NEOHIPO DC10 Stereo DAC Review

[Pelagic]

I've had one in my desktop system for a few weeks, and it's good. Source and power via USB from a desktop PC, amp is a Fosi TB10D, speakers are Dayton Audio MK402X. Cheap, good-sounding near-field system.

 

[amirm]

I can't seem to find this DAC for $48.

Here you go: https://www.ebay.com/itm/405167761521

 

[NEOHIPO]

Nice and thank you! Where this code can be used?


Well, here we expect to hear no difference swapping op-amps, unless you mount one producing massive distortion and noise, in that case one shouldn't use it.
Actually we expect a device to be carefully designed around the stock op-amps used and not the user to mess around swapping them.

You can use it on our US Amazon link. Regarding the design of replacing the OP-AMP, we took into account that everyone's preferred sound style is different, so we only designed this feature for everyone to experience and find their favorite OP-AMP by themselves.

 

[NEOHIPO]

I can't seem to find this DAC for $48.
Amazon says $79.99.
For $80 this is an 'also ran', in my opinion.

You can also use our coupon code (20TLRP1F) to enjoy it for $63.99.

 

[JSmith]

Regarding the design of replacing the OP-AMP, we took into account that everyone's preferred sound style is different, so we only designed this feature for everyone to experience and find their favorite OP-AMP by themselves.

replace the OP-AMP to experience the subtle differences in sound between different OP-AMP chips.

A good little DAC, does what it should and is inexpensive. With respect, please don't encourage this op-amp rolling silliness though.


JSmith

 

[nat1]

Hello everyone, thank you very much for your attention to NEOHIPO. In order to thank ASR's friends for their support, we have applied for an exclusive 20% discount code for ASR: 20TLRP1F. DC10 is our first DAC product, and we welcome everyone to purchase and experience it. If you have any other product suggestions, please feel free to private message us. We will consider every user's suggestion

Will it be available in UK/EU?

 

[NEOHIPO]

A good little DAC, does what it should and is inexpensive. With respect, please don't encourage this op-amp rolling silliness though.


JSmith

Do you think there's anything wrong with this feature?

 

[NEOHIPO]

EOHIPO DC10 USB Mini Desktop DAC Audio Decoder Review

I recently bought the NEOHIPO DC10 USB Mini Desktop DAC Audio Decoder. After using it for a while, I feel that this product is really worth the money.

First of all, the appearance design is very simple and generous, and the size is small, which is very suitable for my desktop and does not take up too much space. The body is made of solid materials, and it feels thick to the touch, giving people a very textured impression.

In terms of sound quality, as a mini DAC, its performance surprised me very much. After connecting to the computer, the audio signal is transmitted via USB, and the sound quality is immediately significantly improved. The sound becomes more transparent, the low frequency is full and powerful, and the high frequency is clear and bright. Especially when listening to some detailed music, you can hear the details that you usually don’t notice. This decoder does a very good job in sound quality restoration.

I also particularly like its plug-and-play function. The connection is simple and there is no need to install complex drivers. It can be used normally after connecting to the computer directly via USB. It is also very compatible and can be used smoothly whether it is Windows or Mac.

The only small drawback is that it is not equipped with an independent volume control knob, and the volume needs to be adjusted on the computer, which is a little inconvenient. However, considering its price and sound quality, this shortcoming is completely acceptable.

Overall, the NEOHIPO DC10 USB Mini desktop DAC audio decoder is very cost-effective, especially suitable for those who want to improve the sound quality but have a limited budget. I am very satisfied with this purchase experience and highly recommend it to everyone.

Thank you very much for your recognition and suggestions. This product is designed for customers who want pure DAC functionality, featuring plug and play, simple operation, and excellent performance. We will carefully consider your suggestion. If volume adjustment is needed, do you think it is necessary to bring a remote control and display screen? Or just need to install a volume knob on the product?

 

[NEOHIPO]

Will it be available in UK/EU?

Yes, it is expected to be launched at the end of October.

 

[Mike Rubin]

Thank you very much for your recognition and suggestions. This product is designed for customers who want pure DAC functionality, featuring plug and play, simple operation, and excellent performance. We will carefully consider your suggestion. If volume adjustment is needed, do you think it is necessary to bring a remote control and display screen? Or just need to install a volume knob on the product?

If the purchaser only uses the optical port for audio and does not have a USB audio input, what amperage must a 5v power adaptor have for proper operation? I assume .9A but I want to be sure before ordering. Thank you.

 

[Wolf11Man]

Spontaneous thought about replacing a Fiio DAC with it, but at $68 they may "enjoy" it them self and keep it in China.

The practice of sending a product in for a review with a low price and instantly doubling it when the (positive) review is published, is all too common now.
How stupid do they think we are?

 

[tccalvin]

Hey @amirm , thank you as always for the kind work. Would love to see Toslink jitter performance and/or IMD if at all possible.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Wow, what a great addition to bypass the DAC in my 1980’s Sony 300 cd player. I think replacing the rubber band belts cost me $25.

 

[Totemis]

Yes, it is expected to be launched at the end of October.

@NEOHIPO I apologize but your DC10 is not available in amazon.fr the 03 november 2024...

 

[Daviede]

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. The goods on our amazon.fr site are still on their way and are expected to be available around November 25th.

@NEOHIPO I apologize but your DC10 is not available in amazon.fr the 03 november 2024...

 

[Count Dacula]

$47 on EBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/405167761521
Tempting.

SU-1 or PS100 compete with it, I suppose. It's priced between them.

Any further thoughts?

 

[Count Dacula]

Sorry, I meant PS 200 and SU-1 seem to compete

 

[rhythms_crazy]

$47 on EBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/405167761521
Tempting.

SU-1 or PS100 compete with it, I suppose. It's priced between them.

Any further thoughts?

I think these might be refurbished units. I got one and one channel is very weak — I expect they will swap it for me but we'll see.

 

[BadAudioAdvice]

For those who have bought the DC10, has anyone been able to get it to work with a Mac? I've tried two different Macs, different cables etc.

No sound. The Coax input works from my CD player, but nothing from my computer.

According to ChatGPT it doesn't work because of poor configuration of their USB audio device. If true what a waste of money.

Here's the output from: ioreg -p IOUSB -l | grep -i -A 10 "NEOHIPO"

+-o NEOHIPO DC10@14100000 <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100001b92, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (3 ms), retain 15> { "sessionID" = 5557445051301 "idProduct" = 1 "iManufacturer" = 1 "bDeviceClass" = 239 "bMaxPacketSize0" = 64 "bcdDevice" = 2 "iProduct" = 2 "iSerialNumber" = 0 "bNumConfigurations" = 1 -- "USB Product Name" = "NEOHIPO DC10" "PortNum" = 1 "non-removable" = "no" "AppleUSBAlternateServiceRegistryID" = 4294974352 "bDeviceProtocol" = 1 "IOCFPlugInTypes" = {"9dc7b780-9ec0-11d4-a54f-000a27052861"="IOUSBHostFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBLib.bundle"} "IOPowerManagement" = {"DevicePowerState"=0,"CurrentPowerState"=3,"CapabilityFlags"=65536,"MaxPowerState"=4,"DriverPowerState"=3} "kUSBCurrentConfiguration" = 1 "Device Speed" = 2 "USB Vendor Name" = "Speed Dragon" "idVendor" = 9770 -- "kUSBProductString" = "NEOHIPO DC10" "kUSBVendorString" = "Speed Dragon" "IOClassNameOverride" = "IOUSBDevice" }

And ChatGPT's analysis...

What We Learned from ioreg Output:​

• Vendor: Speed Dragon (VID: 9770)
• Product: NEOHIPO DC10 (PID: 1)
• Device Class: 239 — this is bDeviceClass = 0xEF, which means:
  

  “Miscellaneous Device Class” — not the standard Audio Class (0x01)

• Device Protocol: 1 (usually Interface Association Descriptor – IAD, common for multifunction devices)
• USB Speed: High Speed (USB 2.0)

---

Why This Is a Problem on macOS​

macOS expects USB audio devices to declare themselves with:

• bDeviceClass = 0x00 or 0x01 (Audio)
• Audio interfaces declared via USB Audio Class 1 or 2 (UAC1/UAC2)

Your DC10 is declaring itself as a “Miscellaneous device” (EFh), which means it’s not fully compliant with USB audio specs. It likely:

• Requires Windows drivers to handle USB-to-audio routing
• Uses a non-standard or semi-proprietary implementation (common in cheap DACs using obscure C-Media clones or Speed Dragon chips)
• Appears functional to macOS but never passes audio data to the analog output

---

Bottom Line​

Your DC10 is not fully class-compliant, and:

• macOS loads it, but audio routing fails silently
• There’s no way to fix this in software — macOS does not allow installing third-party USB audio drivers since Big Sur (for security and stability reasons)

Even though the coaxial input works, USB input is simply not functional on macOS.

 

[rhythms_crazy]

For those who have bought the DC10, has anyone been able to get it to work with a Mac? I've tried two different Macs, different cables etc.

No sound. The Coax input works from my CD player, but nothing from my computer.

I've got it working on a macbook pro. It's an intel-based mac running Ventura.

Maybe this is obvious but be sure to go to your Sound Preferences (or use top menu bar) and choose the NeoHipo as the sound output source, after you have plugged the USB cable into your mac.

I'm using a USB-C connection on both ends, so I can't speak for what happens if you are on a much older mac with just a USB-A output. My mac has no USB-A outputs.

Other issues I ran into:
• Their supplied USB cable has a built-in adapter so that it can work with either USB-A or USB-C. In my experience, it seems like a one-way cable, so if you are indeed going C-to-C (not A-to-C) then be sure the goofy adapter end is in your computer instead of going into the DAC (even if you aren't using the adapter).
• If you are sourcing from USB-A, be sure the USB-C part is plugged into the built-in adapter!! I had at least one instance where I plugged the A-part into my source but forgot to engage the C-part, and it took a moment to realize why nothing was working.
• I also posted above about low/no volume on one channel. I thought I had resolved this by switching away from the supplied cable, but the problem returned a few moments later. I'm starting to think it has something to do with combining power supply with USB audio. For a current-model iPad, there's not an easy way to charge while using USB-out for audio since it just has one port. I found that it works better if I add a Y adapter allowing the iPad to connect two USB-C cables. on an iPhone maybe magsafe would be the workaround. On the macbook pro I thought the battery would be strong enough to power the NeoHipo but it seems to suffer the same problem after a few minutes of being connected to the DAC without external power.