thanks SIGShooter.
It is Chewbaccaâs favorite.
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I have a headphone amplifier thatâs pretty good most of the time, but when I watch media with loud scenes, the audio gets seriously distorted.
I need a more powerful amplifier (that doesnât distort the audio), but the input needs to be either 3.5mm or RCA cables, so most (or all) DAC/amplifier combos will not work for my situation.
I ordered a Douk Audio U3 PRO.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DBQC9KJY
This headphone amplifier is kinda pricey at $50-$55, but if it solves my problem, I think itâll be worth the money. 
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There are adapters available to convert from 2.5/3.5/4.4/6 mm plugs to the required 3.5mm that you need (that go both ways). I use them all of the time.
There are also converters from any of the jack sizes to RCA. SO you will have more choices than if you limit them to just the3.5/RCA input types.
That being said, there are some very positive reviews on that Douk Audio U3 PRO unit. If the specifications are accurate it should have way more power than you need to drive headphones to ear splitting levels without distortion. If you still get distortion with this one, you need to look at the output of whatever you are driving it with.
You can overdrive the input causing distortion and it is not being caused by the amplifier, but the source.
Or the source can be at a high enough level that it distorts on peaks. Either way, turning down the source may be helpful.
It might be interesting to see what would happen if you turned down the output of your source to see what happened with some of the amps you already have.
BTW, it is all relative on the pricing. I have headphone amps anywhere from $200 to well over $1000 
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Nice! Douk makes some decent Chi-Fi. I have one of their speaker amps (A5) that works pretty well in the bar area.
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Yep, thatâs what ChatGPT said as well.
I know that ChatGPT isnât always correct, but some of its ideas are good.
Thanks for the feedback, Mandrake50 & Pete7874! 
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That makes sense. 
I was looking at the A5.
It looks quite nice, though it might be overkill for my application. 
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There is no headphone jack on the A5 anyway.
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It has RCA jacks as input and 3.5mm as output.
That would work for me.
Thanks for mentioning the A5. 
If youâre talking about the 3.5mm jack on the back of the A5, that is a line level output meant to feed signal to an external amplifier (or a powered subwoofer). It is not meant to drive headphones.
Also, make sure to use a dedicated wall power adapter with your U3 Pro and not just feed it power from a USB port on your computer.
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Thanks for the heads-up!
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I guess I might as well post some pics of the A5. I bought it late last year, after ASR tested it and gave it a good recommendation. Iâm using an old Logitech Squeezebox Touch as source. The A5 is driving a pair of RSL CG23M speakers and feeding signal to an SVS SB2000 12" sub.
One nice thing about the A5 is that it has an adjustable high pass filter, allowing to cut low end frequencies to smaller main speakers which arenât capable of reproducing those frequencies anyway.
It came with a beefy 240W power supply as well.
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Speaker amplifiers in general are not well suited to driving headphones. Generally they are designed to power 4 to 8 ohm loads. Headphones are often 32 ohms and up. I did make an adapter for headphones to use my 250 watt Hafler amp with my headphones⌠But I did not like the results !
From Amazon:
âThe power adapter is not included, so youâll need to provide your own.
Customers mention the quality of their power supplies significantly impacts the amplifierâs performance.â
⌠A good supply is important. Unless you have one of the high power USB C ports on your laptop or PC, it wonât cut it. Besides, if you ask the purists, the USB ports on a PC are too noisyâŚ
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Also received this Netgear switch earlier this week, on sale at Amazon currently.
I wanted to pick up something as backup if my main PoE switch were to take a dump.
Alas, the UI on this Netgear is very basic/minimalistic. I much prefer the UI of D-Link or Zyxel when it comes to budget managed switches.
Oh, Iâm not going to use a USB port on a PC.
I have an XTAR USB power hub that Iâm going to try first.
If I run into problems, Iâll get another nice phone charger (I have one already, but Iâm currently using it.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DG93MZCR
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This would be a good supply:
I know a bit on the pricy side consider you amp was only ~$60. But the difference with a good supply that can deliver all of the required power cleanly can be significant.
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I received this today.
The Amazon listing is incorrect, or itâs perhaps out of dateâbut in this case, thatâs a good thing.
It came with an AC adapter that plugs into an outlet!
No USB cable for me.
I havenât read the manual or hooked up the amplifier yet, but I like how much larger it is than my other headphone amplifiers.
I also like the companyâs motto:
Make HIFI Affordable for All Music Lovers
I know itâs just a motto, and many companies lie all the time, but at least they have a budget-friendly attitude.
Iâll post more later.
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