Lavaudio DS400 USB DAC

I bought this so I could get away from my Sound blaster card that didn't play well with linux. This thing is great. If you use it on linux make sure to get your config files right, or you might not be able to use the optical/digital outputs. I am not an audiophile by any stretch, however, I can say the audio is much better than the motherboard onboard sound chip. The sound blaster card had audio quality that was just as good, when it worked. If you want an external sound card this thing is great.

I loved how easy this was to setup - just plug and play. Sounded great. Build quality was better than expected and everything just worked!

This is a new product from 1Mii; having had a couple of their other products (a Bluetooth transmitter and a Bluetooth adapter, both of which work very nicely) I took a chance and purchased it with the $30 off amazon coupon shown in the item listing.

The Lavaudio DS400 is portable desktop and mobile DAC and headphone amplifier that supports 768K/32Bit and Native DSD512 (Direct Stream Digital, with sampling rate being 512 times that of CD audio). Searching a bit around shows that the DS400 uses ESS's new flagship ES9038Q2M DAC chip and the XMOS XU208 embedded microcontroller chip solution, with 1,000 MIPS of random-access memory which is much higher than the older U8 solution (500 MIPS). With these two chips the Ds400 can decode up to 768kHz/32 bit and DSD64-DSD512.

The DS400 can also handle low or high impedance headphones with a total power output of up to 140.5mW under a 32Ω or 600Ω load. It also supports a variety of outputs: 3.5mm single-ended and a 4.4mm balanced headphone out/RCA line-out outputs, with optical and coaxial inputs supporting up to PCM 44.1-192 kHz and DSD64 outputs.

Ok, so the hardware specs look great. What about in practice?

This is a small unit which is powered by your laptop/desktop (which are the PC platforms I tested, running Windows 10 Pro - make sure you install the drivers first). Using it is very easy, just plug it into your computer with a USB-C or USB-C to A cable, then connect it to your headphones or home speakers, turn it on, and enjoy. You can adjust the gain (low or high), volume via a continuous knob, and a hardware bass boost switch actually works and does a great job. The sound quality is one word, outstanding, and simply cannot be compared with the raw sound quality from your laptop (it is so much better!).

I also briefly tested it with an Android phone (OnePlus 6T, running Android 11) and it worked just as well. However, you should know that the DS400 gets its power from the source (i.e., PC or phone) and so running it for a long time from your phone will drain its battery. My guess is that you can connect a powerbank that supplies DC5V/1A to its USB 5V IN port to power it longer, but I did not have one so could not try this.

Overall, this is a small, easy to use, and very capable device which transforms your laptop/desktop's sound to another level - highly recommended.

Awesome sound quality from a USB DAC.

Lavaudio DS400 USB DAC