Fosi Audio - C3 Gaming Sound Card & DAC/Amp w/ StepSense AI Footstep Radar & 7.1 Spatial Audio - Black

I am using the Fosi Audio C3 with the HyperX Cloud Alpha wired headset on my PC. This setup sounds substantially better than the Astro A20 wireless headset that I have been using for a few years. The C3 came very well packaged, and the unit itself has a very nice fit and finish. It has an aluminum body and feels solid. It is compact enough, but I don't feel like it is too small either; it is the perfect size. I have not been able to test the footstep boost part of this C3 in any FPS games yet, as I have been playing Forza Horizon 6 lately. All the audio in the games I have been playing has been crisp and detailed and has plenty of power to give extra volume if wanted. I also have been using the AI noise cancelling option for my microphone, and my friends all comment on how it does a great job filtering background noise, such as fans and background music that I am listening to. I love how the C3 has volume sliders for both the headset volume as well as the microphone volume as well, which makes it easy to adjust on the fly. There doesn't seem to be any slop in the sliders either, they feel good and solid. One improvement I would like would be if Fosi offered a standalone app for the C3, and not just an online app. It would be nice to just open the app if I want to make any EQ adjustments and not need to open a browser or be connected to the internet. Not a big issue as I haven't had to mess with the EQ at all but would be a welcome addition. Rumor has it, however, that there will be a dedicated app launching for the C3 in the near future. If you want to have greater control of your audio and mic when gaming, this would be a fantastic choice for you, and I would highly recommend it.

This DAC/Sound Card piqued my interest a while back when Fosi announced that it would be using AI to increase footstep sounds. The other part that I thought was significantly more interesting is the noise cancellation on microphone inputs. I like hardware-based solutions like this because running a software-based noise cancellation can have an effect on GPU or CPU utilization based on the software. So I used the C3 while playing Farlight 84 and CS2. I can say that it did boost the volume of footsteps, which is a detriment in Farlight 84 because my own footsteps were too loud (that's more of the game's fault than Fosi), and in CS2 it boosted footsteps just enough. The 7.1 feature I didn't really care for in video games. If a game has a good sound engine, then that's usually enough to replicate good directional cues. I did enjoy the 7.1 feature with movies while using my HD599s. That extra bit of layering on sound did feel slightly more immersive. Depending on the game, I might use this feature too. I feel like it would be awesome for Baldurs Gate 3, especially with some of the music and scenes in that game. Now the best part of the C3 is the noise cancellation. I have a dedicated mic now, but I decided to switch over to the Sennheiser CX80S earbuds that have an in-line MEMS microphone. It's already a good microphone in terms of quality of sound, but it has a tendency to catch everything around me. The noise cancellation on the C3 was able to cut out my son's talking even though he was right next to me. Every now and then, you would be able to hear him, but that would only happen immediately after I finished talking, and he immediately continued after me. Its quality of noise cancellation was nearly on par with Nvidia broadcast and as good as the noise cancellation I use in OBS (RNNoise, which was not put on when using the C3 as a microphone input). I would highly recommend anyone who can not use Nvidia broadcast that uses some sort of headset mic to pick up the C3 for the noise isolation alone. If I had the HD500BAM for my HD599s or my old SteelSeries headphones, this would be a no-brainer to use with my old PC so that I don't have to use NVIDIA Broadcast, which bogged down my old PC when playing Star Citizen. Now about the device itself. It's small, which would work great in space-limited setups. The volume slider for headphones and mic input is smooth. No digital display, instead it's just little LEDs for indication of UAC mode, input mode, and filters (7.1 and FPS). It doesn't have a 4.4 mm input jack (not really a problem), but my favorite headphones, the Dunu Mortise, only have a 4.4 and 6.35 connection out of the box. No audible noise floor on it even with a 16 ohm IEM, which is impressive. The custom 8-band PEQ is browser-based, which is slightly annoying but not terrible. I would prefer an app, either PC or phone-based, so I can edit the EQ regardless of internet connection. It's a great gaming DAC, but for music, I would look towards the Fosi K7 or ZH3 over this. On another note, I did have issues switching in-game between FPS, 7.1, and no filters. It seems like the C3 resets between modes, so Farlight 84 did not like audio source switching, and I had to return it to FPS mode to get audio restored. This could have just been how Farlight 84 handles audio sources and not the implementation of Fosi's part but I will look into it more eventually.

This DAC is designed for gaming for enhanced footsteps with various settings. However, it is powerful enough to drive most of the hifi headphones, like beyerdynamic dt 1990 pro, without hiccups. Also it is super small and only needs a single usb cable for power which helped me declutter my small desk. 10/10 highly recommend