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
It hadn't actually occurred to me that a straight DAC (no Amp chaser) would be so inexpensive and so butt simple to employ. I have the extra computer and probably the space both would need to occupy.
As for those of you who wanted to make that approach just a tad more complicated (and you know who you are), by adding the raspberry pi and the nifty-sounding HiFiBerry DAC+, you hadn't factored in the learning curve involved--doable, but I'd be a month or two getting up to speed.
I kind of liked the idea of bringing it all Back To The Past, but adding the CD changer and Turntable I once had connected to it--so many years ago. But I'm not willing to make the commitment to Vinyl just yet (never been an early adopter). I did like the idea of rediscovering all the stuff I sold to the used record stores way back then (really miss those damn Monkeys albums...
And then there's the ever-so controversial Bluetooth route. I have to say up front I once had this receiver connected to and AirPort Express, and I fed that from an old MacBook. Can't for the life of me recall weather that was a network connection or Bluetooth connection--but I can say it worked. I wasn't quite as demanding back then, but as some have mentioned, Bluetooth has come a long way. The SMSL AD18 got my attention because I like it, and have been trying to think of an excuse to buy one--but as I understand it, that would be great for powering a set of speakers, but not as in input for my existing amp? Meaning I'd still need to go the dongle route. Those are cheap enough to test and then toss out if I hated it.
@Evshrug all those cool toys (DAPs and the other very neato stuff) were very interesting--stuff for the most part I wasn't aware of. You also explained the whole optical/toslink thing well too. I'd always heard Macs had it, but didn't know where and how to get to it. I suppose buying the right cable would allow me to test it out? And yes, the Mac can be close to my bed (and I could use either a MacBook or and iMac to make that connection).
Appreciate all the links to the cool kit everyone suggested (that cable too @ElectronicVices). Most of it now safely stored away in my Amazon Audio list waiting for me to get weak and lose my discipline.
So, one way or the other, thanks to you all, I'll get the sound from the computer to the amp. Next question: What floor standing speakers (with a $1,000-ish for the pair budget) should I hook to the amp?