– DS2 Portable USB C DAC DSD256 CS43131 Headphone Amplifier HiFi

This is my first DAC. I was not sure what to expect and what improvement it will make to audio. It does improve the sound significantly. Got subscription to Tidal. Now enjoying music on my JBL headphones.

I'm an audio engineer and work in mixing and mastering for over 20 years. I have great dacs from rme for mastering and great headphone amps from different brands, all top of the lines. I was looking to have some portable DAC to use with my mobile and laptop when I wanna listen to music. I have Hifiman Ananda Nano, Hifiman He500, Neumann NDH30, Slate VSX, Sony MDR1A and other pro headphones. So I tried them all, using this Fosi portable DAC, and I was totally in shock. How is that possible? This amp sounded better than the headphone amp in my rme Babyface pro, and Audient Nero monitor station. When used with the Ananda Nano, OMG, it will feel as if I'm having a subwoofer. This thing makes my headphone vibrate without distorting even a touch. My rme distorts at around 60% volume onward. So I decided to master a song on my laptop using both the Ananda Nano and Slate VSX headphone through this Fosi DAC. I sent it to the client and was blown by his reply. He goes that was really fast. It's just perfect. I don't say it's the best DAC, but you can do serious work with it, with such a little price. My wife bought me this as a Christmas gift. I think this is the best spent money in my studio ever.

Works well and provides the needed silence when not listening to something.

Brilliant device. Incredible value for the money. Can easily drive 300ohms cans.

Very happy, wasn't expecting this much clean power. Can drive my Aeon Noiree's to satisfactory levels in balanced mode before going into distortion.

---Update--- Fosi has been communicating with me and been very helpful to solve this issue. They are so nice to deal with and glad to have your business and I'm glad to give them mine. They must have the smartest tech support too to be able get through to me the things they have been able to when I've asked them for help. And they have a lot of very great electronics that most of us can't get enough of! :) ---Original--- I bought a new item and label on box says new too but the round tape that was trying to seal it closed(see picture) was barely left with any adhesive left in it and full of lint as if it had already been opened and tried to be resealed and returned for resale or to be refurbished so I opened it and while opening it it made so much noise from everything loose inside. But I did not buy a used or refurbished item that this appears to be, nothing inside was in place. I figured as long as I had it I might as well give it a listen, so I did. I have many Sabre DAC chip equipped pieces whether in phones or dedicated DAC/amps and most recently a dongle from HiBy, an FC4 and I thought this would be a nice change getting away from ESS chips and give Cirrus chips a go, I couldn't be more surprised when A/B testing them(from memory((from side by side))) that are so very similar. I don't possess the words to describe how minimal the differences there are between the 2 chips are when used in these 2 applications, it is really amazing. I was expecting a lighter, relaxed, atmospheric, type of performance from the DS2 but it is every bit as analytical as the HiBy and Sabre chips. Still worth having both to me by the way, due to power gains had in the Fosi DS2. You wouldn't guess there were gains in power made in by the DS2 until it's about half way turned up then it's just thick and loud sound. Beautiful, thick and loud. I don't quite know how adjustability is done on the DS2, I think instructions suggest downloading the HiBy music player app which in all fairness has very many types of adjustments DACs it's just that the player itself seems to be causing a lit of problems for me, so I'd use it for adjustments and go back to your normal player for your music and and streamer once done with adjustments. That's just what I've found to be best for adjustability on HiBy and may not be true of Fosi. Oh also, the HiBy player tries to load twice when I plug in my USB dongle, so I uninstall the player until I want adjustments. Crazy but true. Lol Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this Fosi DS2, I wish it shipped looking like it was actually new and left me not questioning, but it sure seems like a high performance, very high quality, very great value. Performing equal to many above it's weight class and caliber. I'm so surprised it sounds nearly identical to the Sabre DAC chips that I'm used to, I've read so much about Cirrus and thought I knew what I was getting into. I pleased with the sound and will keep the DS2 as part of my setup due it's power alone and clean power at that. And Fosi is now a part of my future equipment too! This really impressed me. I hope I've been helpful, Thank you.

La verdad es que si hay una gran diferencia al usar este aparato con unos buenos audífonos, ojo hay que usar fuentes de buena calidad si quieres sacar el mejor provecho yo uso Apple Music y hay canciones que vienen en Hi-Fi y se oyen de maravilla, como por ejemplo el álbum de Pink Floyd The Wall

This Cirrus CS43131 based DAC/ Amp "dongle" combo is a little wonder. I decided to give it a try after reading the positive review on Audio Science Review. I was on the lookout to replace my aging FiiO Alpen portable DAC and this appeared to be the perfect replacement. It is has a diminutive size and no rechargeable battery which makes it light and eminently portable. It does take power from the unit it is hooked on but the drain is not all that bad especially if used with efficient headphones, especially IEMs. External volume controls and an additional (unheard at this price) balanced headphone out add incredible value to an already fully featured unit. For actual measurements and all that jazz you can refer to the extensive set performed by Audio Science Review. Long story short for the TL:DR people, the measured performance is exceptional, rivaling good desktop/ dedicated DACs/ Amps, featuring low noise/ distortion/ jitter, high linearity/ dynamic range, great filtering and very decent distortion free output power (43mW into 300 Ohm load and 172mW into 33 Ohm load). I tested this unit hooked up to my iPhone 13 Mini, iPad Air 6 (M2) and to my PC Workstation, running iTunes/ Apple Music/ Foobar2000/ JRiver MC33. The headphones tested with it were: HiFiMan HE400i and RE-400, PSB M4U, Beyer DT240 Pro, Final E-4000, Moondrop CHU II. I am very familiar with these headphones, I used some of them for years hooked up to some pretty decent pieces of gear in my possession, such as Accuphase and NAD preamps, Arcam, Denon, Rotel, Topping or SMSL DACs and my Nak, Oracle analog front ends. Now, with the name dropping aside, I will touch briefly onto the sound of this unit. This diminutive DAC/Amp had no problem driving any of the above mentioned headphones, including the HE400i, whose planar design is generally posing a challenge to portable gear. The Fosi DS2 handled everything with poise and grace, without any hint of distortion or clipping. As for the "sound" itself... well it sounds like nothing, as it should. The Fosi DS2 has no "character" of its own so does neither add nor subtract anything from the signal it is being fed. Similarly with any true high resolution/ high fidelity playback unit, the music comes thru clear and uncoloured, faithfully representing the recording or the material being played. I like using a FLAC version of the Triangle CD Demo, which has pretty much everything you want in terms of sound, from closed miked voices and instruments to large orchestral ensembles, from intimate jazz tunes to big dynamic swinging symphonic pieces or glass shattering, garage door banging sounds. This recording, along Pink Floyd's DSOTM and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II are the ones I'm typically relying upon in this kind of subjective testing. There isn't a hint of harshness, sibilance, bloom or any of those things professional gear reviewers sometimes use to describe what they hear. The Fosi DS2 would leave these reviewers with almost nothing to say really, its musical performance reflects closely the unit’s exemplary, almost textbook perfect bench performance. 100% recommended, this diminutive DAC/ Amp unit punches way above its weight. It matches or it exceeds performance at almost any price level.

アップルのヘッドフォンジャックアダプタを最初に購入しましたが、スマホ側の音量をMAXにしても音が小さかったので、こちらを購入しました。結果、満足できる音量を設定できるようになり、買って本当に良かったです。 ​​​​​​​

I have been using this since six months & really enjoying it. Mostly I use this to listen Apple music as it has hi res audio support with lossless audio content. With fossi ds2 dac the experience is next level