Unboxing the Monoprice Desktop Headphone Amp (PID 11567)

We have a brand new detailed unboxing post for you today! I purchased this with mine own money (that’s a GRRM-ism) when it was on sale at the Monoprice website. It is the Monoprice Desktop Headphone DAC/amp, with the unceremonious model name number of 11567. PID is just Product ID, it is not part of the name 🙂

The unboxing post below is in timeline order. We start with a sealed box and proceed to remove things out of boxes. Because there are many boxes 🙂 Opinion on how it performs and other measurements (weight, cable length, etc) will be in the upcoming review. Please feel free to yell at me if it doesn’t get posted in the future 🙂

On the pictures: please forgive the “potato pictures”. If I wait until I can take perfect pictures, nothing will ever get done and posted 🙂 I am using a lighting contraption with an LED light strip up top ~ you see that in the second picture below. I left it in the picture so you’ll know it’s that ~ you see parts of it in some of the other pictures below that may appear strange and out of the blue 🙂

QUICK NAVIGATION

+ Outside the Box
+ Inside the Box
+ The actual Monoprice DAC/Amp

A SIMPLE BOX

Monoprice is very spartan in its packaging, it won’t win over style-audiophiles 🙂 It’s a plain box with writing on the front, and nothing on the back. You open it by slicing two glue-dots on the back (see the red marks below)…

The front of the box shows the button configuration of the device in two rectangular diagrams. The box also informs us this is Made In China, and its model number is 11567. An easy to remember number as it has two easy patterns 🙂

INSIDE THE BOX – TWO MORE BOXES

Inside the box you will find… two boxes! That’s right, two basic cardboard boxes without any writing on them. The product is in those. One contains the actual headphone amp in a sealed wrapper, and the other contains everything else.

The first box contains the headphone amp itself, and nothing more. The wrapper does not sparkle, it is reflections from the LED lighting strip from my lighting contraption 🙂

The second box contains everything else, first in a group photo, and then individually:

  • Quick Start Guide
  • RCA Cable
  • USB cable
  • AC adapter

The Quick Start Guide “confesses” this uses an audio IC from Texas Instruments (see highlighter below):

For those of you interested in more details on how it is powered, here is a close-up of the specs as written on the AC Adapter brick:

AND NOW, THE ACTUAL MONOPRICE DAC/AMP ITSELF!

We finished with all the boxes and the accessories, now it’s time to take a look at the DAC/amp itself! We start with the front, then we take an angled view, and then we go to the back where most of the action is (in terms of ports and such).

The headphone port on the front is 1/4″. An adapter is not included in the box, but they are easy to find and cost little and less…

And now a look at the back side, with a focus on the two ends. The serial number is on the back, so I cropped it out of the pictures.