Let me start by saying this little beast has ruined my smartphone’s music playback forever. The moment I slid my high-impedance IEMs into the 4.4mm balanced port and fired up Tidal Masters, the separation between instruments made me physically pause – like when you taste something unexpectedly delicious.

The Class A/AB amp toggle is my secret weapon. AB mode for commute (better battery), then flipping to Class A at home transforms my Sennheiser HD660S into a different headphone entirely. Yes, it gets warm like a pocketable space heater, but that’s the price for that extra 10% of organic warmth in vocals.

Android 12 surprised me – installing UAPP was smoother than on my Pixel. Streaming Qobuz while walking the dog? Zero stutters even in busy downtown areas. The Snapdragon 665 handles everything except maybe Fortnite (not that I tried… okay maybe once).

Here’s the kicker: The MSEB EQ isn’t just another equalizer. Spent a rainy Sunday tweaking the ‘Timbre’ and ‘Spatial’ sliders with my custom IEMs – now Billie Eilish whispers sound like she’s inside my skull while drums hit from across an imaginary room. Creepy? Maybe. Addictive? Absolutely.

Battery anxiety? Gone. Even with WiFi always-on for streaming, it outlasts my workday. The volume wheel has perfect resistance – no accidental blasts to my eardrums like some other DAPs I’ve owned (looking at you, FiiO).

Is it perfect? The bottom-mounted jacks make pocketing awkward with straight cables, and that glass back is a fingerprint magnet. But when the EFOtech SVirtualizer makes my old FLAC rips sound holographic? Minor quibbles.