This was my first step in trying to get decent sound out of a PC (playing MP3 files via WMP). With xFire GPU's there wasn't much room for an internal sound card, and I wanted a volume control I could use easily regardless of the application I was in. These came up on massdrop, and after reading a few reviews I figured there was nothing much to loose. It arrived the same day as my Philips Fidelio L1 Audiophile Headphones.  I was bitterly disappointed with the headphones (sold them soon after) - but the little DAC / amp took my AT-700's to a whole...