The present invention relates to a driver device (50a-50j) and a corresponding driving method for driving a load (22), in particular an LED unit, said driver device comprising power input terminals (51, 52) for receiving a rectified supply voltage from an external power supply, power output terminals (53, 54) for providing a drive voltage and/or current for driving a load (22), a half-bridge unit (70) comprising a first (60) and a second (61) switching element coupled in series between a high-voltage node (57) and a low-voltage node (58) and having a switch node (59) between said first and said second switching element, —a boost input filter unit (71) comprising a first inductor (L1) coupled between said power input terminals (51, 52) and said half-bridge unit (70), —a buck output filter unit (72) comprising a second inductor (L2) coupled between said half-bridge unit (70) and a power output terminal (53, 54), —an energy storage unit (73) and a control unit (64) for controlling said switching elements (60, 61).