[Luke Thomas]

I run a laptop thru a dragonfly red. Then to a Violectric $1800 amp. I switch to my ipad only .No external amp or dac. . I believe my ipad only, sounds as good as all the expensive stuff i was using.
Anyone have a similair experience?
Focal Clears
Hifiman Ed X

 

[Redcarmoose]

I have Apple products, most of em. They actually measure well. Your probably just liking the synergy with your headphones. But most of my gear starts to get far more detail after you start paring nice DACs and amps? I don’t have access to your exact equipment so it’s hard to judge. My suggestion is take your headphones to a meet.

I’m not saying it’s any fault in your set-up. But when things like this happen it’s a clue to help you learn more. It can be that there is a response from your Apple products that aligned with your desired soundsignature that you may not be finding in your main system.

This effect is that as listeners at times tone is more important than detail. If your main system is missing some authority that is somehow reproduced by the Apple product, it will start to confusingly sound better.

I have never heard a Dragonfly DAC, but the clue here could be to try a different DAC?

 

[Rhamnetin]

Which iPad? I know the iPhone 7 Plus and 10 sound considerably worse than the Chord Mojo with any Fostex T50RP (iPhones can't even get it loud enough).

 

[Luke Thomas]

New $299 ipad

 

[mulder01]

Depends on the headphone. I have tried a couple of easy to drive headphones straight out of an ipod, and then again out of expensive aftermarket gear and it sounds the same to me. Not all headphones are that easy to drive though

 

[Luke Thomas]

Depends on the headphone. I have tried a couple of easy to drive headphones straight out of an ipod, and then again out of expensive aftermarket gear and it sounds the same to me. Not all headphones are that easy to drive though

Yes both my Focal Clears and Ed x are easy to drive. Makes you think about selling your expensive stuff.

 

[tabness]

I run a laptop thru a dragonfly red. Then to a Violectric $1800 amp. I switch to my ipad only .No external amp or dac. . I believe my ipad only, sounds as good as all the expensive stuff i was using.
Anyone have a similair experience?
Focal Clears
Hifiman Ed X

Yeah this has pretty much been my experience as well. Reading everything here I was expecting big sound differences out of amps and was actually kind of bummed I didn't have those experiences some described myself in some quick auditions (I'm not an audio objectivist and I don't want to be one lol)

I haven't tested lengthily out of anything too expensive yet but for example the Clear out of my MacBook Pro and my iPhone and my Mojo sounded pretty much the same (I think just right now I'm finally noticing that the Mojo does warm the sound and reduces the harshness of my Utopia on some songs as compared to directly from MacBook Pro and that's just barely). Even the sound differences between the Utopia and Clear seemed pretty minor to me.

I guess it is for the best, my plan is now to basically pick my favorite headphones by sound signature and enjoy.

 

[DeepSouth]

It depends, but I hear more defects with my iphone/ipad.
With that said the dragonfly red sounds pretty good.