[nofacemonster]

Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a while but then again I thought I should ask this question from experts alike. I don't have a dedicated DAP so mainly I carry all my music on the mobile phone. I previously owned a Redmi 5 which I used for like 2 1/2 years and then bought an "Oppo A53" about a month back. I can see significantly more power in the headphone out of Oppo than Redmi (Audibly).

Has anyone else thought of this...? I know that iPhone 6S had a good headphone out jack that is almost enough for HD-6XX to run at a very good audible level. How good are these...? I mean general low mid-tier Chinese phones like Oppo and Redmi...?

How good can they be compared to a low-end DAC and amplifier combo like FX Audio DAC-X6...?

Could they give better performance when paired with a headphone amplifier than using something like FX Audio DAC-X6 in the DAC stage...?

Any idea will be a great addition. Thanks a lot, everybody, stay safe...!

 

[anadin]

They are generally poor in comparision to a low grade DAC and amplifier in my opinion, LG smartphones are known for there good sound quality. Take a look at the iFi hip-dac - Portable Balanced DAC Headphone Amplifier, that thing is amazing value and has a kick like a mule.

 

[unifutomaki]

Not brilliant. The 3.5mm audio jack on these low to mid-tier smartphones exists more as a feature for convenience rather than high fidelity. You can easily get better sound (at the cost of some battery life and fiddlyness) by using a dongle DAC/amp such as the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro though.

 

[CharlyBrown]

They are generally poor in comparision to a low grade DAC and amplifier in my opinion, LG smartphones are known for there good sound quality. Take a look at the iFi hip-dac - Portable Balanced DAC Headphone Amplifier, that thing is amazing value and has a kick like a mule.

The Hip-DAC has plenty power but also some shortcomings. It was unusable with my Andromeda’s because it hissed like the Niagara Falls and the hip-dac has a nasty channel imbalance by design. So, with my Andromedas I had either one side louder than the other or, when channels get balanced at about 11 o‘clock it was way too loud. I tried to remedy both problems with the Ifi IEmatch but that altered the frequency curve of the Andros, and not in a good way (bass vanished).

The Hip-dac was able to drive my Sennheiser HD800s, though. So it has a lot of power through 4.4 balanced out. I wouldn‘t recommend it as portable device, though.

 

[nofacemonster]

At the moment I am listening to my HD6XX on my stationary setup. I think there is a noticeable difference (especially in the bass department) in quality than running it directly with the phone. I only need the portable option when there is lightning going on around. It is not safe to use anything connected to the main power (in where I live, I am not sure about other places in the world). Lightning strikes can be fatal for yourself as well as for the equipment. So I will look into the cheapest possible portable setup where I can power the HD6XX with my mobile phone. I only need it when there is hazardous weather going on. Some people say Apple USB-C adapter can drive HD6XX but I don't know how true it is. I don't listen to high volumes, the volume coming straight from the phone is way more than enough for me but I think the quality of sound is degraded when using the phone directly.

 

[CharlyBrown]

3 months later and some things changed for me. I got rid of the Andros and got the hip-dac again. I can highly recommend it as long as you don’t want to use extremely sensitive IEMs with it like the Andromedas. I use it now with IEMatch for the EE Odins and without with the EE LX and my HD800s.

The Apple adapter has very good measurements but imho is only suitable for IEMs that don’t require much power. I wouldn’t use it for the HD6XX.

Get the hip-dac, it isn’t expensive, has loads of power and it’s own battery that will spare your phones’ internal battery.