FiiO Taishan D03K Digital and Analog Audio Decoder (Coaxial, Optical),Black

Used this to link my Samsung Smart LED TV to my Arcam Solo Mini Hifi system - took 5 minutes, works perfectly, sounds.... incredible. No doubt the quality of the hifi and speakers makes a major contribution, but the DAC is the vital link in the chain, and this one is worth every penny. The Arcam equivalent costs £200. The unit was well packaged and delivered quickly. Fiio have helpfully included little notes about selecting PCM output from your TV, a small point, but maybe one that gets overlooked? Included in the box is small, neat a power supply unit, but if your TV has a spare USB port, you can spend £1 on a "USB to mini USB" cable, plug the USB end into your TV and use the "mini USB" end to power the DAC itself. This is a great feature, because it means (1) that you don't need to take up an electrical plug socket, and (2) the DAC switches itself on and off with the TV - this has to be a good thing. The DAC has a metal body, is supplied with all the ports covered with colour coded plastic caps, and certainly feels like a premium quality component (easily better than the price tag would suggest). There is a red LED to denote power supply, and a blue one to confirm that the optical (TOSLINK) signal is being received correctly from the TV. I'd recommend using a little sticky velcro pad to hold the DAC onto the back of the TV, so the installation can be neat and tidy. If the little velcro pad was included in the box, that would be even better, but that is splitting hairs... This is the second DAC I tried on my system: apparently the Arcam Hifi system is picky about what it will play with, and that is the main reason why I wrote this - other Arcam users may find it useful. The Fiio DAC is great value, worked first time, and the difference in sound over your TV speakers is incredible: buy one and be prepared to fall in love with your movie collection and Hifi all over again...

After reading many forums it seems there have been 3 incarnations of this little DAC. At first it had a Wolfson DAC in it and most agreed it was exceptional for the money. The Wolfson DAC was kept for incarnation number 2, but the design changed and was an abject failure. Many wasted their money. This resulted in a complete change for incarnation 3 which changed the layout and used Cirrus Logic DAC'S and called it the "Taishan". So this DAC is the Fiio D03K Taishan. It has optical and coaxcial in, and left and right RCA out to fit analogue amplifiers. My first reason for buying this was that my TV and Tivo box only have optical outs and no RCA out. So my only choice was to get a DAC with optical in and RCA out to use my HiFi. The DAC would improve the signal from the TV and Tivo anyway. From the Tivo box I was surprised and how good the sound quality was through my system, a Musical Fidelity X-80 amp, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers, Supra Fly speaker cable and QED interconnects. When listening to BBC Radio, which has higher quality output the sound through the Taishan was exceptional. Having a NAD C542 CD player I though I would set up the Taishan (£29.99) from the CD player using the coaxial out to the Taishan to switch and compare it's Cirrus DAC with the inbuilt Wolfson DAC of the CD player (£250). For subjective listening, as a guide, the general internet experience is that Cirrus DAC's are brighter and more revealing than the Wolfson DAC's, but the Wolfson DAC's are more listenable and musical. I also connected up a Crystal Audio Bluedac into the amplifier to compare aptX bluetooth from my Samsung S3 phone (which has APTX bluetooth output). It is said that aptX Bluetooth streams at CD quality or better.....allegedly. My first surprise was at how good the Taishan is when using in a reasonably good HiFi system. Clear, dynamic, with well defined bass, musical midrange and very clean highs. The NAD CD player with the Wolfson amp was slightly louder as I changed from the Taishan so I had to minutely change the volume up using the Taishan and down when switching to the NAD C542. If I was pressed I would say the Wolfson Nad CD player was slightly more musical, richer and thicker in a good way. But there is very little in it. The Taishan rises to the occasion and has a slightly more airy presentation. When factoring in the price of £29.99, it's a no brainer. This is an amazing bit of kit. It will make your telly or lesser CD player sound so much better. Feed it a good signal, in a good set up, and it rises to do battle. With ordinary TV signals it is a definite improvement. With BBC Radio or HiFi signals it is really excellent. Those Buffs who doubt Cirrus Logic DAC chips should give this a try (some real high end DAC's do use Cirrus chips). Remember it takes a couple of weeks to burn in and incrementally improves. As for the Crystal Audio Bluetooth Bluedac... that I will review soon. Suffice it to say that it is amazing and you can't go wrong if you have aptX output and want to stream your music from a phone. But the subject of this review, the Fiio Taishan D03K is really amazing value and very good indeed.

This is a fantastic little bit of kit, I chose this over the myriad other DACs on Amazon as this was the only one advertised as 192kHz/24bit. The ability to power it via a USB cable directly into the TV is a great feature too. Further specifications included are: Total Harmonic Distortion 0.008% Signal to Noise Ratio 95dB Crosstalk -85dB If you want a more accurate conversion of a digital signal you are going to have to pay significantly more, e.g. Musical Fidelity's VDACII will give you THD of 0.002% but costs almost six times what you'll pay for this. I used the Fiio DAC to convert the digital output of a new TV to an old Technics amp, powering a pair of B&W 602 speakers and all I can say is 'Wow'! Via my Xbox 360 I played everything from Chopin to euphoric trance, Avatar to Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and it all sounded amazing. It creates an impressive sound stage, with crisp powerful bass and fantastic detail throughout. I cranked up the volume and maxed the bass on the amp to try to stretch the little Fiio to its limits but it just sounded better and better. For a direct comparison I plugged in a pair of Sony MDR-V55 headphones directly to the TV. The flat, compressed, hissing audio was so pitiful it almost feels like you're listening to the sound coming from another room, through a wall... But plugging the headphones into the amp via the DAC provided an immeasurable improvement. It might not be into audiophile territory, but considering the modest price tag it's very, very impressive. One minor negative is the diminutive size of the button used to switch between optical and coaxial inputs all but rules out using the DAC as a switch for two audio sources. It's probably less hassle to just buy another one. Had the button been a bit more accessible and easier to trigger, I'd have hooked my PC up to it too, effectively doubling its value. But regardless of that small issue, this is a great bit of kit at a very reasonable price.

After using this product (almost daily) for the last 6 months, this is without a doubt - an excellent stereo DAC. As the description and product photos mention, this device can connect unidirectionally from: 1. Digital In - Either Optical or Coaxial cable on one end to 2. Analog Out - Both Standard 3.5mm (headphones or old 2.1 audio systems) and AV audio on the other end. The old speakers of my 2.1 Audio system could only connect via 3.5mm jack -- because the 3.5mm Output port was not present on the LED TV. Since the LED TV had Optical Audio Out, I interconnected a Digital Optical Audio cable (purchased separately) from the TV end with the 3.5mm jack (from Audio system) using this product and confirmed that the switch on the DAC is set to 'Optical input' in my case. After connecting the DAC, it needed a couple of minor confirmations on TV Software side (actual process differs based on TV manufacturer hence only describing generic steps below): 1. Confirm Digital Audio Out in your TV's Sound Settings is set to either: Auto or PCM as this DAC supports PCM only. 2. Switch on both TV and Audio system, play any random audio and listen for any lag/echo between the two systems. You may need to manually adjust PCM delay until both sounds seem to merge. After confirming above settings on the TV software side, the resulting audio sounded flawless from both the TV and speakers simultaneously. Audio was perfectly in sync between both systems. Since no power adapter is provided (only USB cable provided), any basic 1Amp power adapter can work. Luckily, the DAC can even be powered by the TV itself (just confirm if TV USB Connection is 1Amp; anything less may lead to static noise heard in audio system) Delivery was prompt (as per scheduled date), packaging was perfectly done and build quality is top-notch. After an initial setup requiring 5 mins, I've almost forgotten about the mini-DAC in the ensuing months.

I was dubious because of the cheap price, but this thing sounds great. No complaints.

Tardonu poco en llegar pero da excelente resultado en audio.

With this dac i switched from the internal Sony tv dac to this small external dac. Its solid and looks good. The sound improved. No more clipping and the sound is more clear. I cannot hear the difference anymore on my hifi speakers between the chromecast audio dac and this one. I guess the quality is similar.

J'aime bien écouter les films au casque, mais mon lecteur Blu-Ray/DVD Philips BDP2930 Lecteur DVD Blu-ray Full HD HDMI USB DiVx HD Wifi ready ne dispose pas de sortie analogique, et les circuits qui alimentent la prise casque de ma télé sont de qualité moyenne. La solution ? Ce convertisseur numérique-analogique, qui supporte les flux PCM jusqu'à 24 bits et 192kHz. Connecté sur la sortie SPDIF (coaxiale) du lecteur Blu-Ray, il délivre un signal analogique parfait, qu'il suffit d'injecter dans un ampli stéréo pour piloter des enceintes, ou dans un ampli casque comme le FIIO - E11 amplificateur de casque , pour obtenir un son clair et précis. Et comme le boitier s'alimente par un port mini-USB, je peux le brancher sur le port USB du lecteur Blu-Ray pour l'alimenter. Les plus : deux entrées numériques (coaxiale et optique), sélectables par un switch sous le boitier ; deux sorties analogiques (RCA et jack 3,5 mm) ; adaptateur secteur fourni. Les moins : ne supporte que les flux PCM, pas le DTS ou le Dolby Digital ; l'entrée optique utilise un petit bouchon, facile à perdre, plutôt qu'un clapet ; le cordon de l'adaptateur secteur est un peu court.