Today’s review focuses on the Schiit Hel, which is a gaming DAC/Amp custom-designed for those who want to experience the best possible audio experience when playing games, streaming content, and listening to music.
Schiit audio has been creating high-quality audio products since 2019. Naming their organization with something that can so easily become derogatory requires complete confidence in the quality of their offerings to avoid the obvious comparisons. The description on their website states, “Yep, Schiit is our name, and it's pronounced, well, like "hey man, that's some really good Schiit!” After reviewing the Hel High-Power Gaming DAC/Amp, there is no doubt that Schiit has earned the right to their name, and that their high-quality products are worth a look.
For the unfamiliar, DAC stands for Digital-to-Analog Converter, which takes all the digital data that creates sound or music inside of a computer and then transforms it into an analog audio signal, which is sent to an amplifier. When one hears music or game sound effects on phone, PC, laptop, or almost all other devices, what we hear is the analog signal that has been converted by a DAC.
As one might expect, DACs are not created equally. A smartphone or laptop can have vastly different consumer experience in mind from a design point of view, and depending on its target market and price point, may have only the most simple of DACs that provide a sound that is acceptable for phone calls or watching videos on Youtube, but severely lacking compared to the full range of sound quality that can create a great music experience.
Turning Your Audio Experience To 11 With Hel
The Hel DAC/Amp provides a powerhouse experience for your headphones, with 1000mW into 32 ohms, which should provide quality audio that is significantly better than almost any PC or smartphone. In the strictest sense, no one needs to have this kind of a product, in the same way that no one needs a mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse, or high-quality monitor - but doing so provides a noticeable difference that most users cannot live without once they have experienced it. Without a doubt, using something like the Schiit Hel provides an audio experience that is eye opening and impossible to ignore.
The Hel has both a headphone and microphone input with two stages for every type of headphone that exists. Both inputs work well and without fuss, and users will be up and running in no time. Like most of their products, the Hel is stylish and small, measuring at 5 x 3.5 x 1”, meaning that it can be easily added to any gaming setup without hogging space.
Perhaps the only critique of the Hel lies in the lack of a USB input for headphones, only offering users the ability to use 3.5mm gaming headsets. This might not have been a big deal a few years ago, but more and more gaming headsets are created with only a USB or XLR microphone, and it feels like a missed opportunity not to include the additional input option for users. This is a minor complaint when looking at the product as a whole, as the Hel delivers and succeeds in everything it sets out to do.
Who Would Benefit From A Bump Up To High-Quality Sound?
The Hel DAC/Amp will primarily help with three distinct points. First, it can provide the best audio experience when listening to music.
Second, having the best quality sound can make certain video games so much better. Certain games strive for immersion, and hearing sounds and music as crisp and clear as possible is often the missing component to making a good game feel extraordinary.
Third, and perhaps most important depending on the user, is the potential competitive advantage that comes from having the best audio experience in games with a heavy esports component. Being able to identify certain audio cues even a moment before one would otherwise be able to do with substandard audio quality can make the difference between victory and defeat. A good DAC/Amp will not make you a pro player, but in the same way that high FPS and quicker key inputs provide an advantage against equally skilled players, so too will better audio grant an edge that you may not even know was missing.
The Hel Is A Great Tool For Any Streamer
As mentioned, the Hel also has a microphone input, and the results of using this for some basic streaming were quite shocking. I expected the sound to be reasonably good, but instead the sound quality was better than anything I had used before.
Most streamers who use their PC microphone input to stream often need to tweak their system to find a point that is acceptable. Removing background noise and the persistent humming that many amateur streamers have in their content is often a struggle, but with the Hel, that distracting and problematic background noise simply wasn’t there.
I tried this out with a couple of different headsets, including the Cougar Immersa Pro Ti Headphones, the MSI Immerse GH50 Gaming Headset, and at the other end of the spectrum, a no-name microphone from Amazon that was around $10. The first two were perfect for streaming my voice, and even the last did far better than I would have expected, and certainly better than when I have used it on my PC alone.
A Great Buy For Gamers, Streamers, And Music Lovers
In sum, the Schiit Hel is an outstanding and an essential tool for those who love to game and stream, and the high sound quality for listening to music is a bonus. Priced at $189, the Hel is reasonable compared to what one could spend on similar devices in terms of functionality and is a great launching point for those who want to up their audio experience.
A Schiit Hel was provided for this review and readers can click here to make their purchase online.