Don't just listen. Experience!
Acclaimed Performance
"The sound is still the great strength: steady, rhytmically precise and with an authority in the bass that makes the music flow naturally."
Experience!
When you listen to music, and I mean really listen, the goal is to feel like you are there, right? That, as you probably know, takes some doing. But when you experience it, it is magical, even transformative.
At Henry Audio, the feeling of being there, at the recording venue, the concert or the studio, has always been our ultimate goal. Not an easy task, you might argue. But now, with the DA 256 digital-to-analog converter, we feel like we’ve made it.
With lossless streaming being everywhere, the DA 256 is the perfect tool for bringing High-End performance all the way to your music system.
It has been years in the making, because breaking barriers takes time. It sounds palpable, dynamic, strikingly natural and real, giving your music dimensionality, presence and life. Like you are there.
So now is the time to really experience your music. Channel your inner Ringo, Dylan, Jack White or even Maria Callas, and let this little gem from Henry Audio close the distance between merely listening to a favorite recording and truly experiencing it. After all, turning digital code into human emotion is what this DAC does.
Henry Audio. Don’t just listen. Experience!
It's Personal
Henry Audio was founded by Børge Strand-Bergesen as the result of a lifelong passion for good sound and the challenge of converting between analog and digital formats.
With Henry Audio, we wish to make really, really good sound and transformative listening experiences broadly available. Alongside friends and early testers, we live and breathe accessible High-End.
The company is named after Børge’s grandfather Henry. He made solid things all his life, as a shipbuilder and a devoted family man. I can't honestly put the Henry Audio badge on anything that isn't rock solid and reflects his principles.
In this picture, I am visiting the supplier of the DA 256's decorative wooden front plate in Germany. We assembled most of the Founder's Edition pre-order batch on that day in the early of 2025.
At the time of writing, early 2026, more than 100 DA 256 DACs have been delivered. Not a single one returned.
Truly Transformative
The analog signal, with all its depth and emotion, is born inside the DAC. But it is not just the signal that is transformed. Your experience and the way you listen to music will be.
It doesn't matter if you have tried several DACs and want to step up the quality and convenience.
Neither does it matter if you have an all-analog system and want to have fun with digital sources.
Either way, you will experience a transformation. With Henry Audio unforgettable sound quality is now available. And it is easier than you could ever imagine.
Design Philosophy
The stunning looks of the DA 256 are the brainchild of Norwegian industrial designer Suzanne Arnesen.
At only 17.3cm (6.8in) wide, the DAC will stand out as a gem in your listening setup.
The protruding front lip catches light and shadow from above, creating dramatic effects. The upper split along the sides also catches light from multiple angles.
The wood base accentuates the whole design and adds dampening for the critical audio electronics.
USB-C for Convenience
Music is meant to be enjoyed, whether you are sharing new discoveries with friends or enjoying a personal classic.
The USB-C port at the front of the DA 256 makes it easy to play music from any digital source. Connect your own phone for a quick listening session, or let friends plug in theirs in an instant.
You don't have to bother with pairing, WiFi passwords, streaming apps, or other hassles. Instead, anyone can connect a phone to the DAC and enjoy music in less than a second.
When a phone is plugged in, it automatically overrides the rear USB-B input. That means any computer connected there effectively steps aside.
For the best sound quality, set the volume to 100% on any phone or tablet connected via USB-C.
The front USB-C connection does not deliver power to your phone or tablet. This is by design! The DA 256 does not contain any noisy switching power supplies, which would be required for charging external equipment. Instead, all it does is focus on the music.
Please note that you are not limited to only USB-C. With the right adapter, almost any 10-year-old phone with a music player can work with the DAC. Read the user manual or simply reach out if you have any questions.
Automatic Input Selection
Modern audio systems rely on many digital sources. The DA 256 handles them all, but here is the twist: you never have to touch it to switch between them.
The DAC automatically scans all its inputs for a digital music signal. As soon as it finds one, it locks on and plays it back.
The selected input is indicated by the front LED light. White means scanning. Once a source is found, the color changes: Red for rear USB, Blue for front USB, Yellow for Coax, and Cyan or Magenta for the two optical inputs.
As long as the active source is delivering music, the DAC stays locked on it regardless of what happens on the other inputs. When the cable is unplugged or the music stops, the scanning simply starts over.
All inputs accept sample rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz, with resolutions of 16 or 24 bits. This DAC has you covered.
Curious about the quality of the stream you are playing? Briefly click the rear «Prog» button, and the LED color will change to indicate the current sample rate.
Power Supply Flexibility
The DA 256 is designed for accessible ease of use. To suit your setup, it can be powered from three different sources, and the DAC automatically selects the right one for you.
The most common power source is USB from your computer. To ensure High-End audio performance from even a standard laptop, the DA 256 performs extensive internal power conditioning on the USB input.
However, for those who want to push the performance envelope even further, the DA 256 allows for easy upgrades.
We included two standard 5.5mm barrel connectors on the back. One has a 2.1mm center pin, and the other has a 2.5mm pin. (Please note: Never use both barrel connectors at the same time!)
The voltage range is just as flexible. The external input accepts DC voltage between 8V and 16V. Since the DAC draws only 200mA, it is an easy match for a wide range of supplies.
This means that most audiophile power supplies on the market can be connected directly, no adapters needed.
Enjoy testing the DAC with different power sources to find your perfect match.
Watch this space for news of upcoming alternatives.
Precision Engineering
The DA 256 is the result of many years of focused electrical engineering. It has some very special tricks up its sleeve, all designed to let you lean back and enjoy the music effortlessly.
Two challenges stand out as the largest hurdles for any DAC designer: 1) Clocking and 2) Power Supplies.
The clock is actually an analog signal, and an absolutely critical one at that. It tells the DAC chip exactly when to convert the digital signal into sound. If this timing is off by even a fraction of a millisecond, the illusion of reality breaks down.
In the DA 256, two precision oscillators are situated right next to the DAC chip in the analog section. They dictate exactly how the chip operates and tell the rest of the system when to feed it data.
With USB signals, the DA 256 acts as the conductor. It compares the speed of its own precision oscillator to the incoming data rate. If the computer is sending data too fast, the DAC tells it to slow down. If it is too slow, the DAC commands it to speed things up. These messages flow invisibly behind the scenes, ensuring the audio data is perfectly timed before it ever hits the DAC chip.
With Coax (SPDIF) and Optical (TOSLINK), the challenge is different. Traditionally, the DAC has no control over the source and must struggle to «regenerate» the clock signal from the stream, a problem that has given DAC designers grey hairs since the CD was invented.
The DA 256 bypasses this problem entirely. It uses advanced software to buffer the audio and play it back using its own local precision oscillators. The system monitors the stream and uses complex statistical analysis to play it back with the absolute lowest noise possible.
Finally, there is the power. An audio DAC must operate with utmost precision across a frequency span of 8 orders of magnitude, from the deepest bass (below 20Hz) to the high-speed switching of digital clocks (above 2GHz).
Every chip inside the DA 256 is provided with a dedicated local power supply designed to support these extreme demands. In fact, this power architecture was originally developed as part of a military research project for the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI). They needed custom laboratory equipment to catch extremely precise, high-speed pulses from special sensors, and that is what they got.
It is perhaps extreme to use this kind of technology in home audio. But it pays off. The result is a natural, effortless sound that lets you listen to the DA 256 for hours on end with no fatigue what so ever.