device. For phones and iPhones it works too; just be sure to change the charge switch to off so your phone doesn't try to steal its battery. However, using the 3.5mm input limits the output to the 2.5mm and 4.4mm output. If you don't know what those are, only use the usb c as the input. However I wish the cable included was a bit more sturdy, since it's the main cable used to connect your device. Or at the very least, offer a replacement cable online, the only usb c to c cable I see that they have only got strsight connectors instead of right angle connectors like whats included in the box.For the headphones I use, I only have the "akg" samsung headphones, Grado Sr80e's, SHP9500's, and Sony WH-CH710N. Not the best headphones for testing, but I wasn't going to buy more expensive headphones that would take proper advantage of a better dac amp.Sound quality is hard to judge since my primary phone no longer has a headphone jack, so I had to use my tablet and my computer. The biggest difference is how loud I can crank my headphones. When plugged into the standard headphone jack, I can rarely get my headphones loud enough to make it uncomfortable. Now, this is a good thing for my hearing, but not the best for other stuff. With the amp, I can barely go to max without hurting my ears, which is great. Having extra headroom for volume means that I have more control over the audio of my devices. Of course the thing to remember is to make sure your audio source is at max volume and use the amp's volume knob to fine tune your comfortable listening level.As far as being a dac.. Its hard for me to tell. If I was blind folded and you went back and forth between plugging it into the jack vs the dac amp, there might be a difference I just cant hear. Maybe the sound is cleaner and wider or more defined, but I can't hear it. This device is a much more effective amp.One thing I couldn't test was the 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced ports since none of my headphones support that function and I wasn't going to spend money on balanced headphones that rarely have the balanced cable with the headphones so that I would have to pay more money on top of the expensive headphones I already bought. Technically balanced output is better and more powerful, so there's that.All in all, is $150 too much for this thing? ......Sort of? You have to keep in mind that you can plug this into anything that supports usb audio, plus if you have the headphones that benefit from more power and a decent quality dac, I say get it. If you have headphones with balanced cables then you can try this to power them. But, if you just need to get your headphone jack back, getting a dongle is the easiest solution.