Reviews Soundcards

Sharkoon Gaming DAC Pro S review: Surprisingly cheap USB sound solution with real headphone amplifier as an insider tip for connoisseurs

Amplifier power, sensitivity to kenning and sound pressure level

If you buy headphones, the so-called sensitivity is a very important indicator of how this lard cooker can be operated in the end, i.e. which sound pressure level SPL (Sound Pressure Level) it reaches at which amplifier power still cleanly. But you don't always produce a certain sound pressure in the same form. A lot depends on the recorded material. So if you have an average, well-tolerated level (SPL) of e.g. 85 dB (child-proof and not harmful in the long term), e.g. in classical music and its high dynamic range for the peak values, add 25 to 30 dB. This also applies to good games with 12 to 18 dB. Pop music, on the other hand, usually stands at "only" 8 to 12 dB surcharge as a formula of thumb

The first table shows us rather bad headphones with a sensitivity of 85 dB/mW up to 94 dB/mW and which amplifier power to set in order to reach maximum sound pressure levels between 90 and 115 dB. Whether the parts will endure and survive at all is, of course, another matter. If you know the impedance of your headphones, the above measurements also provide the output power in watt RMS, which you now have to look for on the left Y-axis of the curves. The X-axis shows the resulting sound pressure level SPL in dB and the colored curves can be assigned to the respective characteristic sensitivity of the respective headset. To enlarge the chart, please click:

You need headsets with at least 94 dB/mW to achieve the lowest 113 dB. All other products miss the maximum target in part significantly. In the next diagram I would have the slightly better headphones, which are limited with the required output power:

 

Summary and conclusion

If we now allow all the measurement results to pass once again in front of the spiritual eye, then perhaps one will also understand my goodwill towards this very favorable product. It's an absolutely honest USB sound solution that comes with exactly as much as it needs to bring, but not a millimeter. This is cost optimization in pure culture, where the customer is not even the stupid one in the end, on the contrary. This is where both the manufacturer and the buyer benefit.

For this reason, there is an absolute novelty today. Even the biggest hater of cheap solutions can't complain about the award for the Sharkoon Gaming DAC Pro S as a price/performance cracker, because this is definitely not cheap in the negative sense, but really cheap. And then, to the annoyance of the competitors, the quality is also true. That's why I recommend the part for sale, but with a few limitations, which you probably have to look for from the buyer, but not with the USB sound solution.

Keyword target group. Any gamer who has a decent headset can happily tick off the onboard sound. We do not have the influences of the graphics card or too high a background noise here. And there's still plenty of amplifier power even for high-impestate headsets. The frequency response is linear and clean and this is exactly what will inspire lovers of differentiated hearing and spatial depth. However, the protagonists of the Bathtub Faction, who are still looking for the ultimate bass booster for the well-groomed brain massage with their fun headphones, are bitterly disappointed.

It goes loosely up to 10 Hz in the lowest cellar, that already, but you can also not smear anything extra on it, which the lard cooker can not already from the house. Neither bass nor height elevation is possible by software, but you only have what Windows offers itself. So it's also a kind of ruthless pants drop-down for your own headphones. If it fails in sound, it is either garbage or the consumer's hearing is already completely marketed and saturnized. Or both.

 

Sharkoon Gaming DAC Pro S

 

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About the author

Igor Wallossek

Editor-in-chief and name-giver of igor'sLAB as the content successor of Tom's Hardware Germany, whose license was returned in June 2019 in order to better meet the qualitative demands of web content and challenges of new media such as YouTube with its own channel.

Computer nerd since 1983, audio freak since 1979 and pretty much open to anything with a plug or battery for over 50 years.

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