[USB DAC] American Audio Genie Pro

Mojo-Jojo · July 23, 2014

Why This Product?

So a while ago I was chilling out listening to some music, and I had to go grab some water since I was sweating balls.

I stand up, walk to the bathroom, and YOINK.

Well shit, there went my headphones jack in my lappy.

I've repaired Laptop parts before, but since this is a couple year old model, I can't find this part anymore.

So what do I do now? I know, order a USB sound card!

After browsing a couple review sites, I ended up going for the American Audio Genie Pro. It was €40 including shipping and 21% VAT.

Image Courtesy of http://www.adjaudio.com/, the creator of the product.

Packaging

Once it arrived, I immediately noticed something: this box is HEAVY.

I know I went for a product that wasn't meant to be used as simply a DAC, but I wasn't expecting this kind of weight.

I open the box and grab the product package.

It came in one of those plastic things that feel like they're supposed to be able to contain nuclear warheads, cause they can barely be opened.

Included in the package came a wall-plug, so you can use it as a preamp for LINE IN, and the Product itself. There are also four Rubber feet.

What. Where's the USB cable?

So after googling it turns out there's no USB cable included. Oh, right. I read that in one of the reviews.

Luckily being a student in engineering I always need USB cables for everything, so I had one lying around.

Product

After somehow removing the product from that packaging, I take the product out. It feels great.

It's an all-steel construction and feels VERY sturdy and looks great. I notice that the knobs for gain/mix/volume feel like very good quality. Solid.

Apart from that there's of course an on/off button, that feels satisfying to click (I love buttons), an input switch that enables you to switch input between Phono and Line (which feels satisfying to click), and two LED's tho show input level and if the signal is clipping. There is also a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack.

On the back is a USB B port, an input for the wall-plug, a grounding thumbscrew, and a Preamp Line In and a Line Out.

The USB cable stays in VERY tightly. Nice.

First Time Use

I plug the other end of the cable in my lappy and the drivers are automatically installed in what was basically immediately. Thank god for plug-n-play devices.

There is no need to use the wall-plug when using USB, so that's definitely great.

Time to test this bad boy.

I plug in my Sennheiser 439 headphones. The jack holds on to the plug firmly, so you won't accidentally unplug it when moving cables or moving around.

I dial the MIX knob all the way to CPU so that the incoming signal is 100% from the laptop.

Then I dial Monitor Level all the way to 0, so that I won't blast my ears out.

I am thankful I did, because this thing can generate some sound!

Sound

The sound signature is great. Its frequency response is from 10Hz to around 20KHz.

I never heard much low-frequency on my laptop's builtin DAC, but with this one it's clearly there, but does not overpower the mids or highs.

The highs are nice and crispy, and don't sound hissy or otherwise bad. I'd say this thing sounds about flat; it sounds very balanced. and clean.

There is no distortion if you know where your max volume lies. At around 50% my headphones can already be heard downstairs (not loud, just present) when not on my head, but the sound'll be completely clean when listening at this level.

Above that, with most loud music, it starts clipping. Clearly this product was designed for higher impedance headphones than mine.

The only bad point here is that at complete silence, a small amount of whitenoise can be heard. It's nothing bad at all, and it's not even bad when the volume is cranked up above the clipping point of the headphones. It's most likely an amp thing, but still, it is barely noticeable at volumes you'd listen to music at.

When listening to anything, the noise can't be heard at all.

Conclusion

Had I not needed a headphone jack, I would have never bought a USB DAC. And I am glad I broke that jack.

The sound is a big improvement over my lappy's DAC, and the fact that it'll support better headphones when I upgrade in the future is great too.

The product is sturdy and works great.

It has options I do not need or use, but even with these functionalities it was only €40, so if I knew it sounded like this I would've bought it a long time ago.

Verdict

This product has a couple of pros and a couple of cons.

Let's list them again

The Good

GREAT build quality
Very easy to setup
Great audio quality
No latency
Multiple functions for those wishing to use it as an input or to have different outputs.
Great clicky buttons (Just kidding. But it does, though!)
Great pricing

The Bad

On very low volumes, at least on my headphones, the audio is unbalanced with a bias to the right earcup. There is a workaround by simply turning the volume up and turning the MIX more towards Line IN, so it's not too bad.

The Ugly

Really, no USB cable?
Horrible packaging

All in all, This product is very worth my money and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good USB DAC. If I had to grade it from 1-10, it definitely gets at least an 8/10.

This was my first review, so I hope you guys find this useful.