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
Honestly I would also recommend checking out the IFI IDSD LE, which runs for 129 on amazon. It doesn't have as long of a battery life and output power is limited to 130 mw, but it has a burr brown dac. IFi makes solid products and i've heard nothing but good reviews from them.
My next Dac will most likely be Toppings DX7s (waiting for massdrop to put it back up), but I am also consdering iFI's Micro IDSD Black Label.
The sheer lack of official reviews for this Topping unit makes things a lot harder too.
The Topping NX4DSD is great, and I highly reccomend it. However in your case I would recommend trying something that doesn't have a Sabre dac (especially if you want something without the Sabre glare/brightnesss). FYI, the brightness/glare isn't nearly as bad as it was on my sabaj da2 / ess9018.
The Xduoo XD-05 has a AKM AK4490, allows you to roll op-amps, and is stackable. I would personally go with the IfI Nano BL, but if stacking is a requirement Id check out the XD-05.
You could also go the DAP route. I would personally go with the Caiyin N3 or the Shanling M2s, both of which have AK dacs and both can be used as a external DACs.. However if you need an affordable but excellent sounding option, I would do the Xuelin IHIFI-780 (which I personally own and love). The 780 is a pure dap though--you can't use it as an external dac.
I basically have to launch Hiby first to get my phone to recognize the DAC, except I select No when it asks me to use it. (If I select Yes it doesn't work!). After I do that, I can use any app with my dac. I had the same issue on my Sabaj Da2 & NX4DSD, which is why I think its an xmos issue. I normally use VLC (so I can stream via my NFS server over wifi), or if i'm playing files from my internal memory I use foobar2000 (the android app).
This could very well be my phone, but I don't have another one that I can test unfortunately.