This is a DAC + Amp. It has a nice aesthetic design, and it's not too bulky.
After extensive testing with multiple headphones, i struggle to find fault with this to be quite honest.
Treble range: Plenty of detail, nothing missing.
Midrange: Nicely transparent, and not recessed or forward. Everything sits where it should.
Bass: Tight, well-textured and accurate. Neither too much nor too little.
Soundstage: In a word... Excellent! It has ample spaciousness and good left-right spread. It represents the song competently with good stereo imaging.
Quite frankly, at the price (available for $139 US on Amazon) this E17K would have to qualify as superb value for money. I also have the JDS LABs C5D which costs $249, and when comparing both these side-by-side through the digital Micro USB DAC, well i have to say, i couldn't hear much difference after many hours doing constant A/B testing on the same songs, and actually if i was forced to choose one or the other it would be a very hard choice, that's how similar they sound; True story.
After extensive testing with multiple headphones, i struggle to find fault with this to be quite honest.
Treble range: Plenty of detail, nothing missing.
Midrange: Nicely transparent, and not recessed or forward. Everything sits where it should.
Bass: Tight, well-textured and accurate. Neither too much nor too little.
Soundstage: In a word... Excellent! It has ample spaciousness and good left-right spread. It represents the song competently with good stereo imaging.
Quite frankly, at the price (available for $139 US on Amazon) this E17K would have to qualify as superb value for money. I also have the JDS LABs C5D which costs $249, and when comparing both these side-by-side through the digital Micro USB DAC, well i have to say, i couldn't hear much difference after many hours doing constant A/B testing on the same songs, and actually if i was forced to choose one or the other it would be a very hard choice, that's how similar they sound; True story.
http://www.jdslabs.com/products/84/c5d-amplifier-dac/