Lavaudio DS400 Portable DAC Headphone Amplifier

I was recently given an opportunity to review the Lavaudio DS400 and although I was reluctant to do so.  Wow!!!  Am I glad I did!  Being a long time and hardcore audiophile, I have been blessed to own some of the finest DACs ever created.  All I can say is that the Lavaudio DS400 is a pocket rocket (for the size and price it does what my full size DACs can do)!Being a musician and a certified audio engineer, I know exactly what instruments should sound like when listening to a recording.  I know the nuances of when a guitarist is using either his neck or bridge pickup.  Whether it's a single coil pickup or a humbucker.  And if it's a classic Marshall Plexi or a Mesa Boogie amp. Or if a bass player is using a Fender or a Rickenbacker bass. Recreating what was done in the studio is part of how I judge a DAC.  While many reviewers will use the terms such as soundstage, a balanced sound with a great bottom end and an extended top end (which is fine).  What a DACs primary job is to convert digital into analog (real life.  That's what we hear when we talk to each other in person).  And this is where the DS400 shines!  I know exactly what a 1959 Gibson Les Paul should sound like and this DAC/Amp combo nails it!!!  It not only recreates every instrument from drums to bass to violins, etc.  Because of this, you get what many audiophiles describe as a warm sounding playback.  That's a result of what analog sounds like versus a cold digital sound!  This DAC breathes life into your recordings (that's of course if you are using a good source vs say a MP3).  Also, too often you hear audiophiles say, the treble was rolled off.  Well guess what, if the original recording has the treble rolled off, you don't want your DAC recreating something that was never there!  And as for the details, this DAC shines as every instrument can be easily isolated.  Let's just say when I was setting up the unit, I thought I would take a quick 30 minutes.  That 30 minutes ended up being several hours!  I had to force myself to stop (it took many attempts).  That's how much I enjoyed this unit!!!And while I won't get technical (I will say the jitter reduction is awesome!).  Before you do anything, pickup some rubber adhesive feet (I always have these in my drawer) to stick on the bottom of the unit and go to Lavaudio's website and download their driver (I used a Windows 10 computer for this review) so when your DS400 arrives you are good to go!Just A Quick Update: To get the most out of your DAC (if you're using Windows 10). Go to your Settings, choose System, Sound, Device Properties . Look for Additional Device Properties and click on that and you should see a new Window that opens. Look for Advanced and click on that tab and you should see a drop down menu. Here is where you can set your bit rate and sampling. Of course the higher the number the better your sound. Enjoy!P.S. If you bring strings & cups as your listening device to the table you are not going to benefit from this or any 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.

I have a number of high end wired headphones and have used portable amplifiers in the past. I was looking for an upgrade with a USB-C connection and came across this product. The sound quality is fantastic but the device has a couple issues that are bothersome but didn't impact my overall opinion.While I was only looking for a portable amplifier I decided to use it with my laptop and was amazed at how much better the sound was than when my headphones were plugged directly into the laptop. I definably recommend installing the driver from their web site to access additional settings.Phone: Pixel 6 ProLaptop: Lenovo X1 YogaPros:* Small size* Ability to be powered by phone if needed* Plenty of different outputs* Wonderful sound qualityCons:* External power can only be provided by a USB-A to USB-C cord. A USB-C to USB-C doesn't work* When connecting a USB-C cord to my phone it only works when plugged into the unit with the connector a certain way. Normally it doesn't matter with a USB-C plug.I purchased mine directly from the vendor and not through Amazon.

I like how the volume button feels I got good cables for it sound quality is nice could be more powerfull

really didn't make that much difference in sound

this is not a dac. I don't know what is this. This is a useless stuff. Personal device doesn't recognize this device. Computer doesn't know what kind of audio device is this.