USB-powered DAC/amp that supports L/R balance?

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
1

I need a USB-powered (preferably Type C) DAC/amp that supports left/right balance in Windows.

It’s really frustrating that almost no manufacturer states if they support L/R balance. For example, AQ Dragonfly does not. God knows why not. It’s a critical accessibility feature for those with some hearing loss in one ear. Mine is only a few dB but it’s enough to throw off imaging.

Ideas appreciated. My desktop amp is a THX AAA 789 but I need something for my laptop, mostly to use with Mangird Tea IEMs.

2

Steinberg UR24C. Set it to DJ mode then Split.

Use it as just a DAC and feed it to your amp.

That being said, it obviously has an onboard amp that will probably work with iems as long as they aren’t too hungry.

3

as far as i know there arent any modern combo unit (or even regular ones) that have balance control, the only modern ones I know of are tubes (like the Xduoo 604)

might be a dumb question but why do you need the balance control?

4

He wrote it down.

5

my bad missed it

6

One would think. Windows balance support is not needed if a proper DAC/AMP would have channel balance instead. There are plenty of options if power plug is an option.
Maybe even sell THX and replace it with one unit operation.

Just ideas and options put in audio stew.

7

Folks, I said “supports left/right balance in Windows”, not “has a balance knob”. I just need to be able to adjust the balance in the Windows sound control panel. Believe it or not, a lot of DACs don’t support this feature that you would think would work on any unit. Like the example I gave, the AQ Dragonfly series has no balance adjustment.

I don’t need something with knobs, I just need a very portable USB-C DAC for a laptop that supports balance adjustment in Windows.

8

Not sure if this is the level of DAC/amp you’re looking for, but the Qudelix 5k has its own built-in L//R channel trims (along with PEQ, etc.).

1 Like
9

Qudelik 5k definitely has tat feature and I use mine with teas as a wonderful Combo

10

The iFi hip dac v1 supports L/R balance in the Windows sound control panel. Not sure if the new v2 version supports as well, but I would assume yes. Input is a USB 3.0 type A. Comes with a type A to B cable, but I also purchased type A to C for us with my Galaxy S8. Charging port is separate and is type C

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