Fosi Audio DS2 Portable DAC & Amp Review

[tccalvin]

Damn, I missed this review entirely! Wondering if buying the Fiio KA17 was the right decision...(though it does have a PEQ, and works flawlessly with UAPP / Android)

If it sounds good, then yes!

 

[Bernard23]

If it sounds good, then yes!

It was more a question of ££ or $$ than SQ, but yeah, it sounds just like all my other DACS, including my LG V30.

 

[dlovesmusic]

Received my ds2 today. Installed the HD bravo driver in windows 11, no luck with dsd. In Linux I was able to do dsd128 dop.

Any ideas if there might be an updated firmware or maybe asio driver?

Cheers

 

[ears-of-steel]

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.

Thanks for yet another excellent review, Amir. Anyway, don't know if I'm the only one here who'd love to see dongle DACs tested with a 16 Ohm load (lots of IEMs) especially those CS based DACs without external OPAs of which you've tested quite a few lately. As some other folks have pointed out the performance of those dongles starts to go downhill at those lower loads.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Just a brief follow-up to this - I've moved my office recently with the result that I can now use my RME ADI-2 DAC with the new super-duper Windows 11 laptop. In all fairness to Fosi, the RME is just as bad for crackles and pops and dropouts. You don't get the weird fade-ins, but the DAC is more or less unusable with this ostensibly state of the art portable computer. So it seems that the only DAC I have that works properly with a Windows 11 computer with all the latest top of the range hardware is a prehistoric Arcam rPAC!

 

[Viper780]

I have here several modern Windows 11 desktop PC and Notebooks and none of them produce any crackls or pops on several audiointerfaces.

The Fosi DS2 has cleared customs last Monday on should be here on Monday. I'll check with it than. But when I look in modern studios than there are plenty Windows Notebooks besides the MacBook. If this is really a problem than we would have heared it

 

[Hammeredklavier]

I have here several modern Windows 11 desktop PC and Notebooks and none of them produce any crackls or pops on several audiointerfaces.

The Fosi DS2 has cleared customs last Monday on should be here on Monday. I'll check with it than. But when I look in modern studios than there are plenty Windows Notebooks besides the MacBook. If this is really a problem than we would have heared it

I'm just getting the feeling that the drivers don't play nicely with Windows 11 laptops. Apart from the ancient Arcam ones, which work fine.

 

[Labjr]

I'm just getting the feeling that the drivers don't play nicely with Windows 11 laptops. Apart from the ancient Arcam ones, which work fine.

I'm not having any problem with Windows 11.

 

[Noricha]

Here no driver installed, just connected and detected by W11. tested on 2 PC towers: no crack or pop, stable with Windows, stable with Equalizer APO. For me it's perfect.

 

[bravomail]

Here no driver installed, just connected and detected by W11. tested on 2 PC rounds: no crack or pop, stable with Windows, stable with Equalizer APO. For me it's perfect.

I find DS2 slightly bright. Elevated highs? (compared to Topping L30 which recently died)

 

[Hammeredklavier]

Here no driver installed, just connected and detected by W11. tested on 2 PC rounds: no crack or pop, stable with Windows, stable with Equalizer APO. For me it's perfect.

Perhaps it's just this Lenovo laptop then. It's their top spec instrument of death, but it seems to have quite a few very annoying flaws. It doesn't play nicely with the Fosi DAC, but it isn't very much better with the RME one, in all fairness.

 

[mc.god]

Perhaps it's just this Lenovo laptop then. It's their top spec instrument of death, but it seems to have quite a few very annoying flaws. It doesn't play nicely with the Fosi DAC, but it isn't very much better with the RME one, in all fairness.

looking at rPAC advertised compatibility with win XP, could it being usb class 1 and your Windows 11 having some strange issue with class 2 devices like DS2 and ADI2? If that's the case, maybe searching a way to reinstall windows 11 native uac2 drivers could help.

 

[mbutzaudio89]

Is there any reported issue when using it with a Google Pixel 6A phone?

 

[Viper780]

I've used the DS2 with my pixel 6a about 5h in the last two days and couldn't hear any issues

 

[mbutzaudio89]

I'm assuming the discount code has expired.

 

[boarbon]

I purchased mine from Amazon in the UK over the weekend, £59.49 after applying a 15% coupon. Have to say I'm impressed, only used it with my macbook so far but the unit works as it should and the sound quality is great.

 

[RichySounds]

To those using with Windows and experiencing stuttering/dropouts, try using a different USB-C cable to the one supplied in the box, seems to have fixed it for me, couple of slight pops, but no skips, was getting dropouts every 10 seconds or so.

No idea why a cable would make a difference, maybe they are designed for phones for some reason? So, we were right all along, cables DO make a difference and DO sound better

Tried changing the USB power settings as suggested but I'm already on Ultimate Power settings, so already off/disabled and uninstalling the drivers didn't help.

I was also experiencing this on a Fiio KA3, which I assume is exactly the same thing, in a different enclosure?

HTH?

Rich

 

[roladyzator]

To those using with Windows and experiencing stuttering/dropouts, try using a different USB-C cable to the one supplied in the box, seems to have fixed it for me, couple of slight pops, but no skips, was getting dropouts every 10 seconds or so.

No idea why a cable would make a difference, maybe they are designed for phones for some reason? So, we were right all along, cables DO make a difference and DO sound better

Tried changing the USB power settings as suggested but I'm already on Ultimate Power settings, so already off/disabled and uninstalling the drivers didn't help.

I was also experiencing this on a Fiio KA3, which I assume is exactly the same thing, in a different enclosure?

HTH?

Rich

Could be noise and I suppose a different cable can help there (different shielding, perhaps?).

I don't get any dropouts on Lenovo T460S (2016 model), but I get dropouts on a Lenovo L14 Gen 2 (a 2022 model), both running Windows 10.

My playback system is a Presonus Sub8 BT subwoofer, connected via balanced TRS to Edifier MR4.
The sub has a 3-pin power plug, the MR4 have a two-pin one (and it's just one cable that covers both speakers) so there's no ground loop there.
However, I connect unbalanced output of DS2 to the unbalanced input of the subwoofer, thus introducing a ground loop.

The T460S laptop and my monitor have 3-pin power plugs.
However, I power the L14 from the USB-C port of the monitor, for both video and power transmission.

Now then the DS2 is connected to T460S, the ground loop is very faint, to the point it doesn't bother me and I don't see the point of getting a balanced cable to the subwoofer.
With the L14, it's very loud, unless I disconnect the monitor.

I have a hunch that if I connect L14 to the monitor's HDMI for video, and power it from it's own power brick, I might get less audible ground loop and perhaps less dropouts.

 

[RichySounds]

To those using with Windows and experiencing stuttering/dropouts, try using a different USB-C cable to the one supplied in the box, seems to have fixed it for me, couple of slight pops, but no skips, was getting dropouts every 10 seconds or so.

No idea why a cable would make a difference, maybe they are designed for phones for some reason? So, we were right all along, cables DO make a difference and DO sound better

Tried changing the USB power settings as suggested but I'm already on Ultimate Power settings, so already off/disabled and uninstalling the drivers didn't help.

I was also experiencing this on a Fiio KA3, which I assume is exactly the same thing, in a different enclosure?

HTH?

Rich

Yeah, no, still doing it.

It might have something to do with listening to 2 audio streams, as it only seems to do it when another app is playing audio

I'm playing a game at the same time so Window$ might be mixing 2 streams.

Also, it's not a skip, it's more like a stop and fade in, so is it continually restarting? It's not getting hot, so can't see it a thermal cut-out issue.

 

[Mort]

DS2 was perfect to connect my A70 Pro headphone amplifier to the USB of a Wiim Amp (and pro).