I’m trying to connect a Playstation 5 Pro to the USB 1 input on a Lina DAC. My understanding is that the PS5 is a Class 1 USB device, so I changed the Lina setting to Class 1. The USB cord is plugged into the rear USB A port on the PS5. On the PS5 under the Sound and Audio Output menu, I turned on Switch Output Device Automatically. I changed the input on the Lina to USB 1, and I tried turning the Buffer off and on. None of these worked to get the PS5 and Lina to communicate by USB. Has anyone here succeeded with this, and how?
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Hello Nate, welcome to the forum. I would generally expect such a pairing to work via optical, not usb. I don’t have specific experience with this, but more in general that TV or console connection is made with optical. Searching I find that the Playstation does not offer optical out, only hdmi. I would then recommend that you use the TV output instead.
Sounds like you’ve done all the obvious steps. From what I’ve seen, the PS5 doesn’t always play nicely with third-party DACs via USB, even in Class 1 mode. A few tips that have worked for others:
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Try the front USB‑C port on the PS5 (if your DAC supports USB‑C or with a USB‑C → USB‑A adapter). Some devices are picky about which USB port is used.
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Use USB 2.0 mode on the DAC rather than relying on Class 1/2 auto-detection — some DACs need this forced.
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Check PS5 audio settings: set Output Device manually to “USB DAC” instead of “Switch Automatically.”
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If still no luck, consider using optical or HDMI audio output into a compatible DAC or receiver — many PS5 owners go this route because USB audio support is limited.
Bottom line: native USB audio from PS5 to external DACs is hit-or-miss; sometimes a different connection method avoids all the headaches.
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I’ve had this experience with the PS5 and Nintendo Switch (1 & 2) and I’ve sent an email to DCS about it. They do not test for compatibility with gaming consoles, so other than workarounds like using a separate USB to optical adapter, there’s no native support for us audio if USB audio class 1 doesn’t work. It’s pretty disappointing, given how much DCS products cost. I was looking forward to gaming bliss when I got my Rossini.
They did say they would flag it for consideration by their R&D team though, so that’s not nothing I guess.
There’s nothing especially difficult with getting the dCS DAC’s USB port to work (USB 1, the Type B port)
However, IIRC, the PS5 is notorious for having a finicky connected USB device detection, and may require console reboots after connecting the USB ports.
On the dCS DAC
- Switch the USB port to Class 1
Connect the PS5 rear USB port to the dCS DAC USB1 port. The PS5 console needs to recognize the USB port connection. Try rebooting the console if it doesn’t.
Then on the PS5 Sound settings
- Audio Output → Output Device → USB DAC (dCS…)
- Audio Format → Linear PCM
If the PS5 didn’t recognize the dCS, you won’t see the appropriate Output Device → USB option.
Just to make sure I understand, are you confirming you have gotten USB audio to work with a DCS DAC?
I’ll try again but I’ve done those steps before and it didn’t work for me.
Not in my systems specifically, but years ago I did assist my nephew with getting his PS5 to work with his Ifi Zen DAC, which only worked after a couple of tries. Towards the backend of Covid there was plenty of Reddit chatter on the problems with the PS5 recognising external DACs/Headphone systems.
The point here though, is that the issue is not with dCS. It’s the PS5 that’s really the problem child here. Your disappointment needs to be directed at Sony/OrbisOS for its finicky USB support.
Besides, there’s a simple work-arounds of using the PS5’s HDMI port instead of USB and any HDMI Audio Extractor which splits out audio onto S/PDIF or TOSLink into the dCS. You can find half a dozen models on Amazon alone.
Thanks for your input. I have the same experience with Ifi DACs. In fact, I’m currently using the Micro iDSD Signature Finale and it works great with the PS5 and Switch 1/2. This has been the case with every USB DAC with class 1 support I’ve tried, except for DCS DACs. (also Benchmark, but I found out they removed the feature from the DAC 3 intentionally)
I’ve also tried USB to Optical converters and HDMI audio extractors. They work, but seem to change the audio in a way that’s not as good compared to a natively compatible USB DAC, hence my asking DCS about it. You could argue it’s not that big a deal because you can get sound in other ways, but when one spends DCS amounts of money, one clearly has an appreciation for the best audio quality possible. So asking about it seems perfectly reasonable to me.
I can’t imagine there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it. In fact, I would love to know the results of any investigating they do. There is a technical reason it doesn’t work, and I’d love to know what that is.
Its not a big leap → Sony/OrbisOS
Did you ever get this to work?