Let's start by saying this DAC is awesome.The iFi Hip DAC 3 has much more control, it's easy to use and the features on it are amazing. I also feel that the volume control that IfI Hip DAC 3 uses is really nice. It's easy to turn and that makes it convenient in my eyes. The sound quality stays the same, regardless of how loud or quiet the audio is.The iFi Hip DAC 3 has a pretty wide soundstage depending on what settings you use with it. Using Power Match and IEMatch both did a great job at keeping my IEMs stable and sounding great. It widened the soundstage of my IEMs and it gave me the feeling of actually being in a live performance and the studio.The iFi Hip DAC 3 has great imaging and separation. You would be able to hear the exact locations of the instruments being played in classical and jazz music, other genres too. The great thing about this DAC is that it works with a wide range of speakers, as I have tested.I upgraded the DAC to the latest firmware and I found that it had much better control and had better sound quality overall. The instrument separation improved and the sound got louder and actually made everything more vibrant and bright. I like vibrant and bright because it really adds to the overall sound quality that this amazing DAC is packed with.MQA decoding is actually amazing, using this with Tidal and tried an MQA track. Compared to MQA renderers, full decoders like this one give you much better sound quality. I think the iFi Hip DAC 3 sounds great with both, MQA and FLAC playback.