Need a better alternative to the Audioquest Dragonfly products..

[deniall83]

So I’m in the market for a USB stick type DAC/amp like the Dragonfly models from Audioquest and I’m having trouble finding good alternatives. Basically, I want to be able to run a CCK (lightning to USB cable) from my iPhone to the device and plug my headphones in. That’s it. So it needs to be powered from my phone and shouldn’t require any additional cables or power supplies etc. I’m not having much luck finding such a device and I’m hoping you guys can help.

 

[deniall83]

Sorry, just found the Hidizs S8 which is perfect for my needs. Thread can be removed.

 

[Cahudson42]

Maybe also consider the miniDsp IL-DAC @ $99? Built in DSP PEQ capabilities..but unfortunately not yet reviewed by ASR:
https://www.minidsp.com/products/plate-amplifiers/il-dsp-headphone-amp

 

[xykreinov]

Maybe also consider the miniDsp IL-DAC @ $99? Built in DSP PEQ capabilities..but unfortunately not yet reviewed by ASR:
https://www.minidsp.com/products/plate-amplifiers/il-dsp-headphone-amp

I have one. It is definitely very nice. Even if the performance is objectively bad once amirm reviews it, it subjectively sounds good and can power my 600 ohm and above cans well enough. The hardware level DSP is useful for me in so many obtuse ways; I just cannot summarize them in a post. Ignoring the DSP side of it, its volume controls adjust a very small fraction of the volume, allowing for greater precision of such. Oh, and here's a bonus: the IL-DSP's microphone is KILLER. It attenuates superbly without muffling the bass of my voice and making it sound like it's coming through a tin can as a compromise. A long USB cable to the IL-DSP to a short analog cable makes for a fantastic portable headset.
Truthfully, for all the things this does, it could have 0.1% THD (it certainly does not, of course) and I wouldn't care.

 

[mansr]

Apple's own headphone dongle has similar measured performance to the Dragonfly DACs. At $9 it's hard to beat for price.

 

[Ajax]

Another is the SMSL IDEA, $86, which was favourably reviewed by Archimago here:

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/05/measurements-smsl-idea-usb-dac.html

 

[Thunder240]

The Centrance DACPort HD is an excellent alternative to Dragonflies as long as you don’t mind using a USB-microUSB cable instead of a direct USB plug. (And it received an ASR recommendation from Amir.)

It has enough power that I only ever feel the need to take it off of low-gain mode to listen to 300+ Ohm headphones such as Senn HD6xx.