What would be a good portable Dac/Amp to use with my HD6xx and Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone?
I am new to this hobby. I purchased a HD6XX and plan to use it with my Sony Xperia 1 V cell phone, that has a 3.5mm jack. I was wondering if I needed a portable dac/amp or just a portable amp and if so what would one recommend? Any assistance one could provide, would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Haz
Mar 7, 2024
https://www.jdslabs.com/products/176/ol-dac/ (USB or optical) https://www.jdslabs.com/products/46/standalone-odac-rev-b/ (Standard or RCA) https://mayflowerelectronics.com/odac-rev-b-stand-alone/ (3.5mm or RCA)
Of course, another consideration is the OL-DAC's optical input, which is helpful if you're trying to use it with a Console. Aside from that, the ODAC's don't inherently come with RCA (red/white) Outputs. Meaning, that unless you have one of the O2's that are closer to NwAvGuy's original design, that you'll only have 3.5mm Line-Out, so keep that in mind,
For the money, the O2 is probably a fine amplifier. I ended up getting a second hand SDAC+O2 Combo Unit, and I like it. Never had an O2 before. It seems plenty powerful for the things I have right now. That being said, there's plenty of other options, like the Schiit Magni 3, or a slew of SMSL products... If you're looking for integrated units, the Aune X1S is also a decent pick. It's got a good headphone amp, and a really decent DAC imo, with optical, coaxial, and USB inputs, as well as some RCA inputs if you want to use just the headphone amp section with a different DAC, which is kinda cool.
Of course there's always Audio-GD's famed NFB-11 DAC/Amp combo as well.
A lot of it depends on which headphones you're using, what music you're listening to, how loud, what quality, etc.
My recommendation, if the OL-DAC is affordable to you, get that, and perhaps a Massdrop or JDS O2. If not that, you can get a Schiit Modi 2 (or Uber) and Magni 3, or the Aune I mentioned above. All that assumes you didn't buy anything of course, so good luck either way.
I personally find the SDAC quite resolving when compared to Akm 4490 equipped DACs, at least the few that I've tried and I've found it sounds better than the X1s's DAC and the DAC in the Shanling M0.
Granted, my sampling is pretty small, but my ears tell me that the SDAC sounds great and is plenty resolving for my current tastes. Though an upgrade would always be welcome, right now I'm focusing on headphones and Amps. Since the dac is have is, for my own purposes at the moment, good enough.
Bur of course all of my suggestions were just that, suggestions. Of course 80 dollars isn't a significant investment imo, and I like the SDAC so much, I bought the Standalone, O2+SDAC second hand and joined the drop for the SDAC-Balanced.
But that's wholly my own opinion and I admittedly don't know too much as I only got into this hobby not very long ago.