Thats good to know. I'll have to have my roommate look into it with his USB headset to see if he can get any sort of changes. But I would also assume that a USB headset still won't have the "power" of an external DAC right?

This is some incredible information here. Thank you for this. Definitely going to be doing some reading later today.

I never ended up checking the onboard audio settings when I was doing the back and forth. I did look at them when I was using the Q4 and spacial sound and all enhancements were off. And the sample rate was I think 24bit 48000hz. I could be mistaken on those numbers though. I'll have to took into that today after work. Seeing a few of you saying I should notice any difference has me thinking I had something wrong in the first place with the factory windows settings. Granted I never changed them. Or even looked at them for that matter. But definitely curious on if it's something I can show my friends to help them get better audio with their current headsets too. But that brings up another question, would this kind of thing make a difference for a usb headset?

I'd say a slight bit louder than just out of the pc. Which I'd listen to music on full volume before, both windows and whichever midea I was listening too. On the DAC I'm at 50-55%. I did however test how loud they would get, and I'm glad I took the headset off for that test.

Its like the music has actual depth now. Like I can hear nuances that I couldn't before. I switched back and forth a few times for a few different songs and it's an audible difference for sure. I had the same thought as you at first, so had my roommate give it a try and he had the same general consensus. Idk, like I said I'm new to this whole deal. I have absolutely not a clue what I'm talking about haha

Such a realistic, yet toxic comment and I love it hahahaha

See that's what I was thinking. It's a brand new pc (built it mid December 2022), with an Asrock z790 Motherboard. I'm not for sure on exactly how this whole dac/amp deal works but from I read I didn't think id notice much of a difference. But I was proven wrong. Why? I dont know. But i also dont care because its beautiful and im excited as hell for the Beyer's to show up haha