[mrflabby]

I'd like to connect my Galaxy S4 phone to my hifi system.
 
The volume I get using a cable is very low so I wanted to use an amp to improve sound. 
 
Would you recommend using an amp for that? Desktop or portable? I'm looking for decent sound  from flac files and I have a restricted budget. 
 
 
Thanks!!

 

[GREQ]

Fiio E17 DAC/AMP is pretty decent for both portable and desktop.
 
But I think a more important question is how exactly are you connecting your phone to the hifi?

 

[mrflabby]

Thank you very much for your answer.
Right now, I'm connecting it by means of a Jack to RCA Cable but the resulting volume is very low.

Are there any alternatives?

 

[GREQ]

With a phone I can't think of any.
 
I think I had an amp once that had quite different volumes on one or two inputs.
Have you tried using another RCA input?

 

[cel4145]

If all you want to do is connect your phone to your hifi system, you don't have to have a headphone amp. Just a DAC that works with USB audio out. Although, a combined headphone amp/dac that has a line out would work well, too. Note that not all DACs work well with USB audio out on a phone. You would also need a USB OTG cable. I suggest looking through this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/667838/samsung-galaxy-s4-compatible-portable-dac-amps

What is your budget for this? What make/model hifi setup do you have?

Also, what will you use it for? Playing music files? Spotify?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I use an Ibasso D-Zero with my SGS3 for my transportable set-up; for my reference set-up it used to be just the Meier Cantate.2 but now I use the D-Zero's line out hooked up to the analog inputs on the Cantate.2.
 

 

 
Here's the D-Zero with my active speakers, but in that photo I was using my laptop instead of my SGS3.

 

[RaintoSky]

JDSLAB C5 is a reasonable price amp alone, and popular around here