At my desk, I listen to music most of the day and I find myself adjusting the volume and tracks a lot. I have a multimedia keyboard, but having a dedicated knob for volume is so much quicker and more reliable than the keyboard keys. Once you try it, it’s hard to go back. The fact that this has Back, Play/Pause, Forward, and Mute is just a bonus.
The craftsmanship of this device is very good. Better than expected, actually. The metal casing and beveled edges look and feel premium. The only place I think there’s room for improvement is the potentiometer (the turning mechanism under the volume knob). Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, but there is this ever so slight wobble to it that makes me feel like it’s 3.5/5 or 4/5 stars. If you’ve ever turned knobs on high-end audio equipment, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Which brings me to the cost. I feel like this is priced slightly higher than it deserves. If the knob was better, I would say totally worth the price. As is, it’s only worth it because there is nothing better that I can find.
A couple other notes worth mentioning: I used this on Windows 10 and macOS 10.15 with no issues. The non-skid rubber bottom is a fantastic idea. And finally, the knob softly clicks as you rotate it. Which makes perfect sense to me now, but for whatever reason I had expected it to be smooth. All in all, this is a great device and I think you’ll be happy with it if this is the kind of thing you are looking for.