Modi 3 is a plane old DAC: 3 inputs, line out and input switch on the front - that's it. But if it sounds good that's all I personally need. It's built out of aluminium with a brushed look and it looks nice in my opinion.
It is powered via USB port and that can be done by PC port or by auxiliary power supply. You need the auxiliary power supply only if you want to use optical and coaxial inputs when it's not connected to the PC or PC is not turned ON for some reason.
SOUND QUALITY (edited with new impressions)
In my first version of this review (and first YT video too) I praised Modi 3 for its well behaved and precise sound, fast and textured bass, rich mids, open highs that are never aggressive or sharp, sound-stage and layering of the instruments too. I complained about it always being too polite and smooth for some recordings, prefering Khadas Tone Board on account of more energy and weight. Well, I made a mistake of not letting Modi 3 to work for some time more (I've never experienced any serious changes in SQ with any previous DAC I had). Modi 3 surprised and started sounding more ballsy and weighty after some time, almost matching Khadas in that regard but beating it in speed, sound-stage width and overall precision.
So over time, I found myself actually preferring Modi 3's sound to basically any other DAC I've tried so I kept it as a main DAC in my system (paired with Cyrus 8vs2 amp and Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 speakers).
CONCLUSION (edited with new impressions)
When you combine all of it's qualities together it's really a tough to beat product at this price range. If you're living in the US and you can get it for $99 this is a no brainier. For people living outside of US the price will pile up to something closer to $150 or even more as it did for me. But I still think it's a good buy because I haven't heard a better sounding DAC up to $250.
You can check out my website for more reviews - iiwireviews.com
And here's my original video review as well as slightly revised one with some additional talk about benefits of putting something heavy on Modi 3
It is powered via USB port and that can be done by PC port or by auxiliary power supply. You need the auxiliary power supply only if you want to use optical and coaxial inputs when it's not connected to the PC or PC is not turned ON for some reason.
SOUND QUALITY (edited with new impressions)
In my first version of this review (and first YT video too) I praised Modi 3 for its well behaved and precise sound, fast and textured bass, rich mids, open highs that are never aggressive or sharp, sound-stage and layering of the instruments too. I complained about it always being too polite and smooth for some recordings, prefering Khadas Tone Board on account of more energy and weight. Well, I made a mistake of not letting Modi 3 to work for some time more (I've never experienced any serious changes in SQ with any previous DAC I had). Modi 3 surprised and started sounding more ballsy and weighty after some time, almost matching Khadas in that regard but beating it in speed, sound-stage width and overall precision.
So over time, I found myself actually preferring Modi 3's sound to basically any other DAC I've tried so I kept it as a main DAC in my system (paired with Cyrus 8vs2 amp and Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3 speakers).
CONCLUSION (edited with new impressions)
When you combine all of it's qualities together it's really a tough to beat product at this price range. If you're living in the US and you can get it for $99 this is a no brainier. For people living outside of US the price will pile up to something closer to $150 or even more as it did for me. But I still think it's a good buy because I haven't heard a better sounding DAC up to $250.
You can check out my website for more reviews - iiwireviews.com
And here's my original video review as well as slightly revised one with some additional talk about benefits of putting something heavy on Modi 3