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

I have owned and used the FX Audio DAC X-6 every day for years with no problems and love it to death. So when I needed a DAC for another room, ideally with Bluetooth, it was a natural buy. Unfortunately it was returned the same day it arrived because it was horribly constructed and made a horrible hiss every time it was turned on, no matter what input, what volume (including mute) and whatever . what combination of source and headphones was used. As soon as you turn on the device, it hisses. Loud enough to be heard when playing music at a decent volume. The GOOD part is the bluetooth connectivity, This is dopey and flawless, and I really like how it uses the front panel indicators to show you what volume you're at. A quick press of the volume down button instantly mutes whatever's playing, and turning on or switching audio sources is seamless rather than instantaneous bursting into your ears. This is the end of the list. Everything is good, but not enough to make up for the bad. BAD: More hiss. Unacceptable. There are many reasons for noise in amplifiers, but the main reason is poor internal performance. Next comes the volume control. This is a digital volume control, which means it's going to spin forever. That might be a good thing, you're less likely to accidentally kill your ears, when you turn something on and forget that the volume control is high and allows crossfading. that I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, with this amp, you have to turn the knob tens of turns to go from low to high volume. It took forever to turn the volume up, which is a problem because you have to turn the volume HIGH on this amp to drive anything. X6 at just 11 o'clock on the standard low-gain watch face. At high gain (using the internal jumpers) barely turn a knob and you'll blow them up. However, with this amp I had to turn the source to maximum AND the amp on the volume meters at 4 out of 6 to even reach and maximize the listening volume, or maximum, as far as I could tell, while the knob was spinning forever, it was loud but didn't hurt my ears. I was stunned that this thing was so weak. The sound quality is great, noise aside of course, and the features are great so I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because it's completely broken, but they pretty much missed the mark here. If you need Bluetooth from a headphone amp there are probably better options (check out Fosi Audio, I've had good luck with that) or you can always add a Bluetooth receiver separately via optical depending on how you connect everything I'd have happy to have more good news about this amp, but the design flaws are fatal and the noise that may or may not be present with any unit, was just unacceptable. I was stunned that this thing was so weak. The sound quality is great, noise aside of course, and the features are great, so I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because it's completely broken. but they missed the sign pretty badly here. If you need Bluetooth from a headphone amp there are probably better options (check out Fosi Audio, I've had good luck with that) or you can always add a Bluetooth receiver separately via optical depending on how you connect everything I'd have I'd love to hear more good news about this amp, but the design flaws are fatal and the noise, which may or may not be present in any unit, was simply unacceptable. I was stunned that this thing was so weak. The sound quality is great, noise aside of course, and the features are great so I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because it's completely broken, but they pretty much missed the mark here. If you want Bluetooth from a headphone amp there might be better options (check out Fosi Audio, I've had good luck with them before) or you can always add a Bluetooth receiver separately via optical depending on how you connect everything . I'd like more good news about this amp, but the design flaws are fatal and the noise, which may or may not be on any unit, was just unacceptable. but here they missed the mark. If you need Bluetooth from a headphone amplifier, there are probably better options (check out Fosi Audio, I've had good luck with that before) or you can always add a Bluetooth receiver separately via optical depending on how you connect everything I'd like more good news about this amp, but the design flaws are fatal and the noise, which may or may not be present on any device, was simply unacceptable. but here they missed the mark.