Portable DAC and Iphone


I would like to be able to get decent music out of my iPhone for headphones and perhaps putting in my system.

However, from what I read on at least one review was that the iPhone sucks and adding in say a Audioquest’s DragonFly only makes it suck a teensy weensy bit less.

Perhaps a Chord Mojo would be better?  In that case though it is pretty expensive and large for listening while mobile and then I wonder if that is wasteful and I should just get an amp or separate DAC solution and say screw it to portable.

Thougths?
portlandlay
Tons of related discussion at Head-Fi.org, portlandlay (if you've not yet visited there).
portlandlay
simply put, here are some notes:
-I DID burn my cd`s on my mac book pro in AIFF, which is uncompressed format
-transfer that music to my Iphone in the same format/I phone has 128 GB capacity, hen listen with the Audioquest/Hifiman set up. 
To answer your question, I believe that the combination gives me a better sound.
I enjoy the sound stage, instrument clarity and almost a warm sound.
It is a very affordable solution for me , since my budget was 500 dollars.
If you want to spend money, you probably can get better sound for a bigger expense.
Hope this helps.

Arg_ca,

This is from YOUR link:

DragonFly Black and Red with iPhone
After the experiences described above, there were no more surprises: Having now abandoned both hi-fi system and computer in favor of my iPhone 6 Plus, I didn’t expect to hear grand sound from either of the new DragonFlys—and I didn’t.

The fact is, even after confirming that its equalization function—available by selecting Settings, then Music, then EQ—was disabled, music played from my iPhone, with or without an outboard DAC, seemed to conform to a hi-fi–like curve, with boosted and blurry bass and, to a lesser extent, boosted highs.

That’s not to say that my iPhone was incapable of giving minimal musical enjoyment—or that the DragonFlys were incapable of wringing from the experience just a bit more information and involvement. But that’s all it was: a bit.


Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/audioquest-dragonfly-red-black-usb-da-headphone-amplifiers-page-2…

Also, I do use Tidal for my downloaded content.  It certainly us much better than MP3 even streamed from bluetooth.


I put this out there to see what real folks were hearing rather than professional reviews which tend to be like movie critic reviews at times.

For the record, I have a simple Yamaha AVR (right now),  piping music with my headphone jack on my iPhone 6+ to speakers I like and a very good recording and I was very happy listening to it.