[LaurenceS]

Hi All,

Just got a spanky new Samsung Galaxy S5. The stock audio is "OK", but it's definitely nothing to write home about. I currently have a Fiio E17, but I've found that it's headphone amp doesn't really drive a pair of ATH-M50s any better than the stock amp in the 5S.

Any recommendations for a portable, battery-powered DAC/Amp?

Thanks,

-Laurence

 

[kantana]

The Chord Hugo gets my vote as best in quality right now.

 

[LaurenceS]

  The Chord Hugo gets my vote as best in quality right now.

 
Ummmm...........Yyyyeeeeaaaaahhhh.......That's a very nice piece of kit, and don't get me wrong, I am definitely a believer in "you gets what you pays for", but $2,400 is just a tad bit out of my price range.  I'm thinking more along the lines of the $300-$500 range.
 
Thank you Kantana.  You do have excellent taste though.  Unfortunately, I'm just on a bit of a Pabst Blue Ribbon budget.
 

 

[kantana]

   
Ummmm...........Yyyyeeeeaaaaahhhh.......That's a very nice piece of kit, and don't get me wrong, I am definitely a believer in "you gets what you pays for", but $2,400 is just a tad bit out of my price range.  I'm thinking more along the lines of the $300-$500 range.
 
Thank you Kantana.  You do have excellent taste though.  Unfortunately, I'm just on a bit of a Pabst Blue Ribbon budget.
 

If you want nice quality consider the iBasso DX90 dap, it's a very capable standalone player and will support DAC functions from a pc once iBasso gets round to updating the firmware.

 

[LaurenceS]

  If you want nice quality consider the iBasso DX90 dap, it's a very capable standalone player and will support DAC functions from a pc once iBasso gets round to updating the firmware.

 
Methinks you are most probably correct.  For the same $500 I would spend on a DAC/Amp combo, I could get a whole player. 
 
Thanks again,
 
-L

 

[PedroH]

  The Chord Hugo gets my vote as best in quality right now.

Is it certain that the S5 works flawlessly with the Hugo?
 
I'm ready to jump and buy a Hugo but struggling to find user reports on S5+Hugo working together to play high resolution 24bit files.

 

[Baroninkjet]

If you have not already, try some of the third party music players. Samsung app is pretty mediocre. Neutron or Poweramp will make a noticeable difference.

 

[Hungryhoss]

Go to the XDA developers site and the S5 specific forum. A secret world awaits you.

 

[fauxfreshness]

I have a Galaxy Note 3, and I'm waiting on the Note 4 to come out.  However, I'm using AIFF now for my "daily" stuff so I have to use PowerAmp or USB Audio Player Pro and iSyncr to get AIFF on my external microSDXC card.  I recently got a FiiO E18 and it's been WONDERFUL in helping me analyze my own masters and MP3 renders when compared to direct rips from material I want to reference.  However, I plan on getting a FiiO X5 (two microSDXC cards with promised firmware support for new cards as they come out in that standard, but in bigger sizes) although I might just get the A&K 240 since it already has 256 GB of on-board storage.  I want to play with direct DSD streams, but I don't see them being used in any kind of daily way for a long time to come.