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DoubleF · 08-12-2025, 10:54 AM

Hmm... the SK02 and Q4 are pretty good. Certainly would be a respectable "baseline" performance for audiophiles about a decade ago. I certainly believe a current and more expensive DAC/AMP combo ($300+) could have slightly more noticeable differences with the same headphones, but it depends on your circumstances and whether you think the juice is worth the squeeze. My curiosity was whether a receiver/soundbar output was horribly worse than these $80-120 units as many reviews say. I think these units are close/on par with the receiver output with some potential room to squeeze a little more performance in the right circumstances. It seems like good options if you don't have anything at all to use with headphones or if you wanted to splice in a headphone option as a sort of "night time mode" option. It seems like it's relatively on par to quality 5.1 surround gaming headsets from about 5 ish years ago for a fraction of the price, but the cost difference is factored in with a lack of certain features/convenience and mic.

IMO it's more worth it as a unit plugging into a computer than TV/AV via optical. However, for <$250 all for two different units plus a HDMI/optical splitter, it's worth considering if you don't have any other options on hand. I've only had the units for a few weeks, so I cannot attest to the durability. I will say it performs quite well for the <$80 and <$120 price point if you're looking for a budget option to improve from a basic 3.5mm situation. At first I was thinking the highest volume wasn't very high, but the more I used it, the more I felt that anything over 85-90% max volume would probably damage my hearing long term.

It's noticeably better to me, but only incrementally so. I do think it also depends on the source sound as well. I was using my DT990, HD595 and AP2000Ti with the DAC/Headphone amp and I primarily toyed with it with my PS5 in PCM mode.

Benefits vs plugging it into a PS5 controller is mostly soundstage. There are certain sounds that are slightly more apparent than on the PS5 than the DAC/headphone amp, but it's there if you turn the volume up when plugged into the PS5 controller, so it's sort of like a low/mid/high tone balancing issue than the sound not reproduced at all.

vs plugging into the 4.4mm jack in my receiver, again, similar to the PS5 controller, the DAC/Amp sounds incrementally better right away. However, the receiver has the ability to play with sound stage and equalizer, so with large sound stage and cinematic mode, the receiver gets right back to competing relatively quickly/neutralizes the advantage very fast.

Compared to my Fiio X3 Mark I USB DAP/DAC, I think the SK02/Q4 gets close to par on default settings. Then EQ settings allows the X3 to leave the SK02 and Q4 in the dust, but this isn't much of a disadvantage to these two units if your output has the ability to play with the equalizer anyways. About a decade ago, I believe this was considered a $250 ish player with essentially a $150-180 DAC inside of it.

All in all, I think they're good value on default settings. With the right EQ, mixer or soundstage settings though, other set ups can easily move past it with ease. Those set ups are often several times more expensive though.

08-12-2025, 10:54 AM	#199
DoubleF Franchise Player Join Date: Apr 2014 Exp:	Hmm... the SK02 and Q4 are pretty good. Certainly would be a respectable "baseline" performance for audiophiles about a decade ago. I certainly believe a current and more expensive DAC/AMP combo ($300+) could have slightly more noticeable differences with the same headphones, but it depends on your circumstances and whether you think the juice is worth the squeeze. My curiosity was whether a receiver/soundbar output was horribly worse than these $80-120 units as many reviews say. I think these units are close/on par with the receiver output with some potential room to squeeze a little more performance in the right circumstances. It seems like good options if you don't have anything at all to use with headphones or if you wanted to splice in a headphone option as a sort of "night time mode" option. It seems like it's relatively on par to quality 5.1 surround gaming headsets from about 5 ish years ago for a fraction of the price, but the cost difference is factored in with a lack of certain features/convenience and mic. IMO it's more worth it as a unit plugging into a computer than TV/AV via optical. However, for <$250 all for two different units plus a HDMI/optical splitter, it's worth considering if you don't have any other options on hand. I've only had the units for a few weeks, so I cannot attest to the durability. I will say it performs quite well for the <$80 and <$120 price point if you're looking for a budget option to improve from a basic 3.5mm situation. At first I was thinking the highest volume wasn't very high, but the more I used it, the more I felt that anything over 85-90% max volume would probably damage my hearing long term. It's noticeably better to me, but only incrementally so. I do think it also depends on the source sound as well. I was using my DT990, HD595 and AP2000Ti with the DAC/Headphone amp and I primarily toyed with it with my PS5 in PCM mode. Benefits vs plugging it into a PS5 controller is mostly soundstage. There are certain sounds that are slightly more apparent than on the PS5 than the DAC/headphone amp, but it's there if you turn the volume up when plugged into the PS5 controller, so it's sort of like a low/mid/high tone balancing issue than the sound not reproduced at all. vs plugging into the 4.4mm jack in my receiver, again, similar to the PS5 controller, the DAC/Amp sounds incrementally better right away. However, the receiver has the ability to play with sound stage and equalizer, so with large sound stage and cinematic mode, the receiver gets right back to competing relatively quickly/neutralizes the advantage very fast. Compared to my Fiio X3 Mark I USB DAP/DAC, I think the SK02/Q4 gets close to par on default settings. Then EQ settings allows the X3 to leave the SK02 and Q4 in the dust, but this isn't much of a disadvantage to these two units if your output has the ability to play with the equalizer anyways. About a decade ago, I believe this was considered a $250 ish player with essentially a $150-180 DAC inside of it. All in all, I think they're good value on default settings. With the right EQ, mixer or soundstage settings though, other set ups can easily move past it with ease. Those set ups are often several times more expensive though.