Found this thread. Its a wonderful read. I have been using alot of DAP & DAC/AMP for many years until I accidentally discover that the Iphone 6plus sound quality holds up very well against these DAP. Never thought Iphone would sound as good as dedicated DAP. I am using HEX and K10 CIEM and both sound really good. After some comparison with previous IPhone, the 6+ sound the best> I guess Apple finally nail it this time.
So after lots of A/Bing between my Iphone 6+ and AK240. I have concluded (IMO) that the Iphone 6+ sound quality is really really close to the AK240. There are lots of differences, but the Iphone 6+ sounded as pleasing as the AK240. They are different tonally but I don;t believe the AK240 blow the Iphone 6+ out of the water this time round (as I have seen so many mention around here). I am using Tidal lossless for comparison/ vol match.
Well the thing to note is Iphone 6+ bass is a little loose but sometimes this imperfect does make it more pleasing. Just like the HD800 bass is fast and tight, but I don't enjoy this kind of bass and would rather prefer the TH900 or HEX. Some loosness and a slight slowness make the bass especially Jazz sounded more live and bouncy" Don't get me wrong, the looseness is only very slight and in no way decay more than it should. It still fast enough and it add the impression of having deeper bass. I also do find the Iphone 6+ having slightly more treble presence than AK240 but in no way going into sibilance level. They are both as detail..
I strap an amp (Pico slim) to the output for further testing. The Pico slim did not contribute much to the overall enjoyment but make it worse as it affected very badly by the RF interference while walking about. I remove it for good.,
I would say the Iphone 6+ sounded more closer to classic DAC port than AK240 and when i switch them all around, I did not miss any thing in the music between these 3. And after several weeks, I have decided to sell my AK240 as I think I can live by the Iphone 6+ with lossless Tidal apps. It sounded "audiophile" enough for me that I don't miss a thing with Ak240.
Thanks for this thread as I was about to make one after my exciting accidental discovery. I do want to note that either you get a very good DAP like the Q1PR or AK 240/380 for high res files or use the Iphone 6+ for normal lossless CD. Strapping an M8 or Pico slim does not make much differences... they will make a big diff with previous Ipod/Imod and older iphone but not with Iphone 6+. If you have a friend to do blind testing and volume match, try it yourself .. I have many friends that fail to find the differences in one of those test and when one is not blind tested, they tend to choose the one with the amp as having better sound quality.. the brain like to see powerful machine attached to the phone to make it more audiophile and diff so it must sound better. IN fact, there are many dedicated amps/dac and even lower cost DAP that sound worse than the Iphone 6+ . Some sound muddy, but I have read others interpreted it as warmer and smooth as a way to justify for the additional machine strap to it with huge RF interference. but I do not want to mention them here.
This is only for Iphone 6+, I have not try the iphone SE or 6s so I cannot present any findings. But I like the iphone 6+ HP out so far..