Review on 🎧 FX AUDIO DAC-X6MKII: High-Performance 192kHz DAC Converter with Bluetooth 5.0 Receiver and Headphone Amplifier (Black) by Ray Richards

I would like to start this review by saying that I am by no means an audiophile. I like listening to music while I work. I also have tinnitus, which is why my "sound quality" judgment goes that far. That being said, there are a few things related to usability that brought this down to 3 stars because it's so annoying. As I need to check both the DAC and the amp, I would like to mention that until last night I had a power outage and the amp was on, I had _no_ complaints about the amp. The rest of this review focuses on the DAC. First, the DAC uses a rotary encoder to control volume. This isn't bad in and of itself, but it seems that the volume level is very different between what I like when listening through headphones and what comes through the speakers when going through the amp. Since it's rotary (which means the volume control just goes round and round and round and round instead of being high and low), I have to turn it A LOT to compensate for the difference in switching between the outputs. Second, the fade-and-fade feature isn't that bad per se, but when you look at the feature as a whole, it does have some usability issues. I had to redirect all "notification alerts" from my computer through the computer speakers because the rapid tones that are playing when I get a notification are not long enough. to trigger a full "appear" on the DAC so I end up missing alerts. Also, sometimes I have to struggle with the DAC to get the tones at all. What I mean is that I press play and for some reason the DAC doesn't acknowledge that music is playing and I have to stop _all audio_ on my computer and then play it again to get the DAC. to receive the signal and then start streaming audio. The third and final "claim" to this DAC is that the device doesn't remember anything when the power is off. It doesn't remember volume settings, doesn't remember inputs, doesn't even remember if it was on or not. Again, all of these "complaints" I have about the product are mostly limited to the DAC. Overall I think it's a decent device and depending on how you use it,