Anyone using a DAC/AMP with phone or pad for better listening while, let's say, commuting or falling asleep?

Personally, I prefer not to use my phone for music at all. I find that it depletes the battery, and having another device in your pocket connected to it is a faff. So I prefer a separate portable player. I spend a lot of time working away from home, so I use a Sony portable which has a very good battery life, stores lots of music, and sounds great. 

For mobile listening I use my phone (LG V30) connected via Bluetooth Aptx HD to B&W PX headphones. Music is on my phone in flac so I can listen at near if not CD quality. When not using B&W PX headphones I use the phone supplied B&O wired buds. Note phone has a pretty good quad DAC built in so again quality is pretty good for mobile use. Also means I do not need to convert my flac rips etc to mp3 or the like to use on my phone nor do I need to carry another device just for music.

DWO

Hi Max -

I use my iPhone with Shure earbuds a ton while travelling (on planes and, when I was in Germany over the fall and winter, trains) and falling asleep (mainly in hotels on the road but also if restless or fretting at home). I have a small USB DAC that plugs into the phone, but I don’t always / often use it unless I’m not falling asleep to an audiobook. I used it with on-ear Sennheisers to good effect, as the native iPhone out wasn’t very good with those. I have lossless Tidal downloaded (over wifi) loaded up for the trip, and play via the Tidal app. I find battery life not affected by playing music as long as you don’t insist on having the screen glowing while you’re listening. More noticeable if it’s powering the DAC but not bad actually. I have an old iPhone 6; it’s (still) my first iPhone, so a bit long in the tooth. I started on a collection of progressively newer and better iPods, ending with whatever the last thin and beautiful one was... iPod Touch 5 maybe? It likely had the best internal DAC, or at least the best native sound. Better earbuds can take you a long way, in my experience.... but I’ve not really had much above the Shure 215 series or equivalents, as I often sleep on them and the zero profile is good for that. They are not so expensive that I’d be devastated to have them stop working or, not to jinx myself by saying it I hope, if I misplaced them. My DAC is a small thing the size of a USB memory key (as is the Dragonfly) but saves space by not having the actual USB connector, using a short cord. Still, I find it a hassle and the larger outboard amp/DAC boxes hold no appeal as I’m often jamming crap in my jeans pockets to exit a plane with my carry on... not your use case, I guess. But still, my next move is just to buy the Apple Lightning to 3.5 mini jack cable that comes with iPhones 7 and newer; it gets good reviews (see Ken Rockwell heaping praise) and it’s as small and low power as it gets. Might be a useful investment of 10% of your budget to see how you get on before adding a box the same size again as your phone (which, for me, would mean shopping for a complete replacement player, in case that hasn’t come across already, haha. Or spring for the Dragonfly and give us a review of MQA on Tidal via your iPhone...

Best wishes with your search. 

Regards alan

Quite similar to ALAN33 here. IPhone 6. I use the ADL X1 DAC/AMP with RHA 220 IEs for a very decent sound on the road (I am 2/3 weeks out on business travel). The limiting factor is in fact how well the IEs fit (or not fit...).

I got the ADL X1 a few years back, last year I also got a Dragonfly which I use with my laptop only.

source material is mostly Tidal (downloaded to iPhone or streaming when in wi Fi area) and mp3s on the iPhone. I cannot really discern mp3 320 from lossless on my main rig and find it pointless to do so when on the road.

The main hassle is that the ADL in iDevice mode doesn’t power from the iDevice and needs to have been charged upfront; also the process of placing the iPhone and ADL on top of each other and connected by a USB -> lightning short cord is a bit cumbersome. I am therefore rather determined on trying one of the new Aster & Kern devices that has a full steaming capability (UPNP and Tidal) as a single music dedicated device

Thanks for the replies. I bought the Oppo HA-2, because it's a thing of beauty and a whim. It also sounds great, it seems.

Best

Massimo

Hi 

I very much doubt you’ll regret buying the Oppo. Headphones are very personal but I like Shure in ears. I use 315’s with my iphone 5c for everyday use and 535’s with a chord mojo and ipad when I’m holiday. The latter is better but the former wins out on convenience. 

Tidal is my source these days, again it makes life very easy. That is until it decides it is too long since you last logged in and disables offline mode. Invariably I have no wifi and crap mobile signal when that happens. 

Olly

Thanks Olly, I hope so. As I wrote, I was first a bit undecided, then I though of some threads here by people who 'ask' for advice (for weeks), and decided to simply, quickly and plainly give in to a whim and self gratification.

Massimo