EarMen Eagle High-Performance Portable USB DAC and Headphone Amp - PCM, DxD, and DSD

I love the Dragonfly DAC's for the sound they produce...but they are hugely unreliable. I've been through two reds and two cobalts in two years. Not acceptable.I had started to read mutterings about the Earmen, but felt uneasy going straight to the Sparrow, so opted for the Eagle first, which, according to some, compares well with the Dragonfly RED.Frankly it doesn't compare at all. It's much worse.I'm using it with a set of Shure SE846's, plugged into Tidal on my i-phone. Maybe that combo is too powerful for it, but there is terrible noise and hiss between tracks, and nowhere near the same separation or soundstage even approaching what I can get with either Dragonfly's...It sounds marginally better on my laptop, and linked to a pair of decent over-ears, but still not as clean and punchy as their competitors.Must admit to being disappointed. I've kept it for home use, but there is no comparison whatsoever with the (admittedly more expensive) Dragonfly Red.Im still looking for a reliable alternative. Maybe the Sparrow, but I cant help feeling a little burned over this first experience with Earmen.

Really impressed with this tiny little DAC!I've had a couple of Far East built DACs from iBasso and the like, and they have always left me feeling frustrated by shortcomings and concerns of durability. The Eagle causes none of those thoughts. The typically solid USB A plug means you have a USB cable that can be replaced if it ever wore out, and no socket on the DAC to fail. The cable is of high quality, and the unit itself is aesthetically brilliant to look at.The sound is so rich and detailed, night and day with a regular PC/Phone soundcard (provided you have decent headphones!). But, perhaps more interestingly, compared to the numerous cheaper DACs I've had, and again most recently the iBasso DC-05, I find myself not wanting to use any kind of EQ with this DAC. It sounds perfect out the box, and EQ settings I've used with other DACs sound too harsh/too muddy/too scooped etc. Again, YMMV depending on the headphones you use, but with my favourite Austrian Audio set, its just a joy to use.Take-away? You get what you pay for. This little thing is in a different league to all the sub £100 units you'll find on here. And I honestly don't know what I'd get if I spent more. Oh, and it has a glowing green head on it. Nice.

the quality is amazing and does work well with windows 10, android devices, and ipad's however make sure to purchase the oficial apple usb 3 camera adaper lead not cheaper usb adpter lead by apple as their is a big quality difference, i purchased buth to seeit sounds more like live sound than the sound without the dac a less compact and more natural sound, way better than i hoped

Very good sounding dac, compact and powerful. Recommended to use with apple lighting to usb adaptor amd avoid any MFI or other adapter otherwise the dac will drain your battery because of the poor battery management chips.

Brilliant sound quality from this DAC, I use it with PC, Mac and my iPhone using the standard Apple camera usb connector - just plug it in and around 10 seconds later it’s working. Nice and small, no external power required, goes plenty loud enough (not crazy loud but that’s probably a good thing for your hearing).