[theintrospect]

The AR M20 looks like something I'd really want to get. Thanks for the pointers. Will sure keep an eye on this one.

 

[DannyBai]

Centrance Hifi-Skyn. Made for iPhone.

 

[Koolpep]

I want to get a portable dac/amp for my Shure se846 to bypass my iPhone 6+'s dac. Is there any portable dac/amp out there that would give me significant improvement in SQ compared to iPhone 6+ ? By improvement, I mean lower "record hiss" and increased soundstage, without sacrificing the bass.

I am not looking for DAPs, as I really enjoy the SQ and convenience of Tidal.

Thank you! 

Mojo, JDS Labs C5D, should both have no hiss with the shire 846. IDSD micro would work too but it's on the larger side.the CEntrance Hifi Skÿn might also be a good option, sounds very impressive.

Cheers

 

[theintrospect]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I was contemplating the c5d (because I want something that I can connect to my laptop). The Centrance looks attractive, and I might end up getting that. It seems that the Audioquest dragonfly Red will be released this month; I might be giving it a try.

 

[smaragd]

Also to consider... Japanese made Venturecraft... E.g. Vantam series


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mdelaney1986]

 c

 

[SparkOnShore]

I agree, I run a pair of ATH-CKR10's (12) ohms on my 5s and this setup sounds fabulous.   I have tried these earphones on several other smartphones and have always run into either clipping, insufficient volume and poor dynamics.   My old HTC m8 rocks them almost as good but it has a poor noise floor and lacks the engaging dynamic sound of the iPhone.  I was at the Apple store and tried them on the new iPhone SE and wow, that phone has the worst dac/amp I have heard in an iPhone.   Apple bought Beats, are removing the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and making what us audio enthusiasts know are excuses for their sheer interest in marketing and lack thereof in sound quality.  Another company bites the dust.....  Now I hear they will be supporting high res audio....as if this will even matter given the plummeting quality of the analogue audio circuitry on the newer iPhones.  UUGGGHHH!!!!

For some of us, myself included, the audio quality of an iPhone 6 or 6s is more than enough to enjoy music and good audio. Of course on the other hand I never considered myself an audiophile or some kind of audio fanatic. I just love music and good sound. At the same time, there are also people like you, who are never satisfied with anything and looking for something better and better all the time, but in reality, I believe, not knowing exactly what you're looking for and thus losing yourselves in the process. Apple on the other hand, the biggest tech company in the world, is neither influenced by your point of view nor by mine. Apple looks at the big picture and works to foresee the future by creating products, the necessity of which is not currently known by any of us. So my only suggestion here would be to relax a little and try avoiding generalizations and fast conclusions. The pleasure can also exist in music itself, apart from a certain unheard detail of a cymbal hit...

 

[theintrospect]

I've been demoing some external dacs and daps recently in an attempt to improve on the sound of the iPhone 6+ with the Shure se846 IEM. To my happiness and relief, the iPhone 6+, to my ears, really stands on its own, and it performed much better than many of the toys I demoed, including the most recent Dragongfly Red DAC/amp, Fiio X7 dap, Fiio X5 2nd generation. I haven't tried the Mojo so no comments on that one. In conclusion, the iPhone6+ seems to incorporate a class A DAC, as Ken Rockwell's measurements indicate.

 

[krismusic]

For some of us, myself included, the audio quality of an iPhone 6 or 6s is more than enough to enjoy music and good audio. Of course on the other hand I never considered myself an audiophile or some kind of audio fanatic. I just love music and good sound. At the same time, there are also people like you, who are never satisfied with anything and looking for something better and better all the time, but in reality, I believe, not knowing exactly what you're looking for and thus losing yourselves in the process. Apple on the other hand, the biggest tech company in the world, is neither influenced by your point of view nor by mine. Apple looks at the big picture and works to foresee the future by creating products, the necessity of which is not currently known by any of us. So my only suggestion here would be to relax a little and try avoiding generalizations and fast conclusions. The pleasure can also exist in music itself, apart from a certain unheard detail of a cymbal hit...

I've been demoing some external dacs and daps recently in an attempt to improve on the sound of the iPhone 6+ with the Shure se846 IEM. To my happiness and relief, the iPhone 6+, to my ears, really stands on its own, and I can it performed much better many of the toys I demoed, including the most recent Dragongfly Red DAC/amp, Fiio X7 dap, Fiio X5 2nd generation. I haven't tried the Mojo so no comments on that one. In conclusion, the iPhone6+ seems to incorporate a class A DAC, as Ken Rockwell's measurements indicate.

I have been advocating this POV for a long time on here.
Disclaimer! I failed miserably on The Golden Ears Challenge. Although I am told that my hearing is very good for my age. 60.
Firstly, from reading on here,the 6 and 6+ are considered by many to be the last iPhone for high quality sound.
The 6S certainly has shielding issues. I cannot use mine with an amp even in Airplane mode.
No such problems with the 5s. A PITA as I bought a128 Gb 6s to use with Tidal.
The 6S also has a lower output voltage, I read.
I have said on here that I do not believe that musical enjoyment lies depends on the last 1% of performance.
However! I realised that I have never used anything other than an Apple device with headphones and so I decided to buy a DAC/Amp.
I have heard the Mojo a couple of times at meets and could hear no difference from the HO of my iPhone 5S.
In fact I did hear an improvement when swapping between the two. I then realised that I had confused myself and was listening to the iPhone!
That ruled the Mojo out for me.
Despite 10,000 effusive posts, largely praising its capabilities.
I do not direct this specifically at those posting in the Mojo thread and I do not mean to be rude to anyone but I really think that people on HeadFi do not take sufficient account of placebo and expectation bias.
I also suggest that people should wait at least a month before posting impressions,to limit the effect of new toy syndrome!
Instead of a "boutique", audiophile maker I deliberately went mainstream with an Onkyo. (HA200)
To my consternation it does improve my listening.
The bass has more detail and depth. The top end is smoother, albeit rolled off.
In fact it doesn't really suit my K10's as they are a little dark in the top end, for me.
So reluctantly I am now thinking of switching to a DAP that has what the Onkyo gives me, with a brighter top end and without the bulk of a separate unit. Which is a PITA to carry around.
I cannot be certain that my impressions are accurate.
I have been caught out many times in the past and the "improvements" that I hear are classic placebo and expectation bias. I
don't think so though, I have been using the Onkyo for over a month now.
If you have a 6 or earlier and are happy with it I strongly recommend that you continue to enjoy your music.
Confident that you are listening to an excellent device.

 

[SparkOnShore]

I have been advocating this POV for a long time on here.
Disclaimer! I failed miserably on The Golden Ears Challenge. Although I am told that my hearing is very good for my age. 60.
Firstly, from reading on here,the 6 and 6+ are considered by many to be the last iPhone for high quality sound.
The 6S certainly has shielding issues. I cannot use mine with an amp even in Airplane mode.
No such problems with the 5s. A PITA as I bought a128 Gb 6s to use with Tidal.
The 6S also has a lower output voltage, I read.
I have said on here that I do not believe that musical enjoyment lies depends on the last 1% of performance.
However! I realised that I have never used anything other than an Apple device with headphones and so I decided to buy a DAC/Amp.
I have heard the Mojo a couple of times at meets and could hear no difference from the HO of my iPhone 5S.
In fact I did hear an improvement when swapping between the two. I then realised that I had confused myself and was listening to the iPhone!
That ruled the Mojo out for me.
Despite 10,000 effusive posts, largely praising its capabilities.
I do not direct this specifically at those posting in the Mojo thread and I do not mean to be rude to anyone but I really think that people on HeadFi do not take sufficient account of placebo and expectation bias.
I also suggest that people should wait at least a month before posting impressions,to limit the effect of new toy syndrome!
Instead of a "boutique", audiophile maker I deliberately went mainstream with an Onkyo. (HA200)
To my consternation it does improve my listening.
The bass has more detail and depth. The top end is smoother, albeit rolled off.
In fact it doesn't really suit my K10's as they are a little dark in the top end, for me.
So reluctantly I am now thinking of switching to a DAP that has what the Onkyo gives me, with a brighter top end and without the bulk of a separate unit. Which is a PITA to carry around.
I cannot be certain that my impressions are accurate.
I have been caught out many times in the past and the "improvements" that I hear are classic placebo and expectation bias. I
don't think so though, I have been using the Onkyo for over a month now.
If you have a 6 or earlier and are happy with it I strongly recommend that you continue to enjoy your music.
Confident that you are listening to an excellent device.

You wrote in an earlier post of yours that the hissing problem of 6s appears only when using an external amp. When listening from its HO there is no problem. So, why don't you listen directly from the headphone out of the device?? I never use external amps, dacs etc, and to my ears, by using many different headphones, BAs, dynamic driver, iems and full size cans directly from the headphone out, my previous 6 and my current 6s plus present no audible difference in sound quality. I never heard a single background noise on the 6s plus.

I have been occupying for quite some time with music production and I have heard many speaker systems, so I can have some kind of judgement over sound in general. Please listen to a jazz album: Bill Evans' Lost session from the Black Forest, on some Shure SE425 or SE535 or whatever else you prefer, directly from the headphone out of the iPhone 6s...! No reasonable and knowledgeable person who loves sound and music and not toys and gadgets will want anything more for an accurate and awesome quality reproduction of this high quality album. The sound does not miss anything! Really...

 

[krismusic]

You wrote in an earlier post of yours that the hissing problem of 6s appears only when using an external amp. When listening from its HO there is no problem. So, why don't you listen directly from the headphone out of the device?? I never use external amps, dacs etc, and to my ears, by using many different headphones, BAs, dynamic driver, iems and full size cans directly from the headphone out, my previous 6 and my current 6s plus present no audible difference in sound quality. I never heard a single background noise on the 6s plus.

I have been occupying for quite some time with music production and I have heard many speaker systems, so I can have some kind of judgement over sound in general. Please listen to a jazz album: Bill Evans' Lost session from the Black Forest, on some Shure SE425 or SE535 or whatever else you prefer, directly from the headphone out of the iPhone 6s...! No reasonable and knowledgeable person who loves sound and music and not toys and gadgets will want anything more for an accurate and awesome quality reproduction of this high quality album. The sound does not miss anything! Really...

I'll happily give Bill Evans a listen with my K10's.

 

[JamesKH]

Couldn't agree with you more. iPhone 6S is an excellent transport and holds its own against mid-fi DAPs. However, where you'll see a dramatic increase is when it is paired with Mojo - while using third party app such as Neutron. It acts as a pass-through. It does drain battery at a rapid clip. A few days ago, I was able to remedy this by purchasing the new Apple USB C Camera Connection kit. It allows me to connect to Mojo via USB while also charging via the additional lightning port. All I need now is a 256GB iPhone for additional DSD and Hi-Res audio files.

 

[krismusic]

Couldn't agree with you more. iPhone 6S is an excellent transport and holds its own against mid-fi DAPs. However, where you'll see an dramatic increase when paired with Mojo is using third party apps such as Neutron. It acts as a pas-through. It does drain battery at a rapid clip. But a few days ago, I was able to remedy this by purchasing the new Apple USB C Camera Connection kit. It allows me to connect to Mojo via USB while also charging via the additional lightning port. All I need now is a 256GB iPhone for additional DSD and Hi-Res audio files.

No interference issues with the Mojo then. Interesting. Unusable with the Onkyo.

 

[elfary]

You wrote in an earlier post of yours that the hissing problem of 6s appears only when using an external amp. When listening from its HO there is no problem. So, why don't you listen directly from the headphone out of the device?? I never use external amps, dacs etc, and to my ears, by using many different headphones, BAs, dynamic driver, iems and full size cans directly from the headphone out, my previous 6 and my current 6s plus present no audible difference in sound quality. I never heard a single background noise on the 6s plus.

I have been occupying for quite some time with music production and I have heard many speaker systems, so I can have some kind of judgement over sound in general. Please listen to a jazz album: Bill Evans' Lost session from the Black Forest, on some Shure SE425 or SE535 or whatever else you prefer, directly from the headphone out of the iPhone 6s...! No reasonable and knowledgeable person who loves sound and music and not toys and gadgets will want anything more for an accurate and awesome quality reproduction of this high quality album. The sound does not miss anything! Really...

 
+1
 
For people which deem sound as a mean for the music iPhone is plenty good. For people that deem music as a mean for the sound there's always something more to try.
 
I have put iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 against a plethora of boutique bricks and iPhone always held itself easily (with iems, that is. Full size cans are other story).
 
As you pointed out there's nothing missing from the iPhone hpo. Sound has nice weight, clarity and separation. It smokes with my SE846s and W30s.

 

[JamesKH]

Update my original post. In addition to correcting some typos, I've included pics of the new USB C Lightning kit.  Here's the link to Apple web site:
 
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK0W2/lightning-to-usb-3-camera-adapter?fnode=37