NZXT Switch Mix Review

I’m not sure if the Switch Mix is a wholly new idea, but I’ve never seen anything like it and after using it for about a month, I’m all in. The combination of a headphone stand that communicates with your computer is fabulous and really seems to understand how real people use their equipment. 

Sometimes desktop gear is a solution in search of a problem, but not the Switch Mix: this legitimately addresses a pain point I didn’t even realize I had, and I really appreciate what NZXT did here. 

NZXT Switch Mix – Design and Build

Part of what makes the Switch Mix so great is that it’s remarkably simple. At first glance, it just looks like a desktop headphone stand, but where your headphones rest is a pressure-sensitive pad that tells the DAC that it should send audio to attached speakers. When you lift the headphones, the pad senses that and tells the DAC to then send the audio to the headphones. 

I’ve mentioned the DAC a couple of times, and that’s a small, rectangular box that sits on the base of the stand and acts as the brains of the operation. Not only does it control where audio is sent, it also is a 24-bit/96 kHz digital-to-analog converter that allows the digital signal from your computer to be turned into an analog signal that your speakers and headphones can understand. All computers have one, but the quality of that DAC is always the first thing I point to when someone is complaining to me about bad audio output.

As a note, for most general use cases, people are probably good with a 16-bit DAC, but for anyone who takes their audio seriously or is a professional, 24-bit is a must. Seeing the latter here on the Switch Mix, along with the 96 kHz support for wide frequency ranges (this is the same as the high-impedance headphone support on the Apple Mac Studio, for example), is a big thumbs up. 

The Switch Mix DAC features two 3.5mm jacks, one on the front and one on the back. The front input is meant for your headphones while the one on the back is designed for your speakers. It connects to your computer using a USB-C to USB-A connection. The final port is how the Switch Mix knows when a headphone is placed on the stand, which connects via a well-cable-managed route on the base of the stand and into the back of the DAC.

The top of the Switch Mix features a large tactile volume control dial along with a fader that lets you decide audio priority between game volume and the volume of your voice chat. All of it feels nice and well made, and the tactile feel of both the volume dial and the fader are excellent. 

The DAC unit features four rubber feet on each corner and the base of the Switch Mix stand has an array of 11 by 13 dimples across it that the feet can sit in, but because of the size of the DAC, it really only fits in a few configurations and none of them are particularly different from one another. 

It might seem weird to separate them like this, but I imagine NZXT chose to separate them in case one piece broke or if you wanted to use them independently, a decision that I appreciate. 

NZXT Switch Mix – In Use

The pressure pad at the point where you rest your headphones is basically the only place I have any negative feedback about the Switch Mix. When you lift the headphones off the stand, audio switches to them from the speakers. When you place the headphones back, the audio goes back to the connected speakers. 

The process is nearly immediate and seamless outside of a small burst of louder speaker volume when taking the headphones off that lasts less than a second before it sends the audio to the headphones. That sudden burst of loudness, especially if the speakers were already playing loudly, can be a bit unsettling, but I think it is something NZXT could fix with a firmware update. 

Speaking of firmware, while the Switch Mix works just fine out of the box without installing any software, you gain some additional features when you use NZXT’s CAM software. In the audio section, you can change what color the LEDs on the volume dial are and change the EQ settings. 

Of note, the EQ settings are meant to be used in tandem with NZXT’s Relay Headset, so your mileage may vary when using another headphone. There are several pre-installed options in the app, but you can also manually set your EQ to whatever you like. You can also toggle spatial audio support (DTS 7.1 surround sound is supported) on and off. 

Of note, it doesn’t appear as though the EQ works with a connected speaker. Even with NZXT’s own Relay Speakers, the EQ adjustments did nothing, even when the Switch Mix knew headphones were not actively being used. 

Audio quality out of the Switch Mix is great, and I have no complaints. I compared it to another similar DAC and I could not hear a difference and the actual usability advantages of NZXT’s offering make it well worth the $130 cost of entry.