I previously mentioned being slightly disappointed at the fact that the unit uses a 3.5mm headphone connector rather than 6.3mm. Incidentally I already ran into a situation demonstrating why I don't like it. So here's a long-winded "cautionary" post about it.
(TL;DR? Well... use a more flexible adapter.)
So for the long from explanation, as y'all know the most common 6.3->3.5mm adapter is like this:
Now, the problem is it protrudes from the device a lot and is "solid". So aside from taking a bit of space from a desktop if you tug at the cable or accidentally "poke" the adapter itself - things happen! - it causes quite a bit of torsion or whatever you call it on the plug as well as the input it is connected to. It's basically like a bloody lever. Previously this had caused for the front 3.5mm audio input in my PC case to break - probably the terminal's actually at least partially loose from the PCB, though I haven't taken it apart to verify. Doesn't work, regardless.
I wanted to avoid that with the DX3 Pro+ in any case even though its input port seems solid, but still only had the above kind of adapter. However before long I started noticing some annoying distortion here and there in the sound, and noticed the plug had problems fully "seating." Well, turns out that it was a bit bent from the above circumstances. Bending it back allowed it to seat properly but didn't stop the distortion - in fact it increased a
lot. Not sure why it worked better with the previous DAC, maybe the less "sunken" input port - though after straightening it certainly didn't anymore when I tried. My ears!
So as I needed a new adapter to be able to use my headphones (just used the unit in its DAC capacity in the meanwhile for my desktop speaker setup, obviously great for that as well) I wanted a less hazardous one that I had already been thinking about since ordering the unit. So I bought this kind instead:
Problem solved, much less torsion and no unwanted distortion based on what I've used it since (still mostly been doing DAC usage). But if the damn thing had the 6.3mm to begin with, there would've been nothing to solve! I didn't even find but one online store that even sells a cable like this in my country. The other option for a similar result would of course have been using the previous type of adapter with a 3.5mm female to male adapter/extension cable in front of it, but that was more "hassle" given the needed replacement adapter in any case and my shortest existing extension cables being too damn long at 1m. So this was cheaper, too.
I'm sure the problem(s) I had is not a common occurance, but *initiate spooky voice mode* it could happen to you!
