The SMSL AD18, despite their naming scheme being a little funky, is an absolutely wonderful product.1. It's setup is dirt simple, plug into wall, plug into computer, preferably via a digital output such as micro usb or the optical, both are plug and play, no drivers needed.2. It is more than able to drive most headphones with reasonable ohm impedance, to my knowledge it will push sets with 50 ohms, but that will vary on how hungry the cans are, my HE-400I's get -plenty- loud at max volume on headphone mods at 36, normally I run more like a 12 to 18.3. It has a fair amount of customization, various built in EQ's and bass and treble settings allow you to tweak your sound signature on the amp, there is also the "SDB" mode of which to what most can tell it's an adaptive EQ, works well, though it's hard to to AB testing on it. (Also the display can be changed to various colors, for the RGB crowd out there, mine is purple)4. Options, it's both a headphone amp/dac as well as having outputs for speakers on the back, and the speakers will actually push even more power than the headphone out, so if you're driving really heavy cans or some speakers you can drive them from the back outputs.ONE WEIRD THING: I have the second rendition of this product, the power brick has gotten smaller, which is good, however if you have it inside of arms length away, you might hear a high pitched wine coming from it, just sit it a little further away and it's inaudible.Conclusion: Need an AMP/DAC for your new setup? Looking around/inside the 200$ range? Like the color purple? (Or green/blue/yellow/red/white) Want to get some juicy amplification into your life? Well then you probably can do much worse than this.I'd recommend it.
