This week's five reviews cover iFi's redesigned NEO iDSD 3 DAC, Thrustmaster's Airbus flight-stick grip, the EPOMAKER TH65 keyboard, the Kioxia Exceria Pro G2 SSD, and Dell's Pro 5 webcam. The standout value pick is the EPOMAKER TH65 at $59.99, scoring 8.6 out of 10 for its gasket-mounted thocky feel. Not everything earns a buy recommendation: the Kioxia SSD's import pricing swings to $750 versus its expected $340, and the Dell Pro 5 webcam's $119.99 price tag asks too much for solid-but-unremarkable quality. Meanwhile, the Thrustmaster Airbus grip wobbles out of the box, making it hard to justify for everyone.
Five reviews this week: a $60 keyboard, a pricey flight stick, and a webcam to think twice about
iFi's desktop DAC, Thrustmaster's Airbus grip, a $60 EPOMAKER keyboard, a Kioxia PCIe 5.0 SSD, and a Dell webcam that's good but pricey.
Five reviews landed this week, spanning hi-fi audio, flight-sim hardware, a budget mechanical keyboard, a top-tier SSD, and an office webcam. The quality bar varies wildly. Some are easy buys. Others ask you to pay a premium for a brand name you may not need.
Sound and typing
iFi Audio fully redesigned its desktop architecture for the NEO iDSD 3. It centers on a custom Burr-Brown DAC doing PCM 768kHz, DSD512, and full MQA decoding, with upgraded op-amps and WIMA capacitors tuned to cut distortion. JVCKENWOOD's K2 processing is folded in to rebuild lost harmonics, and a Diablo 2-derived amp pushes 2,532mW RMS at 32 ohms. That's enough muscle to drive planar magnetic headphones while staying quiet for sensitive IEMs.
Wireless gets the full modern treatment: Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Lossless, LDAC, LHDC, and aptX Adaptive. Add Nexis app control, balanced PureWave outputs, and a rotating color display, and you've got a compact all-rounder. It sounds mature and clean
NikKTech: iFi audio NEO iDSD 3 Ultra Res DAC & Headphone Amplifier Review
The NEO iDSD 3 by iFi audio focuses on clean, articulate playback with a mature, natural tonality. Its polished analog design and balanced outputs make it an easy fit for any desktop chain.
iFi audio NEO iDSD 3 Ultra Res DAC & Headphone Amplifier Review
The EPOMAKER TH65 makes budget audio feel reasonable by comparison. It's a 65% gasket-mounted board chasing that creamy "thocky" sound, stacking five layers of foam and pads on top of each other. You also get an 8,000mAh battery, tri-mode connectivity, and hot-swappable switches. Funky Kit scored it 8.6 out of 10 and handed it a Recommended Award.
Funky Kit: EPOMAKER TH65 Compact Mechanical Keyboard Review
The EPOMAKER TH65 is a compact mechanical keyboard that aims to deliver a premium typing experience without pushing into the higher price ranges often associated with enthusiast keyboards. With its 65% layout, gasket-mounted construction, hot-swappable switches and wireless connectivity, the TH65 packs an impressive number of features into a relatively small form factor. It also includes an 8000mAh battery, RGB lighting and a rotary volume knob, making it a keyboard designed to appeal to both gamers and everyday users.
EPOMAKER TH65 Compact Mechanical Keyboard Review - Funky Kit
At $59.99 on Amazon US it's the cheapest item here by a wide margin, and it largely earns the value. The catch is the layout itself. No numpad. No function row. If your setup needs either, walk away. The software is functional at best, but that's a minor gripe for a board that types so well.
Flight sims and storage
The AVA Joystick Base already improved on the long-running Warthog, yet Thrustmaster left Airbus fans hanging without a matching grip. Until now. The Airbus Add-On Grip is a 1:1 replica of the A3XX sidestick, complete with the signature red autopilot disconnect button, and it flips to an A400M-style stick via an interchangeable module.
Paired with the $299.99 AVA Base, which lets you swap cams, springs, and damping through T.A.R.G.E.T software, Tom's Hardware says it matches a real Airbus sidestick in turbulence. It's precise, with no center detent and progressively increasing resistance. Not cheap. The grip alone is $129.99, and the base isn't free.
Tom's Hardware: Thrustmaster Airbus Add-On Grip with AVA Joystick Base Review: A First-Class Flight Experience
A highly capable stick and base combo.
Thrustmaster Airbus Add-On Grip with AVA Joystick Base Review: A First-Class Flight Experience
Here's the rub. Out of the box the stick wobbles. Tom's Hardware says you need dampers to fix it, ones you don't get in the box. Add the high price and you've got a premium product that most people won't bother with. The optional fly-by-wire cams were also judged less authentic than the standard setup.
That leads to storage, where things get interesting. The Kioxia Exceria Pro G2 is a PCIe 5.0, NVMe 2.0d M.2 2280 SSD built on OEM-grade parts Tom's Hardware likens to "a Kingston Fury Renegade G5 made for OEMs." You get the Silicon Motion SM2508 controller, Nanya LPDDR4 DRAM, and Kioxia's own 218-layer BiCS8 TLC flash. The 2TB review model reads at 14,900 MB/s and writes at 13,400 MB/s, with 2.25 million IOPS.
Tom's Hardware: Kioxia Exceria Pro G2 2TB SSD Review — Speed built to last
Proven PCIe 5.0 hardware, aimed at dependability
Here's where it gets messy. Kioxia isn't officially distributing this at US retail, so anything you buy imports off Amazon. One listing rings up at $750.36, while the 2TB model is expected to cost closer to $340. That's more than double the going rate on a drive that's already a value pick against the fastest PCIe 5.0 options. It trails the fastest peers anyway, so raw numbers weren't the point. But at $750 you're paying a lot for a name you may not recognize.
Dell's Pro 5 webcam (WB526) is a different story entirely. It's an office-oriented 2K camera in a small, lightweight oval body, doing 2K QHD at 30fps, 1080p at 30fps, and 720p at up to 60fps. A Sony sensor, f/2.0 autofocus lens, HDR, 2× digital zoom, and a 78° field of view round out the optics, with Windows Hello recognition and AI auto-framing bolted on.
Tom's Hardware: Dell Pro 5 Webcam 2K Review: So you can look good in office
Comes with a lock so your coworkers won't steal it.
The image comes out clean and professional in good light. Tom's Hardware's catch is that you shouldn't pay $120 for that quality. Similar output exists for considerably less, and the software tweaks do almost nothing. The non-detachable USB-C cable especially stings for a camera at this price. At $119.99 (or $114.99 on sale) it's fine if you want the Dell badge. Skip it if you'd rather keep that money.
