Fosi Audio DS2 Portable DAC & Amp Review

[Kimbrough Xu]

We're getting there. Have to wonder how much longer before we have contact lenses that produce IMAX images together with IEM's and haptic onesie tactile subwoofers to render 24 channel Atmos Netflix programming. And all affordable enough to be bought with a miniscule portion of our monthly UBI direct deposits! Great way to take in The Dark Knight, part 24 on a park bench.

As always, terrific review, Amir.

Yes, I think the current products only focus on visual and auditory, few products pay attention to tactile, it would be a huge iprovement if we can combine auditory and tactile.

 

[Brian Hall]

Dang, Fosi is really not letting Topping rest easy. Pretty impressive, very impressive for the money. The multitone in particular looks great... the only drawback is it's going to chew up your phone's battery, but at least you know that juice is in service of TOTL performance.

This will be at the top of my list if I find myself needing a (decent) portable DAC. Right now I'm using some very questionable dongle I got at the airport...

I have this. When I'm using my phone with a dongle DAC, this keeps the phone battery from running down.

 

[Haint]

Why you want eq on the dongle, you have eq on on your source device surely?

Oh you know, just what is very likely the largest market and use case for headphones by an overwhelming majority. 120 million Playstation 4's, 70 million PS5's, 140 million Switches, 100 million Xbox's, 30+ million Oculus/Meta Quest VR headsets. Just a tiny niche market with no access to source device EQ.

 

[Madlop26]

I already have great performing dongles, It won't sound much different,........I don't really need it.....................ordered! ....I am a lost cause

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

The version Amir reviewed is the 2024 one with Cirrus Logic CS43131. The 2023 one is off sale.

Thanks. Just ordered one from amazon.

 

[Brian Hall]

A big thank you to Amir for the review.

The DS2 is one of our products as we make our entry into the high-performance DAC market. The DAC market is filled with many outstanding companies that everyone is familiar with. We will humbly learn from these companies as we continue to grow, and we hope to follow in their footsteps by bringing Fosi Audio’s unique touch to DACs for audiophiles worldwide. In addition to portable DACs, we’ll soon be introducing a desktop DAC as well.

To show our appreciation for the support from ASR members, we’re offering a special discount code for the DS2. You can use this code on our website to get 20% off your DS2 purchase!
ASRDS220

link: https://fosiaudio.com/products/fosi-audio-ds2-2024-dac-headphone-amplifier

I bought one of these in January. Great sound and plenty of power. I have one recommendation for the next dongle you make.

Copy a feature of the Fiio KA17: It has an extra slot for USB power so your phone battery is not used.

Other than that, this DS2 seems to have just as much amplifier power as the KA17. Great product.

 

[Kimbrough Xu]

I bought one of these in January. Great sound and plenty of power. I have one recommendation for the next dongle you make.

Copy a feature of the Fiio KA17: It has an extra slot for USB power so your phone battery is not used.

Other than that, this DS2 seems to have just as much amplifier power as the KA17. Great product.

But it is a portable dongle, you want bring a power bank together?

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Why you want eq on the dongle, you have eq on on your source device surely?

Why is there PEQ in the Q5K?

And the JA11?

 

[Brian Hall]

But it is a portable dongle, you want bring a power bank together?

For when I use it in my truck or while reading in bed. But now that you mention it, it would be nice to have the option to plug it into a power bank.

 

[Somafunk]

Why is there PEQ in the Q5K?

And the JA11?

Yes, it’s so unfair we don’t have peq in a £40 dongle,

 

[TheWalkman]

The Fosi folks are on fire. Fantastic!

 

[johny_2000]

Recently this post made me doubt the honesty of the DAC chip from CS:

Isn't it a coincidence that the measurements were taken with a 600 Ohm load in this review?

I went ahead and looked at the CS datasheet on this, and @Vamp898 was right. Given the manipulations found with CS's Dynamic Range results, I think they are indeed targeting certain measurement scenarios to show off, but the actual performance is much lower. A kind of CS "Dieselgate" of the DAC world.

 

[Ajax]

The version Amir reviewed is the 2024 one with Cirrus Logic CS43131. The 2023 one is off sale.

Ordered

 

[amirm]

Isn't it a coincidence that the measurements were taken with a 600 Ohm load in this review?

What are you saying? I have tested every type of this product with 600 ohm load. I doubt very much CS has noticed this and specifically targeting ASR this way. 600 ohm is simply the high end of the range, allowing measurements close to desktop which are made at higher impedance yet.

 

[johny_2000]

What are you saying? I have tested every type of this product with 600 ohm load. I doubt very much CS has noticed this and specifically targeting ASR this way. 600 ohm is simply the high end of the range, allowing measurements close to desktop which are made at higher impedance yet.

In the world of portable headphones, which is what this device is intended for, an impedance of 600 Ohms is more of a unicorn than a mainstream value. 16-80 Ohms is more of a norm.

 

[shuppatsu]

In the world of portable headphones, which is what this device is intended for, an impedance of 600 Ohms is more of a unicorn than a mainstream value. 16-82 Ohms is more of a norm.

This is the info you want then.

 

[kemmler3D]

A big thank you to Amir for the review.

The DS2 is one of our products as we make our entry into the high-performance DAC market. The DAC market is filled with many outstanding companies with which everyone is familiar. We will humbly learn from these companies as we continue to grow, and we hope to follow in their footsteps by bringing Fosi Audio’s unique touch to DACs for audiophiles worldwide. In addition to portable DACs, we’ll soon be introducing a desktop DAC as well.

To show our appreciation for the support from ASR members, we’re offering a special discount code for the DS2. You can use this code to get 20% off your DS2 purchase!
ASRDS220

link:
https://fosiaudio.com/products/fosi-audio-ds2-2024-dac-headphone-amplifier
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTHN2QB3
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BJ66KJ2B
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BJ66KJ2B
https://www.ebay.com/itm/296311456320

Man, quite tempting... thanks and great work on this one.

 

[kemmler3D]

PEQ is tough with Macs.

Tough but not impossible, you just have to shell out $40 for Soundsource and then enter your system password 19 times to enable it. The Headphone EQ function will import filters from REW.

 

[johny_2000]

This is the info you want then.

Yes, but this one shows 95 dB SINAD at best due to the elevated noise level that was present during this measurement. So the data is not directly comparable.

 

[jhaider]

Why you want eq on the dongle, you have eq on on your source device surely?

Nope. Source is a very stupid place in the signal chain to put EQ. Better USB-C source hardware doesn't even (to my knowledge, at least) allow it on a global level. And if it's just one sub-source within a source (e.g. streaming app A but not streaming app B) well that's just completely pointless.

That said, this one seems to offer high output with no apparent drawbacks, and it's cheap. If it were more expensive than Qudelix 5K then it would be another who-cares-whatever. But at about half the price, if one can live with the lack of functionality, why not?