[Koobers]

I've always used iOS products and I have used the FiiO E11 with an FiiO L9 LOD until the iPhone 5, at which time I added the Apple 30-pin to lightning adaptor to power a pair of B&W P7, or AKG K550.  What I thought this was doing was bypassing Apple's internal EQ and taking the audio down to a flat signal and then using the headphone amp to boost the volume where I could listen to the music as the artists intended.  Am I completely misunderstanding how this whole thing works or is that an accurate representation of what's happening?
 
I ordered an iPhone 7 and I had wanted to continue using this setup but I wanted to upgrade the FiiO E11 to a little bit nicer unit like the FiiO E12.  In researching a new amp, I am finding that 1. the headphones I own are low-impedance and shouldn't really need an amp to power them.  2. when anyone brings up the iPhone 7, they seem to mention using an amp with a DAC.  So that's what is causing me to think that I have been misunderstanding this whole thing from the very beginning.
 
So I guess my question would be, how do I get the most out of my B&W P7 and AKG K550 on my iPhone 7?  Is it possible to bypass Apple's post processing to hear the music the way it was intended and if so, do I still need an amp or DAC to do that?
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Also, if I'm posting this in the wrong area, please let me know where it should go. 

 

[MindsMirror]

There are a few basic components in the chain when playing music with your phone. There's the software, DAC, and amp. In the software there can be digital signal processing including EQ among other things. Then the phone has an internal DAC, and an amp built into the headphone jack.
 
By using the LOD, you are taking the signal from the phone's DAC before it goes to the internal amp, and your sending it to your own external amp. This happens after the software and DAC, so any processing or EQ done by the software, and any sound quality attributes of the internal DAC will remain.
 
EQ is not necessarily bad, if you know what you like and know how to use an EQ it can improve the sound and can even fix some problems with the headphone's sound signature to achieve a more neutral sound, closer to the way it was intended. DACs are obviously critical because they are what produces the analog signal, but they don't really vary that much from one DAC to another in the same way that headphones do for instance. A better DAC may give better clarity but it won't really EQ or change the sound signature.
 
So for best quality you would want an external DAC and amp which connects to the lightning port. That will bypass the internal DAC and amp. Since the new iphone doesn't have a headphone jack, I'm not sure if it even has a DAC and amp used for headphones. You can get lightning to 3.5mm dongle but I'm not sure how that actually works, whether it has the DAC built into the dongle, or it works just like the Fiio LOD. I don't even know if the Fiio LOD would still work with the new iphone, maybe someone else knows about that, I don't use apple products. Either way, a lightning connected DAC and amp would still be best. You can use the software EQ if you want, or not.

 

[Koobers]

  There are a few basic components in the chain when playing music with your phone. There's the software, DAC, and amp. In the software there can be digital signal processing including EQ among other things. Then the phone has an internal DAC, and an amp built into the headphone jack.
 
By using the LOD, you are taking the signal from the phone's DAC before it goes to the internal amp, and your sending it to your own external amp. This happens after the software and DAC, so any processing or EQ done by the software, and any sound quality attributes of the internal DAC will remain.
 
EQ is not necessarily bad, if you know what you like and know how to use an EQ it can improve the sound and can even fix some problems with the headphone's sound signature to achieve a more neutral sound, closer to the way it was intended. DACs are obviously critical because they are what produces the analog signal, but they don't really vary that much from one DAC to another in the same way that headphones do for instance. A better DAC may give better clarity but it won't really EQ or change the sound signature.
 
So for best quality you would want an external DAC and amp which connects to the lightning port. That will bypass the internal DAC and amp. Since the new iphone doesn't have a headphone jack, I'm not sure if it even has a DAC and amp used for headphones. You can get lightning to 3.5mm dongle but I'm not sure how that actually works, whether it has the DAC built into the dongle, or it works just like the Fiio LOD. I don't even know if the Fiio LOD would still work with the new iphone, maybe someone else knows about that, I don't use apple products. Either way, a lightning connected DAC and amp would still be best. You can use the software EQ if you want, or not.

Thanks so much for the very clear reply.  So it sounds like I had it mostly correct.  
 
I don't know of an external DAC and amp which connects to the lightning port directly and it is my understanding that Apple's 30-pin to lightning connector as well as the new lightning to 3.5mm adapter both contain a DAC.  Does anyone know how would I go about bypassing Apple's in-line DAC to take advantage of the one inside a DAC/AMP combo?  Is that even possible or am I better off just getting an amp only and using the in-line DAC in either of Apple's adapters like I have in the past?  I would assume that this means that I could continue to do this on the iPhone 7 and the loss of the 3.5mm headphone jack is of no consequence.