🎧 Sabaj Da3 Portable USB DAC & Headphone Amplifier: SABRE9018Q2C OLED Screen, DSD512, 32bit/768kHz Review

I've looked at expensive DACs but they didn't meet the specs of this one. So I decided to give it a try as it had high quality internals. The only caveat is that it doesn't support MQA, which is important for the Tidal music service I use. Still outperforms the Dragonfly variants in every way. Sounds great and works as advertised. I mainly used Apple Lossless, CD and DSD files. I use it with a 2017 Macbook Pro, no problem.

UPDATED: This was my Windows install which didn't work, works fine with Mac app Qobuz at 192kHz. This is an amazing DAC. Old Review: So I bought it almost a year ago and since then my only music source has been Tidal running at 96kHz for this DAC (as this DAC doesn't support MQA delivery but that was fine) until now. When I switched to Qobuz, which also has 192kHz songs, the songs started sounding like 8-bit music. Terrible QC but I guess what else can you expect in this price range, a decent…

The Da3 produces a nice clear sound, has a good built in amplifier, a solid body and handles higher bit rates than anything I've bought as an aspiring audiophile. Just 11 months before his death. I kept it indoors, normal use, and all of a sudden it just stopped. I installed the drivers and everything, Windows recognizes the device and Windows says it plays sound, but the Da3 screen is dead and there is no sound. comes out of it. If he had stayed alive, he would have been absolutely worth his…

Bought a new one but definitely got a used model, there was a letv cable in the box which was idk what got it dirty and it's not even the right type of cable, besides the device is covered sticky material. just not a good unboxing experience and since the cable is wrong I'm not sure if the product will work so I'll update the star level as soon as I know. Stars, its amazing sounding DAC rendered my Fiio useless. The sound is superb, I even mixed a song with it, even after switching back to my…

love this little guy. I found it sounded better on my 400is in balanced mode. I haven't tested it extensively, but I noticed something. It seems that the balanced mode can be the main mode of operation. Update: compared balanced output to unbalanced output on he400i, he560. Definitely a huge difference. Everything is clearer and drives both sets without any problems. Then I connected thx789 from Massdrop. Easy. Both are designed to work in balanced mode. I am temporarily using the sms idea to…

I also have a Monoprice Monolith USB DAC that uses a single Saber DAC based on the ESS 9018. I bought these to try balanced dual DAC headphones. To my surprise, everything sounds clearer with the Sabaj DA3 - even with the single-ended 3.5mm port. I have used modded Sony MDR V6, Sony MDR7520, Fostex/Modhouse Argon, AKG K550 and others with this DAC. All of my over-ear headphones have improved over the Monolith DAC in terms of clarity and imaging. There was a slight improvement in using 2.5mm…

I highly recommend this DAC. As others have said, you get a lot of quality features and components for a very good price, but it does have a few flaws that prevent me from giving it 5 stars. In order of concern: Aesthetics: who would have thought that making a non-rectangular case with very sharp corners and edges would be a good idea? It's not particularly comfortable to hold in my hands and it's not what I need next to the screen of my fragile phone. Windows Drivers: As another reviewer…