[Ongoing] Portable Audio Discussion | What I'm saying...

[Ongoing] Portable Audio Discussion

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Drop+Audiophile

Mar 9, 2018

I'm looking for a DAC that can work with my phone and IEM's, any suggestions in the lower price range? I.E. sub 100 dollars

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Mar 10, 2018

stuey138What sort of phone?

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Mar 10, 2018

SlobloWhat sort of IEMs

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Mar 10, 2018

SlobloOneplus3 and the massdrop x nuforce edc's and I might end up getting the edc 3's or a different type since they fit my ear really well and I need a good fit. The oneplus3 can't drive with enough power so things are a bit quiet as well so I don't know if that means I need a dac /amp combo.

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Mar 10, 2018

stuey138Just an amp will increase the volume from you phone. DAC cleans up the processing of the audio signal, only really necessary if you’re looking to improve quality.
Far are as the EDC3 I’d probably recommend the shure 215 instead as they are fully proven and can be find slightly cheaper than the Nu. IEMs are quite a bit more sensitive than standard earbuds so I’d get whatever set you go with then worry about sourcing from there

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Mar 11, 2018

SlobloI'll look into iem's and I am mainly looking to increase quality but the side note is that I might need a dac/amp combo since my phone can't drive too well and possibly one that can work with my computer as well as my phone on the go.

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Mar 12, 2018

stuey138What I'm saying is, you probably can skip the DAC section unless you have a specific issue with the sound from your onboard cards. If it is just a volume issue a portable headphone amp is vastly cheaper than a portable combo and they tend to work better (as they aren't leeching power to drive the DAC as well)
I recommend the Fiio A2 as a cheap amp for on the go - it's well made and does everything it needs to and then some. (I maaay have one kicking around, but it possibly got sold after a recent move)
If you're dead-set on a combo I'd check out the Dragonfly line - the Red has better Amping, but costs 2.5x as much as the less powerful black edition. I own the DFRed, and find it to be somewhat lacking in terms of sound quality/$, but it wins out in terms of convenience and connectivity to my Idevices as well as my pc, mac, and android systems. 100/Black 250/Red I was much more impressed by the Centrance DacPort's sound, though the form factor is slightly larger and again unless you spring a decent additional chunk the amplification you're looking for is not there. 80/Slim 2xx/Mini
Schitt has an offering in this area as well, but I cannot speak for the sound as they have released a new model recently ( I believe it's called the Fulla Schitt - LOL)

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Mar 12, 2018

SlobloThank you so much for your time and I'll definitely look into everything.

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Hedgeporker

Mar 28, 2018

stuey138I'm a bit of a minimalist, so whatever DAC I get will be used with both my laptop and my phone, and it definitely feels like we're on the tail end of microUSB so I don't want to invest in a new DAC only to have it be Mr. Awkward who has to have his own special microUSB cable when everyone else is rocking USB-C.
So I was looking for a DAC with USB-C and found out that there's nothing out that there that is natively USB-C ... yet.
I've decided no more DACerry until manufacturers have implemented USB-C, not only for the convenience of having fully reversible cables (and to make use of my new laptop's solitary USB-C hole because it looks lonely) but because USB-C will give manufacturers so much more power to play with when designing DACs.
Energy flows where attention goes, as they say, so I'm not giving any more of my attention to microUSB or USB-A gear if I can help it.

Mar 30, 2018

HedgeporkerSooner this becomes the universal standard the better imho. As much as I hated my dongle book pro, having the all in one port is pretty epic.

Hedgeporker

Mar 31, 2018

SlobloIt's the first viable One Port to Rule Them All that we have for any OS, and the head is a far better design in engineering terms than the microUSB ever was. It's just epic.
I can't believe its taking the audio companies so long to develop USB-C native products because it solves so many problems and gives so many options to them.

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phoenixsong

1055

Apr 20, 2018

stuey138I think for sub 100 it isn't easy to find a dac that substantially improves audio quality over the native dacs of most phones now. Depending on what you're using, you may only want an amp, or not at all :p
The dragonflies are popular. But to use them you'll need an OTG usb cable for the data flow.

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propdrc

Jun 17, 2018

stuey138Fiio Q1mk2 $99, seen as low as $87 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0757MH46M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I love it with my IEMs, small but powerful, labels faint and rather small but the unit is easy to memorize and enjoy quickly. Has bass boost and Gain boost hardware switches. Works great with paid Spotify on my Chromebook! All I need for a very long time! Don't buy the thumb drive ones!

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