[VaKo]

I'm new here so not sure about the rules regarding "I found something interesting" posts. 
 
I came across a DAC from China on eBay listed as a DA3-SA9227-PCM5102A, claiming to be capable of 32BIT/384KHZ. For £25 shipped. Since I was burnt on both an ODAC purchase and a SMSL DAC that didn't, I thought why not and purchased on a whim. I didn't expect much but it looked interesting and it was cheap.
 
It is surprisingly good. For £25 it is astounding.
 
While I lack the experience to be objective or to compare it to other products, other than saying it sounds better than a SMSL M2 and the Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS, it is definitely worth someone with more experience taking a punt on one and doing a proper review/examination. It also has a type B USB socket and RCA outputs, something I was looking for in a USB DAC. 

 

[Joao Paulo]

I also bought one DA3 and think it´s a really nice DAC.
 
It´s a well built, light and portable, all aluminium simple device. There´s a blue led inside (when connected) visible trough the rca out holes...I guess to keep costs down...but it works, and it´s visible enough.
 
Specs are a bit vague, but with some searching found out it´s a Savi Audio DAC (Savitech chip). Has great decoding capability (up to  32BIT/384KHZ) and good sound too. I can´t find much diference from my Audioquest Dragonfly in my desktop system, so no complains here.
 
Naturally, for the price, you can´t expect it to be the best DAC around but it´s good enough, and it will sound (very) good in a budget desktop system. I like it.
 
There are some minor "cons" not very important to me, but may be important to some:
- No headphone out.
- Needs Savi Audio driver/controller in Win 10, otherwise it won´t be recognized and not work at all.
 
All in all, a nice budget DAC. Recommended.

 

[dk2000]

Just got this. Was expecting it to work with universal use audio driver under Windows 7.
The driver basically never starts, Ben trying to uninstall and upgrade through device manager without success.

Finding an official driver is not easy either where did you get yours?

Help is appreciated

 

[PurpleAngel]

Just got this. Was expecting it to work with universal use audio driver under Windows 7.
The driver basically never starts, Ben trying to uninstall and upgrade through device manager without success.

Finding an official driver is not easy either where did you get yours?

Help is appreciated

 
Win 7 should easily be able to get and install a driver for the DA3.
It uses the PCM5102 DAC chip, which windows should easily be able connect to.
A few FiiO devices comes with the PCM5102 DAC chip and they seem to fine with a Win PC (or MAC).
 
You might have a defective USB cable or the DA3 is defective.

 

[dk2000]

The usb receiver chip (savitech SA9227) is the problem not the dac chip

 

[PurpleAngel]

  The usb receiver chip (savitech SA9227) is the problem not the dac chip

 
Oops, you right.

 

[cristi289]

Why is not so easy to find an Savitech SA9227 driver for Windows?
 
https://support.hifimediy.com/support/solutions/articles/8000006590-windows-drivers-for-savitech-sa9227-9018-9018d-uh1-uh1-digital-

 

[morfic]

Nobody has any issues like DAC only working after booting?
It sounds ok when it plays but if it loses connection for whatever reason, plugging it in while windows is up just fails.
I reboot, plays again for days.