Audioengine 32-bit D1 Portable Desktop Headphone Amp and DAC, Preamp, USB/Optical Inputs, Hi-Res Audio Playback (2nd Gen)

Should have 10 stars - this is an amazing unit: vastly better quality than a built-in sound card - noticeable even it you are not an audio specialist - transforms your computer into a high end hifi device. For best quality of course the original material must be good: It is worth using with with CDs, Spotify (Premium quality 320bps), high-quality wav & FLAC, my own 24bit 96000Hz recordings, and 32bit 96000Hz from Ardour (see below). If you want to do sound editing the D1 is a must - every detail can be heard on good headphones (or good amp & speakers). It works out of the box with Linux (tested with Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04) with the standard PulseAudio setup. For high-end editing in Linux I suggest Jack (install Qjackctl) and Ardour (get the latest from their website). Plug the D1 into the machine and do a reboot. To configure Jack see https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/JACK_Audio_Connection_Kit (Install & Configure Jack). Start up Jack before starting Ardour (at the end close Ardour before stopping Jack). The new session can be 96000Hz/32 bit float. If you are going to import wav files (it cannot import mp3s - on the grounds that these compromise quality - you could use Audacity to convert these to wav) then 24bit/96000Hz wavs will import well and be converted to 32bit float (best for editing as it gives headroom for the inevitable noise that results from applying effects). Ardour is amazing - there are lots of sites that can give online help - all its effects are applied non-destructively - and free plugins are available. Ardour functions well with mid-level hardware (eg Latitude D530, Inspiron 10z) - and you could install indicator-cpufreq which will allow you to get the most from the cpu. The Audioengine D1 is beautifully built - neat, strong, perfect design - a jewel of a unit!

My Audioengine D1 USB / optical / DAC was delivered and works exactly as I expected. I am very pleased so far. It has a good air of "quality manufacture and robust construction". It is very easy and logical to use, and the performance / sound quality is very good with no noise. I have experimented, trying to "catch it out" and very occasionally after unplugging and re-plugging the supplied USB cable (between laptop and D1), I have encountered mild "playback stutters", but turning power off (the button on the D1), then back on, always seems to overcome the problem. I can now play all my mp3 collection from my Toshiba Laptop (ripped from my CD collection at the highest bit rate allowed by the Microsoft Software). My “HiFi” speakers are either side of my TV, so I can also play sound from "Youtube" and “catch-up TV” from the Toshiba through them from my laptop to accompany watching their pictures via hdmi. The sound quality from both "Youtube" and “catch-up TV” is very good. "Plug and play" with the D1 so far works seamlessly on my laptop with MS Windows 8.1. The power button LED is bright (white), but because of the cabling, it faces away from me so I don't see it (hence the dim glow is good for letting me know if the unit is "powered up"). The D1 "on-off power button" is actually very convenient, as is the "volume" knob (during play of, for example, an mp3, if the D1 is switched off using its "on-off power button", the music is then automatically switched to the laptop's speakers, then on re-powering the D1, the laptop speakers are switched off, and the output to my "HiFi" speakers is gently re-applied). The operation has exactly the logic I would expect. BACKGROUND TO MY REQUIREMENT: I was happy enough using an old Dell laptop PC as an mp3 player via its internal (DAC) sound card through my Cambridge analogue amp and some old "Acoustic Research" speakers (my entire ripped CD collection is on the Dell hard drive). However, the Dell battery failed, so I can now only run it from the mains power supply and the noise pick up from the analogue cables was terrible (I had the cables connected to the headphone output on the Dell). I have all the same mp3 files on the hard drive of my Toshiba laptop, but for an unknown reason, I got nothing when I tried to drive my Cambridge amplifier from the headphone output on the Toshiba. By contrast, the D1 is powered from a USB connection with the laptop (no internal rechargeable battery), and uses the USB as the digital source, hence, I can use it on either my old Dell laptop or my Toshiba laptop. The D1 does have a headphone amp, but no balance or frequency controls (only headphone output adjustment via the D1 knob). But the main reason I wanted the D1 was for its stereo-phono outputs to connect my existing analogue cables to my Cambridge amplifier. My Cambridge amplifier then gives very good gain / balance / frequency control. The D1 gives me future options for use of USB or optical inputs.

The device definately improved the sound quality. A pair of Creative speakers sounded far lot better through the Audioengine device than connected directly to laptops 3,5 mm socket. The slight downside is that there is not possible to change the sound - no equalizer or any other kind of adjustment. I have a pair of quite decent headphones and when connecting those everything sounds just so... dull. Clean and perfect but just dull. All in all - good device.

Increíble el sonido de este DAC en conjunto con los altavoces Audiengine A2+, me dejaron gratamente sorprendido, soy usuario de Bowers & Wilkins y Focal, pero el DAC junto con los altavoces tienen un muy bien sonido, agudos claros, los tweeters de seda trabajan muy bien y los drivers de kevlar no decepcionan, ¡Producto altamente recomendable!!!!!!

My bookshelf Bluetooth speakers have analog RCA input along with Bluetooth. And I was always wondering how they would sound with the signal via RCA inputs. And it worked! With this DAC connected, (how I understand) I eliminated sound-degrading Bluetooth transmission, substituted speakers' DAC with this premium one and sent pre-amplified signal directly to speakers' amplifier. The result is awesome - I got a premium version of my speakers! Even when listening to a less sophisticated music as a popular genre track in mp3 quality I hear an improvement in sound quality, like my speakers are 30% better - better bass, better treble and deeper, clearer sound. But when it comes to music like modern jazz and a track is higher than CD quality, OMG. It will now take longer before I'm spending on new speakers. Rich in sounds music, when quality of recording is high, appreciates if a device is capable of reproducing 24bit/96kHz sound. Apparently, I can not get such a high quality sound from my relatively inexpensive speakers, but, for sure, they get the best possible input signal.I have to mention it's not always just plug-and-play and get good sound. In the beginning I couldn't figure out why this DAC was not providing good sound being connected to my Chromebook - I just had devices connected to other USB ports and the Chromebook, probably, didn't have enough resources for all. In a Windows computer there are a few things to be checked if something is going wrong - specifically, Sound and Power Options settings in the Control Panel. By the way, a streaming service I use shows my Chromebook is able to process 24bit/48kHz sound quality at max, but it's above CD-quality anyway. And when this DAC is connected to the Windows desktop, my streaming service says music (selected tracks) will be played with 24/96 quality. A tip: "Power on" light on the D1 is the power on/off button too :)

Audioengine N22 (ampli) + Audioengine P4 (enceintes) + Audioengine D1 (DAC) L'ensemble fournit un son d'une très grande qualité musicale. Y compris dans les basses. Sans doute les A5+ sont-elles plus intéressantes pour le Home Cinema. Mais pour la musique, les P4 sont mieux ! Il y'a moins de basses, le son est plus clair. Je suis TRÈS satisfait. Enceintes : super Ampli : super. On peut même faire jouer source 1 et source 2 en même temps (pas besoin d'appuyer sur un bouton pour passer de l'une à l'autre) DAC : plus l'ordinateur est pourri, plus ça change tout ! Avec ça le son est bon, très bon, incontestablement meilleur que quasi partout où vous irez. Pour le DAC, si vous utilisez linux il vous faudra un "sound server" tel que "pulseaudio" (il est installé par défaut sur la plupart des distributions). En effet, la carte son du DAC n'accepte qu'une seule source à la fois (=pas possible d'émettre du son simultanément dans deux logiciels différents).

This is a very preliminary review, but I think it's still worth providing to help others. First, when I was reviewing the product info, it said it was plastic. I thought that was kinda whack given the cost and the quality of my Audioengine A5 speakers. However, upon opening the amazingly-well packaged box, it turns out most of the DAC is really metal, even the volume knob is metal. The only plastic on the outside is the edges of the box (the black in the picture; the grey is metal) and the power button. Like I said, this was very well packaged. It shipped in an Audioengine box, but a branded shipping box: inside was another box for the DAC. That box in and of itself could've survived shipping, but I appreciate that it was double boxed. Inside the DAC box was a nice piece of soft foam, and the components were snuggled inside heavier duty foam. (I don't know what the different types are called, but this isn't your typical white styrofoam like for a cooler). It also includes a carrying bag if you wanted to travel with the DAC, but the bag would mostly just protect against scratches. However, given the metal construction, I don't think you need much more than that. Setup was super easy once I realized I made a mistake: I kept thinking I needed two USB cords, one for audio input (I have optical out, but not a cable) and one for power. No, the USB cord, which is included, provides both power and audio. I was looking at picture in the manual thinking it was the front telling me that's where the USB audio input was, but after I double-checked, that was really the back of the DAC, then I read it closer and realized my mistake. It was 100% my fault. I write user manuals for a living so I can say with confidence this is one of the best I've encountered. I just didn't drink enough coffee. Compatibility: it works with my Audioengine A5s with no problem, which is part of the reason I bought this DAC. Yes, it has other great reviews, and, yes, my speakers are the bomb dot com, but having no doubts that it would work before it even arrived gave me peace of mind. To my untrained ear, everything sounds fantastic. I mostly stream music, and it sounds fantastic. I'll see what my music teacher/musician wife thinks, but she'll most definitely agree. I should note that I don't have a subwoofer, but whether it's the speakers or the DAC, the music still sounds fine. I'll put it through the paces gaming at another time, but I can't imagine anything would be different. Now, when I write my reviews, I try my best to not just gush over how great everything is so it doesn't appear as though my review is fake or paid for. The only thing I can think of from only having used the product probably no more than an hour is that I wish more cables were included. It's nice that it comes with a USB cord, but I had to dig through my box of cables for an RCA cable, and I'm not sure I even know what an optical cable looks like to see if I have one of those. I do understand the choice not to include these things because everyone's setup is different, and it minimizes waste, but it still would've been nice. I'm not deducting stars, however, because of a lack of cables. This is still a 5-star product.

Urun gercekten harika. Ses kalitesini inanilmaz derecede degistiriyor. Tek problem gorselde goruldugu ve yazdigi gibi usb-c cikisi olmamasi. Urun uzerinde usb-b cikisi var. telefonuma baglamak icin farkli bir kablo daha almak zorunda kaldim.