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Audiophile Setup with an Iphone 7

Dear 

Could anybody suggest an Amp + DAC audiophile setup for an Iphone 7. Top Quality.

Source TIDAL streaming, Headphones Sennheiser  & Audeze.

Many thanks !
rpeebles
glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,500 posts
 

why not spend the money and get a streamer.

Your phone is not the ideal server nor a basis for an audiophile set up. It wont stream Tidal decently I've tried with mine, fine for low rez head phone work but not ideal for a home system.

You'd be better buying an older mac mini with an optical out. 

Something like the oppo server an all in one item that checks all your box's and has an amp built in. also apple airplay and tidal.  it will also act as a preamp so get some good powered speakers and/or and headphone amp and  your set.

https://www.oppodigital.com/sonica-dac/

there are many others ranging in price also many that have more features.

Bluesound, etc.

perkri
884 posts
 
Hi

I'm using my phone two different ways.

1) To Apple TV V.3 - optical out to DAC then to amp.

2) Apple camera adapter - the one with the charging option - USB out to DAC then to amp

The Apple camera adapter will also allow you to plug phone into a portable DAC/Amp for headphones on the go.

Good luck!

P


soma70
153 posts
 
With no disrespect to the above contributors, Apple TV, AirPlay, the iphone DAC and Chromecast are not audiophile solutions. Many would also agree that a Mac Mini is also far from ideal as a steamer. For top quality you need a dedicated streamer and a DAC/amp. I use an iPhone 7 and stream Tidal via Auralic Aries but you can also look at Auralic Aries mini. With no budget listed it’s very tricky to reccomend a DAC and headphone amp. For mid market prices look at the Chord range (hugo/mojo/hugo desktop). If you are looking for a small portable headphone set up with IPhone then the Dragonfly Black or Red.
willemj
1,036 posts
 
The digital outputs of the Apple Airport Express or Apple TV and of the Chromecast Audio are bitperfect, and hence have no sonic signature. That would come from the DAC that one uses. An external DAC may improve the sound, but the inbuilt DAC of these devices is actually pretty good. The question here seems to be how portable the system has to be.
wtf's avatar
wtf
307 posts
 
I use an iPhone 6 (or iPad Air) in this configuration with great results:

iPhone 6 ➟ Apple Lightning to USB 3.0 Adapter ➟ UpTone Audio USB REGEN ➟ dB Audio Labs Tranquility DAC ➟ etc.

The DAC in the iPhone is bypassed with the Adapter. The REGEN does its re-clocking thing and, to my ears, contributes quite a bit to the equation. IMO the resulting sound quality would satisfy many audiophiles.

With virtually no budget limitations the OP is in an enviable position. Separates? Tubes? Balanced? Space constraints? 

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