[Nekosou]

So I have an iPhone 5, and the Lightning connector is proving troublesome in finding a portable amp that will work with it. So I had a quick question. Would it be better to run the audio through the amp using a 3.5 mm to 30-pin LOD, and then through the Apple 30-pin to Lightning adapter, or would it be better to use this... http://forzaaudioworks.com/en/product.php?id_product=54 ...and run it through a DAC? I am sure the latter would provide better audio, but I am worried about battery life, and I don't want to run audio through the iPhone's headphone jack. I guess my real question is whether or not the 30-pin to Lightning converter would negatively affect the audio in any significant way?
 
Thank you for any responses. I appreciate it. 

 

[linglingjr]

I'm pretty sure you won't need to worry about an adaptor negatively impacting/interfering with your signal because it's digital.  I have no idea of what dacs work with new iphones but a line out signal would be better, although depending on your source and headphones/amp I doubt you would tell the difference between the onboard audio and the external audio.

 

[Nekosou]

Thank you for the quick reply, and for the info. As for the source, it is mostly composed of 320 kbps MP3s and ALAC files. I am using Shure SE530 IEMs. I have listened through a portable amp with the SE530s before, and there is most definitely a tangible difference in quality. The amps that I was looking at were the RSA P-51 Mustang, the JDS Labs C5, and the FiiO E12. 
 
Any additional info or recommendations would be appreciated. 

 

[Nekosou]

  I'm pretty sure you won't need to worry about an adaptor negatively impacting/interfering with your signal because it's digital.

But it is going from digital to analog, and I am pretty sure that the DAC in the converter is crappy (this is an assumption).