The actual improvement with my computers is a cleaner sound with a greater sense of "space" and "air" around the instruments. And I don't hear anything to suggest that the D1 has lower sound quality than the Objective2, or that the D1 is less than a good upgrade to the computer's headphone jack for a bargain price. I don't own the more expensive separates myself, but I have the Objective2 headphone amp that sells (assembled version) for nearly as much as the Audioengine D1 even though the D1 is two components in one. The fact that the D1 includes both a DAC and headphone amp in such a small package at a relatively low price, suggests to most audiophiles that the D1's sound would be of much less quality than the typical separate DAC's and headphone amps selling for 2 to 3 times the price of the D1. I really hope this is a trend in personal audio, since I've bought laptop and tablet computers recently that get uncomfortably warm.įor those people who have been using the headphone jack on their desktop or laptop computers, and assuming that those computers have USB ports, they should expect better sound using the Audioengine D1 instead of the computer's headphone jack. So far I haven't detected any tendency for it to become warm laying flat on a table, where only the top and sides are able to act as heat sinks. One thing I really like about the D1 which is also true of HRT's HeadStreamer (a similar DAC/amp) is that it runs cool. I knew before I ordered the Audioengine D1 that it was small, but when I removed it from the box it looked even smaller - about the size of a deck of cards but 1/3 thicker. ![]() Although there were no configurations for me to make the D1 work with my Windows 7-64 computer, the PC volume should be set to maximum and then the D1's volume control knob set to the appropriate listening level. ![]() Since the short (24 inch) USB cable that came with the D1 carries only the unprocessed digital signal, and the output to the headphone uses the cable that comes attached (usually) to the headphone, there are no cable issues per se that could potentially degrade the sound. When I first connected the Audioengine D1 to my computer I was pleasantly surprised that it interfaced perfectly with no configuration effort.
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