S.M.S.L DS100 USB MQA DAC with CS43131 Chip 6.35mm & 4.4mm Headphone Amplifier Support MQA MQA-CD XMOS XU-316 32bit/768kHz DSD256 USB/Optical/Coaxial Input Mini USB DAC

Seriously a must-have for DAC/AMP, I can’t even call it a starter despite how good the value is. It functions smoothly as soon as it’s plugged in and easy to drive most of my IEMs and headphones (Truthear Pure and Sennheiser HD58x). And the unit is so small which is actually something I really really like, I can place it anywhere on my desk or move it to a new setup completely. This little thing is so underrated I seriously couldn’t recommend it enough, worth every penny from me. I will say don’t forget to remove the little plastic film, I thought mines was damaged but it’s good as new actually! In my past experience of using headphone drivers I tried the other expensive interfaces like the latest gen Scarlett Solo and absolutely HATED it, they trash the audio, cutoff sound from windows, or other bloat software junk filled in it. This thing has none of that, just connect smoothly and you’re done! I was considering the upgraded version for a bit but this is so compact and nice I wouldn’t change it out for something worth way more in price at this point.

It is a pretty good DAC. Simple to set up, functions well, good sound quality, and overall a very pleasant piece of equipment. One thing to note (definitely on me and not on the company at all), you would need to buy an adapter as well to use it with 3.5mm headphones/IEMs. Kind of wish they threw one in the box so it is compatible with some more standards. I only had one pair to test out the 1/4in jack, and it sounds good, but it is a pair that I don't intend to use with the DAC. Got an adapter so I can plug in my IEMs and got to use it to it's full capabilities after setting it up. Absolutely solid for someone who wanted a simple setup for simply good sound in a much more simple spot on my desk and closer to my head. All through one cable from my PC. Highly recommended for those who want their DAC placement to be a lot more flexible and even be some stylish desk candy to look at. The good sound quality is also a decent bonus on top as well.

Great USB DAC. It was easy to set up and connect to my Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 80-ohm headphones. I connect the DAC to my windows computer which was simple to connect. I also like how compact it is and that it doesn’t take up much desk space. The audio sounds amazing, and I appreciate being able to easily adjust the volume using the physical volume knob instead of controlling it through Windows.

Good quality, great sound quality for their price.

Fantastic DAC, zero noise, completely transparent, perfect for my needs! Using to connect a CD player's coax S/PDIF, and TV's optical S/PDIF to a Fosi BT30D Pro amp. Volume control works great, and is remembered even if it gets disconnected from power. I needed a DAC with volume control over the line output mainly because my CD player's sound output was too high. Measured the USB power consumption and it's only 0.5 watts. I tried the Headphone Amp function and it works great too, but my main use case is DAC to line output, easily switchable between my 2 input sources. The unit looks beautiful and well built. Great job SMSL!

I'm blown away!! I've been listening to Tidal HiFi with my 7hz x Crinacle Zero:2 and HiFiMan HE400SE. What a time to be an audiophile on a budget! With my HiFiMan's, like another reviewer said, they can have a little sibilance when the gain is turned up, but I toned down the 7kHz peak by a few dB and now I can drive them to more than enough volume without any distortion or loss of clarity. Great size, great range of volume with nice small step sizes. What more could I want in a sub $100 dac/amp? I couldn't be happier!! (Got it for $70, open box)

Great

5/25/2024 Update: Reduce my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars for the following reason. I have an old PC with an ASUS Zonar Essence STX sound card. I decided to test it against my new USB DAC. Although the ASUS sound card is a 24bit/192kHz sound card, it performs much better than this 32-bit/ 768kHz USB DAC. It produces much more "space" and clarity. It is much more enjoyable to listen from the sound card than the USB DAC My test is done with the same set of FLAC music with the same set of speakers. Most people are thinking standalone sound is dead because new PC comes sound output from the motherboard. In my experience, the sound from the PC motherboard is not good enough. It seems to be the same with USB DAC. One can't really tell the differences until being able to compare. Anyway, the ASUS Zonar Essence STX sound card has been discontinued for a long time. I'm lucky enough to still have one and functional. ----------- below is the original 4-star review This is a nice plug & play USB DAC for Windows 10. If driver was needed, it was downloaded and installed automatically on my Windows 10. I play many FLAC lossless music at the highest bit rate without any issue. The sound is very clean. However, the spec states it supports 32 bit/768kHz but Windows 10 only shows 32 bit/384kHz (see attached screenshot). I'm not sure if this is an issue with the driver or the spec is inaccurate. Overall, it is a nice USB DAC.

Whaou quel son ! Agréablement surpris, surtout par les basses qui sont vraiment présentes (obligé de les baisser sur mes enceintes (PreSonus Eris 4.5BT). Le son est vraiment qualitatif par rapport à mes cartes son. Reconnu très facilement par mon OS Linux, pas eu besoin de drivers ou autres pour le faire fonctionner. A part çà, je pensais que le bouton sur la façade était le réglage du volume.. Ben non c'est le sélecteur enceinte/casque et sélection usb/coax/opt. A noter que la sortie 4.4 mm headphone n'est pas très répandu en Europe et donc sert pas à grand chose. Attention le son n'est pas amplifié et le volume peut-être un peu faible avec certains casques. Avec mon Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro (80 Ohm), c'est juste suffisant. Mais au final je suis ravi du son produit et donc de mon achat.

ダックを使って本当に変わるの？って認識がガラッと変わる体験でした。 音が一回り細かくなり今まで拾えてなかった音を拾えました。

Excelente producto .

Sorprendente! Appena arrivato questo mini amplificatore mi ha sorpreso per dimensioni, resa audio e versatilità delle connessioni. In pratica lavora con le HD 650 (300 ohm) con le HD 660S (150 ohm) e KLH (32 ohm). Le rese audio sono chiaramente diverse a seconda della personalità della singola cuffia. Mentre scrivo sono con le HD 650 (acquistate 18 anni fa!) connesse in bilanciato, bene senza burning, suonano alla grande. In confronto con amplificatori dal costo dieci volte superiore ci sono notevoli differenze, ma la Portabilità il Prezzo e la Versatilità ne fanno un ottimo acquisto per chi si sposta con il PC. Unica osservazione è la modulabilità del volume che presenta una progressione non troppo lineare e una certa latenza (ritardo nella risposta); forse un mini telecomando anche solo per il volume migliorerebbe un prodotto di qualità/ prezzo già notevole.

great little DAC, No issues