SteelSeries GameDAC Certified Hi-Res Gaming DAC Amp for PS4 and PC – Not Machine Specific

Works Flawlessly- Far superior to the Mixamp pro tr
This DAC is far superior to the mixamp Pro tr from Astro- not to say that the Astro one is bad by any means, but this one is just so much better and more functional.I have had this DAC for two days now, and I felt like I needed to do this thing a justice. Two or three other reviews on this thing at this time rated it horribly and I don’t understand why.I’ll review this bad boy in categories for simplicity.1. Aesthetics:This DAC is beautiful in my opinion. Minimalistic, but clean. Straight black with a pleasant white screen across the left side of it. It will look good on any desk.2. Functionality:The DAC allows for a lot more customization than the Mixamp pro tr. It gives you the option to turn virtual surround sound on or off (obviously). You can choose from a small list of preset EQs (the one out of the box is flat, which some people like, but I found it to be very underwhelming.) Currently, I run the “smiley” eq. I think it really brings any headset to life. You can choose a high or low gain (use high, it’ll make your headset louder.) It has it’s own mic monitoring (WORKS GREAT), and it allows you to adjust the volume of your mic (I just leave mine on 6 and it seems to work fine. No complaints from friends in my PS4 Party or players online in Apex Legends.)You can switch your inputs from PC (haven’t used my DAC on PC, but I’d imagine it works just as good) to Hi-Res audio (disables the ability to customize any of your previously mentioned stuff as far as I can tell), and PS4.You can change the brightness of the display and the timeout of the screen, and lastly, if you own a pair of the arctis pros, you can customize your earcup colors and the color of the muted mic light on the edge of the microphone.3. Setup:The first thing I did when I got these out of the box was plug them into a PC, type “steelseries software” into google, download the software, and upgrade the firmware on the GameDAC. The software seemed to recognize the DAC immediately, so I have no complaints towards the software for the DAC. The software gives you a lot of options for customizing the gamedac. To be honest, I didn’t look into it because I didn’t really care all that much, but from what I glanced over, they were pretty much all the same things you can adjust on the DAC itself.4. Sound:Arguably the most important thing here, the sound from this DAC is INCREDIBLE. I’m not an audiophile, and I don’t have audiophile headphones. I use the Astro a40 tr headset I got from the bundle with the mixamp, and the sound really is just so good. As I stated above, the sound straight out of the box might be a little underwhelming for people that aren’t audiophiles. Again, go through the EQ menu and choose “smiley” or even create your own! I play a lot of Apex Legends right now, and everything is so clear with this DAC. Footsteps? Too easy. Gunshots? Can hear them from across the map. This DAC blows the Astro one out of the water.5. Might help people with correctly setting up GameDac on ps4:I figured I’ll put this here so people don’t incorrectly hook this up to their ps4.If you have a ps4 slim, you are going to need an HDMI to HDMI + Optical splitter so you can connect the optical cable from the back of the DAC into the ps4 slim. If you have the original ps4 or ps4 pro, you’ll be fine.First, download the software and firmware update as I stated in section 3.Second, Plug the usb cable and optical cables into the back of the gamedac and ps4.Third, go to the ps4 settings, scroll to “sound and screen” and go to audio output. Change it from linear to optical output. For my ps4 slim, just change what I believe was “linear?” to dolby or dts. Not sure if either makes a difference. I have mine set to DTS and it works fine.Fourth, go back and scroll to devices. Click audio devices. Make sure the input and output say “USB Headset (SteelSeries GameDac) or something like that, and that you turn the output to headphones volume all the way up. I also have just the chat audio going to the headphones, not all audio. I just turn down my monitor all the way so the game sound doesn’t come through both my headset and monitor. From there, you should be good to go!TLDR;Easy to set up. (make sure you download steelseries software and firmware update)Works flawlessly with PS4.Allows for use with any headset (provides a 3.5mm adapter).Looks amazing.SOUNDS GREAT.Very loud and clear.Provides mic monitoring.Blows Astro mixamp tr out of the water.

Works like a champ!
I have now had the opportunity to play with this device for a few months and really like all the features. Beyond being able to have better control over my headset, I also use the added “widgets” included with the software to monitor CPU and GPU temps.Can’t say enough about the ability to use an EQ to balance sound to my liking. This device makes sounds more crisp, especially enemy footsteps.Also enjoy the visual display of volume and game sound balance between chat and game.I would give it 5 stars for one reason; tech support. I did have some issues with the software hijacking my mouse at startup and attempted to get assistance from tech support. Very slow to respond and it was apparent immediately that the response I got was canned and not specific to my problem. Note to tech support – READ THE ISSUE BEFORE RESPONDING!. I found this as annoying as “have you rebooted your system” or “have you reset your router”.

Works great on my ps4, easy to use and amplifies the sound, also makes it much more clear, not a huge fan of the virtual surround but definitely worth every penny sound quality wise.

The headset is light, comfortable and sound is really great (great bass and treble balance) but I have a defective device and the support is is the worst I have even seen !!! after 1 month contacting them by entering a ticket (there’s no way to call them) I have not received any answer yet. I would like to gave them a 5 star but because the support is so bad I gave them 2 star… because of the price of this device, it deserve a better support.