Review on 🔊 Compact Stereo Integrated Amplifier and DAC - Micca OriGain, 50W x 2, 96kHz/24-Bit, USB & Optical S/PDIF (Black) by James Bullets

This integrated amp sits on my dad's desk, but I think I used it more than he did anyway. I wanted something he could use with both his computer and Chromecast audio. This is achieved with a clean, sleek look from a brand I like. It will easily power some Polk T15s and can reach unnecessarily high levels without audible distortion (30W x 2 into 8 ohms listed, less than 0.5% total harmonic distortion). I find the pre-out a very useful feature and use a Polk PSW10 to drive a subwoofer. Unfortunately, the 3.5mm RCA adapter that came with the amp is only about five and a half feet long, so I had to use an extension cord to get the signal to the subwoofer. Since I use it with Chromecast Audio and want to be able to play music from my phone at any time, I leave this amp at half volume the entire time. It heats up only slightly and there's no audible hissing unless you get very close to the speakers. It also avoids the issue that another reviewer pointed out that this amp has a "pop" sound. Many amps use circuitry to eliminate or at least reduce this pop, but unfortunately this amp doesn't have that. I tried using the Chromecast's optical output to use the DAC in the amp, but found the sound quality was no better than the Chromecast's DAC output, and in fact I somewhat preferred the latter's sound, which was a bit sharper and looked more appealing. Another issue with the optical connection that another reviewer mentioned is that there are loud "clicking" noises that happened to me when changing tracks with the Chromecast. For this reason, I would advise doing without the optical input of the Micca AD250, at least for this source component, which is a shame. On the other hand, I found using the built-in DAC very satisfying with a Windows 10 computer. All I had to do was plug this amp in with the included USB cable and it just worked. Without downloading drivers. No sound settings need to be changed. Just plug it in and turn it on, and the sound will come out of your speakers. Turn it off and the computer will revert to the default speaker output. Of course, I only found the best sound quality from this amp when playing FLAC files with Foobar2000 with WASAPI drivers, but it still sounds good from lower quality sources. The quality of the amp is pretty good and I like the feel, but when it arrived I noticed that one of the speaker terminals was loose. It was easy enough to pop open the amp and tighten the terminal, but really shouldn't have been necessary. Overall I'd say this amp does the job and does it well if you set it up in a 2.1 system with a computer or analog device as the source. The optical input can be used with some devices but not mine and you have to deal with the inclusion of cotton. I would love to wholeheartedly recommend this product but it has its own characteristics and I would prefer it if it had a lower price because for $100 you can get amps from other Chinese brands that do the same for the same price with possibly less problems do . However, if I had to do it again I would still choose this amp because in my situation I was able to work around its issues and I just love its visual style and the tactile feel of its controls.