Oh, ****. I am really inexperienced at this. Pardon my stupidity. I mean a device that's An amp, that can be connected to my phone.
Cup,
No problem. That's what I thought you meant anyway. lol But wanted to be sure. And you want an amp/DAC not just an amp if you're playing off your phone. (I only recommend amp only devices if you are playing off a quality DAP like a Walkman or FiiO player, etc.)
Ok. I also play off my phone, so let me suggest a few amp/DACs to consider. Not sure on your price range, but I STRONGLY recommend buying one of these if you want the very BEST sound.
Which phone do you have? iPhone or an Android??
Here you go. And don't worry, I made sure to pick sellers that WILL deliver to the Netherlands (except #3)...............
1) The Really Good:
AudioQuest DragonFly Black v1.5 USB Digital-to-Analog Converter - $130. Simple, VERY portable, are said to get very loud too, which is a good thing (especially when listening to Hi-Res, which sometimes is recorded at a lower volume on purpose for better balance when you raise the volume up), and are compatible with both iPhones and Android. Brand new.
2) The Great:
AudioQuest DragonFly Red - $247. Everything is the same as the Black, except this has a BETTER DAC chip in it, so it's a step up. Also brand new.
3) The Best (for under $500 anyway):
Oppo HA-2 - Price will vary, though I paid $299 for mine. None of the UK Amazon sellers for this device sell to your country unfortunately, so I posted for you the link to the various eBay sellers. Hopefully ONE will sell to you. If not, let me know and I'll try and look elsewhere. But you know what, try first just buying it straight from
the Oppo site, which also sells it at $299. If not, check that eBay page then.
3 continued) This is my amp/DAC device, and I LOVE IT! It is a little bigger than the other two, and also it has its own battery which you will have to charge, but it has the best DAC chip of the 3. It comes in a gorgeous premium metallic design, genuine stitched leather casing, and is very easy to hold. It also comes with options the first 2 don't......... 1) A Low/High Gain switch 2) A Bass Boost switch (which I normally don't recommend using, but maybe on heavier rock songs it's ok) 3) It's compatible with Apple & Android, and comes with its OWN cables as well. 4) It comes with a RAPID charger that can charge it fully in like only 90 minutes. 5) It can be used as a battery pack to charge your phone too. If you have have Android, you can't listen to music through it and charge your phone at the same time, but if you have an iPhone, then you can.
Let me know your choice of the 3 above, then I will suggest which cable to get with it. The HA-2 comes with cables unlike the first 2, but I needed an extension cable cuz the one it comes with is really short (6 inches).
Ok, with regards to acquiring Hi-Res albums, this might be tricky because of your location. The sites I use probably won’t be licensed or have the rights to sell to your country. I advise that you first skim through a
former post of mine which talks about Hi-Res.
Just skim everything from “Here is another post…..” on down. The part about dBpoweramp is optional, but good to have still. Just skim it and do what it says, and if you have questions, let me know. See if the sites at the bottom will sell to you. Bookmark the ones that do.
In addition to those sites, I have 2 more that SHOULD be able to sell albums to the Netherlands. One is the
UK version of HDTracks, and the other is
Qobuz, which I currently CAN’T buy from but you probably can. Bookmark ANY site that works so you can always get back to it later.
Important Note: You must understand Cup that these Hi-Res albums DO NOT sound better than the CD and mp3 (and even vinyl) versions because of their higher resolution. That is for the most part just marketing bullsh*t. As long as it’s above mp3 resolution, it’s
all the same IF the source is the same and it’s encoded/processed properly. The REAL reason why they sound better is b/c the studio producers and engineers put much more effort and attention into mastering or remastering these albums. So using dBpoweramp to downsample (not downgrade) the songs to a smaller file size will do NO harm to them as long you don’t downsample them to mp3. Also, when you see an album in 2 different resolutions, just get the cheaper one. 99% of the time it will sound the same, trust me. Like if you see an album in 24/192 and 24/96, just get the 24/96 version. Just don’t go below
44.1kHz/24-bit (that is the minimum for Hi-Res)!
This seems like a lot, but in time it will all make sense. Please answer all questions asked.