Apple needs to stop farting around updating the camera and get caught up on the best DAC. We shouldnt have to walk around like some dweeb with all the DragonFly etc DACs dangling all over the place.
Un dac de bonne qualité, mange énormément de énergie. Pour cette raison.... le meilleur smartphone niveaux son est il Samsung s 10 plus. Aujourd'hui le s23 est déclaré sur papier 32bit 384k mais je vois pas ça car les smartphones en Europe sont bridé et écouteurs Bluetooth aussi.
@@ARIOSV360 I doubt they improved the internal DAC much, but either way, it doesn't matter when we're using external DACs. I upgraded my setup to Grado 325x + Dragonfly Cobalt!
Brilliant and perfectly explained! I’m just getting into the audiophile side of my 12 mini after being disenchanted with wireless sound even though I invested in very decent Bowers & Wilkins PI3 headphones. You have a new subscriber.
I recently purchased the dragonfly red as I wanted to check out Apple lossless and hi-res. Have to say I’m blown away by it on both iPhone and iPad so much so I’m upgrading headphones to go with it.for about £150 so far I have perfect lossless music
I love my Dragonfly Red. I purchased Massdrop Sennheiser HD 6XX to go along with it. Best combo IMO! I also love the fact that the color changes to signify which bitrate you’re listening to on the Dragonfly.
@Luis Lopez Yes you can! And here's a bonus, as an iPhone user, the signal produced from the Lightning Port is actually bit perfect! Android phones actually Down Sample the bitrate. So being an iPhone user in the Lossless Audio game is actually to your advantage!
Well done. There are other options available to replace the bulky camera attachment. Hidizs makes a USB C to lightning adapter and other OTG type adapters are also available. The Audirect Atom 2 is a small plug in for a lightning port that has been well reviewed as a plug in dac.
Very useful. Before I watched this video I have been looking for a way to plug in my Sony XM4 in to my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I think I’ll stick with the dragonfly and Apple usb dangle for starters. Thank you.
Thanks for the great video. Any chance to make an updated follow up, as Apple has finally migrated iPhone to USB-C? It looks like now the range of options is much wider.
Thank you! You are the only person in the world talking about how Bluetooth via iPhone is so inferior to Bluetooth via Android. The difference is quite big and really noticeable. It’s a shame because Apple positions itself as a lifestyle brand, but cheap androids a quarter of the price (as long as they have a Qualcomm soc) have so much better sound quality via Bluetooth.
Well, it would have been helpful to get a review of how the iPhone actually sounds with decent headphones, perhaps compared with other portable audio players or previous iPhone models.
Daps are obviously going to sound better since… music is what they are built for. Most people don’t want to carry two different items though. The Apple dongle isn’t bad for what it is. I prefer to run a fiio btr7 Apple edition with my iPhone 13. Fantastic unit. Can do the same for less with btr5/btr3k or other comparable portable dac/amps
@@NyteStalker89 I've used the Lotoo Paw S1 with my iPhone and heard a big improvement in sound quality. Unfortunately it came with a big hit to the iPhone's battery life. I prefer not to carry two devices either, but wound up buying a Sony NW-WM1A. Once broken in it is definitely better than the iPhone, then again it cost more than an iPhone. 🤷♂
Jesus man I love you, you just saved me a dissappointment. Thank you for explaining that iphone doesn't support ldac over bt. I mainly listen to music over earphone or in my car stereo via BT, and I used to love Samsung. Just wondering what phone to get this year
So just so I understand correctly - my Iphone is outdated in terms of how it can output high quality music. So if I pay for a nice streaming service (ex amazon music with Ultra HD) and have nice headphones, the only way to get the most out of all of them when listening on the go is to bridge the streaming to the headphones with an external DAC? I just bought a Fiio BTR5 for this purpose. I fly cross country for work frequently and want to be able to enable the best playback from saved recordings for those long hours stuck in an aluminum tube with crying kids
Don't bother. Get yourself something good like a really good lossless portable DAC/player, or even an Astell and Kern if you can afford one, and load them up with your fave music on the SD card and just bring a good pair of wired headphones (or BT) and use the headphone amp with that, and you should be all set. The IPhone is just not an audiophile player and is not intended to be so. The fact that Apple got rid of the headphone jack is just one aspect of that. It's intended for convenience only.
I use Foobar 2000 on my iPhone to stream bit perfect music over wi-fi from my Raspberry Pi based Openmediavault audio and video server. Of course the server can also be accessed from all of my computers as well using cable or wi-fi.
AudioQuest Jitterbug FMJ makes a world of different to Red Dragon Fly Pairing up with Golden Gate 3.5mm cable definitely perfect match Recently i got Chord Mojo, pairing with Jitterbug blew Red DragonFly away yes it runs hot, i had a fan on it but Mojo needs to warm up before it sounds good
Pairing this video with your other video on why not to get fooled by hi-res audio - the main takeaway being that it is not physically possible for humans to hear above 20khz & the difference in quantamisation noise ratio quality between 16bit & 24 bit audio being negligible and not noticeable as well, it seems like the apple usb-c to 3.5mm audio jack attachment is more than sufficient, as it caters to 24bit at 48khz, unless you're batman right?
As long as you are using sensitive iems the Apple dongle is OK. If you want to drive more powerful full size headphones you’ll need something with a better amplification stage and more power. Remember the DAC is just one component, you need a decent amp as well.
@@AudioFixation can you give this in an Explain Like I'm Five version? I'm transitioning from streaming to 16 & 24 bit files (don't have physical space for a ton of CDs) and didn't think flac got better than 24. I have beats studio headphones and planning to plug it in with the dongle -- are those considered sensitive?
Hello Jonas, I’m also interested in this headphone. I’m reading about 32, 80 and 250 ohms versions. I know 250 ohms versions is not the way to go with mobile phone. But why did you choose the 80 ohms versions over the 32 ohms versions. Did you try both?
@@fredericsidler Hello. I wanted to power them with a DAC and i read that the 80ohm was the one to buy. But the 32ohm have the same sound and easy to drive with your phone,one good thing the cable is only 1.6m.
You mean with the Iphone? Or with another lossless player of some kind? You're better off with the latter in my opinion. The smartphone music quality is so NOT good, dead sounding and no warmth to most of it.
Nvm, that was pretty dumb. ALways want my music unified into one app so I just converted my FLACS into ALACS while maintaining its metadata with Foobar2000
So many adapters, dongles, subscriptions, and files to juggle. It’s good to know you can do it but I feel like it’s not unreasonable to just stick to CDs, lol!
Im wondering if now that Apple Music has put much of its music in Lossless and also much in Hi-Res Lossless 24bit 196Hz, if all the same things are necessary and if the DragonFly supports 24bit at 196Hz, or just Lossless like it says on Amazon.
Thank you for this video. I’ve been researching for hours and this finally helped me. Audiophiles piss me off so f*cking much. Why do these people make everything so f*cking complicated.
On the iPhone I still sync 320k .mp3 files because that's the highest bandwidth Bluetooth will do. I have another profile in Windows 10 with iTunes set to a different library location that only has my CD rips at 44.1 - 16bit. At home I have a setup that gives me CD quality sound from that profile iTunes. I use AirPlay to cast to an Apple Airport Express that connects to my stereo system. Then I use the remote feature and app to control that iTunes instance from my iPhone. So the iPhone doesn't play the music it's just a remote for iTunes on my laptop. I remastered and restored all those .wav files to they sound really good. Sadly Apple no longer makes the Airport Express. If you can't find one there are some network attached DACs that have AirPlay now.
Jade Audio sells several lightning DACs, no adapter required. I have the FiiO KA1, $50 and it does up to 32/384, MQA, and DSD. Unfortunately it does not support Dolby ATMOS playback. I have several Apple Music albums downloaded to my iPhone 13 Pro Max in both hi res lossless and Dolby ATMOS. Dark Side of the Moon sounds really good. I use an insignia MFi certified dongle to listen to ATMOS albums.
subscribed, thank you. Ive been using Apple's dongle with Senheisser HD 650 headphones (300ohm model). Works pretty well, and can get pretty loud. dynamics are meh but it works.
also try the hd function in the onco player, it changes the discrediting frequency if a DAC is connected, when i use dac I have 44,1khz/pcm 176,4khz 👌😎
Very helpful and detailed video. Sorry for the ignorance but I was lost with a lot of the tech spea, I need to brush up. I am about to own a pair of oppo PM 3' headphones. I've heard great reviews on them but I want the added benefits on DAC and particularly an EQ as I have an eclectic taste in music. Most of the music I listen to online is via TH-cam so what would be your recomended app? Not sure if you're commenting on vids this old but thanks for your efforts, very useful for clots like moi.
Thank you for this video! I just got my iPhone 13 late last year and I’ve been a Bluetooth headphone pleb up until now, where I’m trying to get into hifi gear, I ended up going with the lighting to 3.5mm cable and Samson SR850, it sounds so much better and I’m happy with it! I’m planning to grab a proper DAC to transfer some high res MQA as I just subscribed to TIDAL recently.
I have a question. Can an iPhone handle hi-res audio through a lightning CABLE? (setup: Lighting cable to car(Carplay) > DSP system). Or is there still a bottleneck?
Uh oh, busted, yup I use my iPhone 16 to stream music via Amazon Music & Dragon fly to a vintage 2CH Stereo. So would you suggest a better music streamer than Amazon Music? AM has a great selection but being an Amazon member it was just easy to subscribe? Thanks for the content, albeit a little late to the show.
@@pelilin2519 The cable was included with the DAC at extra cost, but you can find the ddHiFi MFi06 cable in the market, which is made to work with the DAC
In Apple music you can apparently choose quality mode which is 24 bit and 48 khz. Do I have for me that I have heard. But if you want Apple's equivalent of Dolby Atmos or 360 sounds, you obviously need either Apple or Beats headphones. for they apparently have the special chip required
I have a momentum 4 , & an iPhone 14, I use Apple Music & I want to access the loseless audio, u think the dragon fly plus the camera dongle is a good enough combo for that?
Could you send the signal into a speaker like the muso qb instead of headphones? I have a spare iPad which would sit nicely next to a speaker and generally I find airplay to be a pain constantly dropping out etc. Thanks for a really useful video.
I've been meaning to get the WF-1000XM5 wireless headphones for a while but I've been holding back because iPhone doesn't support LDAC. Is there an external dac that supports Bluetooth headphones rather than wired ones?
nice content! i’ve been using apple music lossless recently, i thi k it’s quite nice the audio quality is rather full than aac one. do you think apple’s lossless feature already good enough?
Really helpful. I'm thinking about if I could use Apple Music (with lossless) as both my streamer and my file player, rather than having Qobuz for Streaming and something else for playing downloaded files (at home, too, in a dedicated device attached to my big stereo). Thanks for this!
You can do that it just sucks that the local files don’t show that they are lossless if they are files you purchased. But Qobuz is working on a updated version of there app that will allow your own music you purchased to be on the app as well as being able to stream music. So it might be worth the wait.
Im currently using my iphone 7+ with Foobar 2k it is gud however I am using it with the Qudelix 5k which I realized that the Iphones only output AAC codec, it doesnt output like Lossy or any other codecs, why tho ? Also you got any way to make it output other codecs ? Thank you and nice vid btw
Currently have a IPhone 14 Pro which I use a Ifi Go Bar with Sennheiser IE800’s which I had Snug custom ear mouldings made which sounds very good- is there a way bearing in mind this is for gym and running useage of getting superior sound either wireless or wired IEM’s as the technology of my current is some 10 plus years old. As someone who has a serious home system just wondering is this possible , I have tried a Astell & Kern AK70MK2 a while back but very average and that was against the AQ Cobalt?
Hi all! Did You know if there are limitations with diferent adapters, I bought a camera adapter for my iPad on Aliexpress but I cant pass 44K on an external dac even with Tidal. The original one could make any difference? Thanks.
Hi, thanks for your guide on audiophile topic. do you have any plan to test out some of popular iem in the market such as fiio, moondrop, or even established brand such as sony and sennheiser ? I'm new to audiophile topic, and I would like to know more about 'reference' type iem and 'fun' sounding iem. difference between 'bright' sounding to 'warm' sounding. what's the pros and cons of selecting well established brand like sennheiser or choosing chi-fi brand such as kz and moondrop. sorry if the request and suggestion is too long. I just had so many question to this new hobby. anyway, looking up for your future videos, hope you and family stay healthy during pandemic.
What if I download the music from a paid streaming service like Apple or Spotify, and then use Neutron or Onkio player to play..? Is that a valid method of getting onboard tracks rather than hooking up to a compute?
This video was so educational for me. I am a newbie so please be patient with me. I have an iPhone 13 and I want to make sure I am getting the most out of my Apple Music listening experience. I use the standard Apple Earbuds with the lightning connector or I will use wireless earbuds(PowerBeats Pro) to listen. I just learned that when listening to Apple Music I can touch the "lossless" icon above the play/pause button to learn more about the sound: it reads either 16 bit/44.1 or 24 bit/48 In order to understand this better can you answer the following-Since lossless is CD quality are you saying with my iPhone the best sound quality I can hear is lossless? And in order to hear the music in hi-res lossless would be with some of the dongles you showed in the video? Thanks again for you time. Excited to learn more about this
Is it possible to use the Camera 3 adapter with iPhone 12 mini and one of the Dragonfly DAC’s to play HiRes music through car audio head unit? Xlnt review finally! Advice appreciated thanks
Yes this would definitely work. I think the dragonfly red is the sweet spot of the lineup. Think it maxes out at 24bit/96KHz which I think is more than enough!
Yes it can, I have a 13 Pro Max + DF Red + Sennheiser 660s (150 ohms) streaming Apple Music Lossless and I am happy but not enough. After reviewing a lot it seems there are many better Dongle DAC’s that really make a difference like the Luxury & Precision W2. I will try this new combo soon.
@@adrianserrano7484 Thank you so much for this. I recently bought 660s as well but I’m still looking for a DAC/AMP that can drive this 660s. I think I will use this with topping A30 pro and D30 pro stack combo in my desktop. I can’t use this headphones outside since it is open back and it is bulky as well.
The ikko zerda is an amazing dac it’s just as good if not better than the audio quest dragonfly red and it is a lightning connector so no extra connection needed and it has an optical out to connect to a stereo receiver. Oh and it’s $100
Thank you for sharing this little DAC. Never heard about it before. Very interesting and small factor. I like it. Unfortunately I can not find anymore to order. I will continue to follow this brand. Many thanks.
from an audiophile that owns airpodmaxes I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss them… I enjoy my pair as much as any of my other cans which include all the usual suspects … the audio quality is perfectly fine (please everyone go abx test yourselves)
I have a quick question, in my opinion the iPhone audio quality sounds way better than any android, however if im using the Dragonfly Red on either device (Iphone or Android) would the audio sound exactly the same, or would there be a difference per device?
@Joel O since I asked this question, I purchased the iPhone 14 pro max, you can tell (in my opinion) that apple really put some serious thought into their audio quality, for me it’s Apple iPhone and Apple Music for the win
I have a problem with my airpods pro, when I connect it to my dell laptop which runs on windows 10 the sound and bass quality is noticeably better compared to when I connect to my iphone 8 plus. My airpods pro and my iphone are both at their latest firmware, I don't know why it sounds better when connected to a third party laptop, do laptops use a different type of bluetooth or something?
Last I checked 1 laptop is the size of a 100iphones bud 😂 The sound card aka the dac built into your laptop is likely newer and has more processing power than that of your iPhone 8. But you could have at the time still connected the white apple lightening to headphone adapter on that iPhone8 at the time and experienced better audio output when connecting headphone thru the lightening adapter vs going directly into the phones headphone jack
I apologize. I’m trying to understand. I have an iPhone. The Apple camera adapter combined with the Audioquest DACS are only used for wired headphones and not wireless Headphones? Thanks.
Can the Apple dongle properly drive (thru a proper cable) a line input on my home stereo amplifier? The input impedance of the line input is 50k ohms, typical for line level inputs. Anyone try this?
Apple needs to stop farting around updating the camera and get caught up on the best DAC. We shouldnt have to walk around like some dweeb with all the DragonFly etc DACs dangling all over the place.
Could you please suggest a Tablet with best Dac available
Un dac de bonne qualité, mange énormément de énergie. Pour cette raison.... le meilleur smartphone niveaux son est il Samsung s 10 plus. Aujourd'hui le s23 est déclaré sur papier 32bit 384k mais je vois pas ça car les smartphones en Europe sont bridé et écouteurs Bluetooth aussi.
The reality is 99% of people don't care, so why should Apple increase their manufacturing costs to make less than 1% happy?
iPhone 13 with Tidal + adapter + Dragonfly Red + Grado SR225X here. Studio quality audio in the subway going to work!
Grados are open back, when i listen to them at home with an amp people near me hear EVERYTHING. How are doikg this in the subway 🤣
@@duramater555 By being a psycopath, of course
@@quicogil4565 Does it not cause a disturbance? Genuine question
there is difference in audio quality from iphone 13 to 15?
@@ARIOSV360 I doubt they improved the internal DAC much, but either way, it doesn't matter when we're using external DACs. I upgraded my setup to Grado 325x + Dragonfly Cobalt!
Brilliant and perfectly explained! I’m just getting into the audiophile side of my 12 mini after being disenchanted with wireless sound even though I invested in very decent Bowers & Wilkins PI3 headphones. You have a new subscriber.
I recently purchased the dragonfly red as I wanted to check out Apple lossless and hi-res. Have to say I’m blown away by it on both iPhone and iPad so much so I’m upgrading headphones to go with it.for about £150 so far I have perfect lossless music
I’m going the same direction. I’m wondering what headphone or what earphone you decided to buy. Can you share your results.
I love my Dragonfly Red. I purchased Massdrop Sennheiser HD 6XX to go along with it. Best combo IMO! I also love the fact that the color changes to signify which bitrate you’re listening to on the Dragonfly.
@Luis Lopez Yes
@Luis Lopez Yes you can! And here's a bonus, as an iPhone user, the signal produced from the Lightning Port is actually bit perfect! Android phones actually Down Sample the bitrate. So being an iPhone user in the Lossless Audio game is actually to your advantage!
@@fredericsidler Moondrop variations best for money .I’m a audiophile
Well done. There are other options available to replace the bulky camera attachment. Hidizs makes a USB C to lightning adapter and other OTG type adapters are also available. The Audirect Atom 2 is a small plug in for a lightning port that has been well reviewed as a plug in dac.
I don't even have an Apple but I've been waiting for this one since your videos are just top notch sir
Thanks for watching Arif, I appreciate the kind comments!
same tbh
Very useful. Before I watched this video I have been looking for a way to plug in my Sony XM4 in to my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I think I’ll stick with the dragonfly and Apple usb dangle for starters. Thank you.
Thanks for the great video. Any chance to make an updated follow up, as Apple has finally migrated iPhone to USB-C? It looks like now the range of options is much wider.
Thank you! You are the only person in the world talking about how Bluetooth via iPhone is so inferior to Bluetooth via Android. The difference is quite big and really noticeable.
It’s a shame because Apple positions itself as a lifestyle brand, but cheap androids a quarter of the price (as long as they have a Qualcomm soc) have so much better sound quality via Bluetooth.
Thanks for the content. Been searching this kind of contents for a while and your channel fits every aspects. Keep it up!
I wish dragonfly would make an integrated iPhone dac case
Fantastic and easy to understand tutorial for all things iPhone music. You've demystified a lot of things for me. * subscribed *
thanks for watching
Well, it would have been helpful to get a review of how the iPhone actually sounds with decent headphones, perhaps compared with other portable audio players or previous iPhone models.
Daps are obviously going to sound better since… music is what they are built for. Most people don’t want to carry two different items though. The Apple dongle isn’t bad for what it is. I prefer to run a fiio btr7 Apple edition with my iPhone 13. Fantastic unit. Can do the same for less with btr5/btr3k or other comparable portable dac/amps
@@NyteStalker89 I've used the Lotoo Paw S1 with my iPhone and heard a big improvement in sound quality. Unfortunately it came with a big hit to the iPhone's battery life. I prefer not to carry two devices either, but wound up buying a Sony NW-WM1A. Once broken in it is definitely better than the iPhone, then again it cost more than an iPhone. 🤷♂
@@00bikeboy why would a dac need to be broken in?
@@Kids11111 Ask Sony. They recommend breaking theirs in for 200 hours. Apparently their capacitors sound better after a break-in period. Who knew?
@@00bikeboydo not trust this, breaking in does not exist. Maybe for shoes yeah, but not a dac. They say this so you can’t use your return window.
Hi there. I use the FiiO Q5S TC and it came with a lightning to usb c adaptor, no need for anything else🙂
is it good on iphone?
@@tofu4169 yes it is great.
I’ve been waiting for this
Well done. Perfect primer for iOS users new to HiFi
Jesus man I love you, you just saved me a dissappointment. Thank you for explaining that iphone doesn't support ldac over bt. I mainly listen to music over earphone or in my car stereo via BT, and I used to love Samsung. Just wondering what phone to get this year
there you go !!! best info!! no way around it… DACs the only way via iphone!
So just so I understand correctly - my Iphone is outdated in terms of how it can output high quality music. So if I pay for a nice streaming service (ex amazon music with Ultra HD) and have nice headphones, the only way to get the most out of all of them when listening on the go is to bridge the streaming to the headphones with an external DAC? I just bought a Fiio BTR5 for this purpose. I fly cross country for work frequently and want to be able to enable the best playback from saved recordings for those long hours stuck in an aluminum tube with crying kids
Don't bother. Get yourself something good like a really good lossless portable DAC/player, or even an Astell and Kern if you can afford one, and load them up with your fave music on the SD card and just bring a good pair of wired headphones (or BT) and use the headphone amp with that, and you should be all set. The IPhone is just not
an audiophile player and is not intended to be so. The fact that Apple got rid of the headphone jack is just one aspect of that. It's intended for convenience only.
I use Foobar 2000 on my iPhone to stream bit perfect music over wi-fi from my Raspberry Pi based Openmediavault audio and video server. Of course the server can also be accessed from all of my computers as well using cable or wi-fi.
AudioQuest Jitterbug FMJ makes a world of different to Red Dragon Fly
Pairing up with Golden Gate 3.5mm cable definitely perfect match
Recently i got Chord Mojo, pairing with Jitterbug blew Red DragonFly away
yes it runs hot, i had a fan on it
but Mojo needs to warm up before it sounds good
Curious to see the 2024 update.
Pairing this video with your other video on why not to get fooled by hi-res audio - the main takeaway being that it is not physically possible for humans to hear above 20khz & the difference in quantamisation noise ratio quality between 16bit & 24 bit audio being negligible and not noticeable as well, it seems like the apple usb-c to 3.5mm audio jack attachment is more than sufficient, as it caters to 24bit at 48khz, unless you're batman right?
As long as you are using sensitive iems the Apple dongle is OK. If you want to drive more powerful full size headphones you’ll need something with a better amplification stage and more power. Remember the DAC is just one component, you need a decent amp as well.
@@AudioFixation can you give this in an Explain Like I'm Five version? I'm transitioning from streaming to 16 & 24 bit files (don't have physical space for a ton of CDs) and didn't think flac got better than 24.
I have beats studio headphones and planning to plug it in with the dongle -- are those considered sensitive?
I use Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 ohm with iFi hip-dac it’s great combo👍
Hello Jonas, I’m also interested in this headphone. I’m reading about 32, 80 and 250 ohms versions. I know 250 ohms versions is not the way to go with mobile phone. But why did you choose the 80 ohms versions over the 32 ohms versions. Did you try both?
@@fredericsidler Hello. I wanted to power them with a DAC and i read that the 80ohm was the one to buy. But the 32ohm have the same sound and easy to drive with your phone,one good thing the cable is only 1.6m.
@@jonaskalen1759 many thanks.
You mean with the Iphone? Or with another lossless player of some kind? You're better off with the latter in my opinion. The smartphone music quality is so NOT good, dead sounding and no warmth to most of it.
@@thiscorrosion900 I use it with my iphone or iPad,i get lossless from Apple Music,The iFi hip-dac take care of the rest.
Can you possibly do a tutorial on transfering FLAC files somit can be played by these apps?
Nvm, that was pretty dumb. ALways want my music unified into one app so I just converted my FLACS into ALACS while maintaining its metadata with Foobar2000
So many adapters, dongles, subscriptions, and files to juggle. It’s good to know you can do it but I feel like it’s not unreasonable to just stick to CDs, lol!
Im wondering if now that Apple Music has put much of its music in Lossless and also much in Hi-Res Lossless 24bit 196Hz, if all the same things are necessary and if the DragonFly supports 24bit at 196Hz, or just Lossless like it says on Amazon.
High quality video ✅ high quality audio ✅ informative and entertaining ✅ likeing subbing belling and binging!
Really easy to follow. Thank you!
Man, you jumped from $10 too >$200 real fast and skipped great items that can be wired and wireless like the fiio btr5/7
Plexamp is a great player for audiophiles on iPhone.
Agreed. In fact I’m planning a video on it 😎
Thank you for this video. I’ve been researching for hours and this finally helped me.
Audiophiles piss me off so f*cking much. Why do these people make everything so f*cking complicated.
FIIO Q5S TC is my choice for iPhone 12 Pro Max, and lightning to HDMI for Lexus with Mark Levinson
On the iPhone I still sync 320k .mp3 files because that's the highest bandwidth Bluetooth will do. I have another profile in Windows 10 with iTunes set to a different library location that only has my CD rips at 44.1 - 16bit. At home I have a setup that gives me CD quality sound from that profile iTunes. I use AirPlay to cast to an Apple Airport Express that connects to my stereo system. Then I use the remote feature and app to control that iTunes instance from my iPhone. So the iPhone doesn't play the music it's just a remote for iTunes on my laptop. I remastered and restored all those .wav files to they sound really good. Sadly Apple no longer makes the Airport Express. If you can't find one there are some network attached DACs that have AirPlay now.
Jade Audio sells several lightning DACs, no adapter required. I have the FiiO KA1, $50 and it does up to 32/384, MQA, and DSD. Unfortunately it does not support Dolby ATMOS playback.
I have several Apple Music albums downloaded to my iPhone 13 Pro Max in both hi res lossless and Dolby ATMOS. Dark Side of the Moon sounds really good. I use an insignia MFi certified dongle to listen to ATMOS albums.
What app do you use for highres local music playback?
@@toxotis70 Apple Music.
subscribed, thank you.
Ive been using Apple's dongle with Senheisser HD 650 headphones (300ohm model).
Works pretty well, and can get pretty loud. dynamics are meh but it works.
Honestly not worth upgrading until you can afford a mojo2
also try the hd function in the onco player, it changes the discrediting frequency if a DAC is connected, when i use dac I have 44,1khz/pcm 176,4khz 👌😎
Very helpful and detailed video. Sorry for the ignorance but I was lost with a lot of the tech spea, I need to brush up. I am about to own a pair of oppo PM 3' headphones. I've heard great reviews on them but I want the added benefits on DAC and particularly an EQ as I have an eclectic taste in music. Most of the music I listen to online is via TH-cam so what would be your recomended app? Not sure if you're commenting on vids this old but thanks for your efforts, very useful for clots like moi.
im good with the the lightning to headphone jack adapter. I doubt that someone can hear a difference between CD Quality and Highres.
Thank you for this video! I just got my iPhone 13 late last year and I’ve been a Bluetooth headphone pleb up until now, where I’m trying to get into hifi gear, I ended up going with the lighting to 3.5mm cable and Samson SR850, it sounds so much better and I’m happy with it! I’m planning to grab a proper DAC to transfer some high res MQA as I just subscribed to TIDAL recently.
“Headphone pleb” 😭
I have usb c DAC. I think it works great
So I can use this same technique, except, plug my phone to the dac and into my stereo receiver’s aux, yea?
I have a question. Can an iPhone handle hi-res audio through a lightning CABLE? (setup: Lighting cable to car(Carplay) > DSP system). Or is there still a bottleneck?
Uh oh, busted, yup I use my iPhone 16 to stream music via Amazon Music & Dragon fly to a vintage 2CH Stereo. So would you suggest a better music streamer than Amazon Music? AM has a great selection but being an Amazon member it was just easy to subscribe? Thanks for the content, albeit a little late to the show.
Will i hear hi res lossless via lightning to hdmi adapter?
Strong work! Is there anyway to employ a DAC/Amp Bluetooth Transceiver with wireless (Bluetooth) earbuds?
Thanks Mark - I don't quite get the question though...could you explain?
Spot on Chief! Quick question: so if I have flacs how to do I xfer them to the iphone and can play them? Thanks!
Great video. Does ANY external DAC support calling through the headphones' mic? Cheers
Can you please do a through review of the truly wireless earbuds - Status Between 3ANC thanks ☺️! Much appreciated 🤯!
Dragonfly red is too expensive. Suggest budget friendly external DAC
I use the Shanling UA2 external DAC with a detachable USB-C lightning cable. Thanks to this, I don't have to use additional Apple USB-A dongles 🙂
Great tip!
Can you help me what cable brand that can connect usbc lightning for dac? Looking for one.
@@pelilin2519 The cable was included with the DAC at extra cost, but you can find the ddHiFi MFi06 cable in the market, which is made to work with the DAC
In Apple music you can apparently choose quality mode which is 24 bit and 48 khz. Do I have for me that I have heard. But if you want Apple's equivalent of Dolby Atmos or 360 sounds, you obviously need either Apple or Beats headphones. for they apparently have the special chip required
No u can use any headphone to enjoy hi res 24/192 or Dolby Atmos with Apple Music.
Hey! So anytime I use Apple Music Lossless with an external DAC it will be bit perfect?
what about using the Fiio BTR5 as a DAC? I’ve seen it being recommended a lot.
YES, the best solution,
| Fiio LT-LT1 Type-C to Lightning OTG Cable for iOS .
Get it at ALIEXPRESS.
I bought the btr3k sounds good but better through Android
@@av0456 it’s not the best solution but it’s a solution .
I have a momentum 4 , & an iPhone 14, I use Apple Music & I want to access the loseless audio, u think the dragon fly plus the camera dongle is a good enough combo for that?
Could you send the signal into a speaker like the muso qb instead of headphones? I have a spare iPad which would sit nicely next to a speaker and generally I find airplay to be a pain constantly dropping out etc. Thanks for a really useful video.
I've been meaning to get the WF-1000XM5 wireless headphones for a while but I've been holding back because iPhone doesn't support LDAC. Is there an external dac that supports Bluetooth headphones rather than wired ones?
The fiio ka3 would you say is a good option rather the dragon fly?
nice content! i’ve been using apple music lossless recently, i thi k it’s quite nice the audio quality is rather full than aac one. do you think apple’s lossless feature already good enough?
Really helpful. I'm thinking about if I could use Apple Music (with lossless) as both my streamer and my file player, rather than having Qobuz for Streaming and something else for playing downloaded files (at home, too, in a dedicated device attached to my big stereo). Thanks for this!
You can do that it just sucks that the local files don’t show that they are lossless if they are files you purchased. But Qobuz is working on a updated version of there app that will allow your own music you purchased to be on the app as well as being able to stream music. So it might be worth the wait.
So for a Harmon Kardon car system fed by USB A, I could lightening to camera, then USB 3 to USB A into the HK ?
Im currently using my iphone 7+ with Foobar 2k it is gud however I am using it with the Qudelix 5k which I realized that the Iphones only output AAC codec, it doesnt output like Lossy or any other codecs, why tho ? Also you got any way to make it output other codecs ?
Thank you and nice vid btw
Currently have a IPhone 14 Pro which I use a Ifi Go Bar with Sennheiser IE800’s which I had Snug custom ear mouldings made which sounds very good- is there a way bearing in mind this is for gym and running useage of getting superior sound either wireless or wired IEM’s as the technology of my current is some 10 plus years old. As someone who has a serious home system just wondering is this possible , I have tried a Astell & Kern AK70MK2 a while back but very average and that was against the AQ Cobalt?
2023 what is your best dongle now
Awesome... big thumbs up...
Will I notice a difference in sound quality if I connect a fiio btr3k up to my ipod touch. Rather than just plugging in my kz zs 10 pros straight in ?
U can try listening with ur IEM 1st.. den try out the btr3k all together… there will be differences in clarity
@@zulumax thanks for your reply just bought a btr3k cheers mate 👍
Hi all! Did You know if there are limitations with diferent adapters, I bought a camera adapter for my iPad on Aliexpress but I cant pass 44K on an external dac even with Tidal. The original one could make any difference? Thanks.
Running an iPhone 7+ with KS KS10 Pro….and I’m good 😎
Will I achieve anything for youtube and tiktok quality if I buy external dac DragonFly ?
Hi, thanks for your guide on audiophile topic.
do you have any plan to test out some of popular iem in the market such as fiio, moondrop, or even established brand such as sony and sennheiser ?
I'm new to audiophile topic, and I would like to know more about 'reference' type iem and 'fun' sounding iem. difference between 'bright' sounding to 'warm' sounding.
what's the pros and cons of selecting well established brand like sennheiser or choosing chi-fi brand such as kz and moondrop.
sorry if the request and suggestion is too long. I just had so many question to this new hobby. anyway, looking up for your future videos, hope you and family stay healthy during pandemic.
What if I download the music from a paid streaming service like Apple or Spotify, and then use Neutron or Onkio player to play..? Is that a valid method of getting onboard tracks rather than hooking up to a compute?
Great content. Your voice also sounds like Patrick Stewart
I am honoured by the comparison thanks! “Make it so” 🤣
“Engage”
So the foil btr5 won’t be lossless?
How does the iPhone speakers produce analog sound if no internal DAC is present?
Never use wireless. Analogue data is stressed before transmuting to the buds hence lower quality not no mention latency
lovely review. thanks for this dive in 🙏
This video was so educational for me. I am a newbie so please be patient with me. I have an iPhone 13 and I want to make sure I am getting the most out of my Apple Music listening experience.
I use the standard Apple Earbuds with the lightning connector or I will use wireless earbuds(PowerBeats Pro) to listen.
I just learned that when listening to Apple Music I can touch the "lossless" icon above the play/pause button to learn more about the sound: it reads either 16 bit/44.1 or 24 bit/48
In order to understand this better can you answer the following-Since lossless is CD quality are you saying with my iPhone the best sound quality I can hear is lossless?
And in order to hear the music in hi-res lossless would be with some of the dongles you showed in the video? Thanks again for you time. Excited to learn more about this
Hi-res lossless you would need an external DAC, yes.
Is it possible to use the Camera 3 adapter with iPhone 12 mini and one of the Dragonfly DAC’s to play HiRes music through car audio head unit? Xlnt review finally! Advice appreciated thanks
Yes this would definitely work. I think the dragonfly red is the sweet spot of the lineup. Think it maxes out at 24bit/96KHz which I think is more than enough!
Can the iPhone + Dragonfly Red combo power up a headphone with 100-300 ohms/impedance?
Yes it can, I have a 13 Pro Max + DF Red + Sennheiser 660s (150 ohms) streaming Apple Music Lossless and I am happy but not enough.
After reviewing a lot it seems there are many better Dongle DAC’s that really make a difference like the Luxury & Precision W2. I will try this new combo soon.
@@adrianserrano7484 Thank you so much for this. I recently bought 660s as well but I’m still looking for a DAC/AMP that can drive this 660s. I think I will use this with topping A30 pro and D30 pro stack combo in my desktop. I can’t use this headphones outside since it is open back and it is bulky as well.
I bought a WF-1000MX, but I can’t enjoy the HD sound, it is so stressing
Spotify have only AAC Format, no Flac files or hifi, Master, Dolby like TIDAL for example.
3:37 24bit is not CD quality but much better. CD quality is 16Bit isn’t it?
All the good reasons to get the latest Sony phone next
The ikko zerda is an amazing dac it’s just as good if not better than the audio quest dragonfly red and it is a lightning connector so no extra connection needed and it has an optical out to connect to a stereo receiver. Oh and it’s $100
Interesting. From what I can find it has a usb c connector rather than a lightning one. Do you have a version with a lightning connector?
@@AudioFixation I do have one. They make both a usb-c and lightning version.
Thank you for sharing this little DAC. Never heard about it before. Very interesting and small factor. I like it. Unfortunately I can not find anymore to order. I will continue to follow this brand. Many thanks.
from an audiophile that owns airpodmaxes I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss them… I enjoy my pair as much as any of my other cans which include all the usual suspects … the audio quality is perfectly fine (please everyone go abx test yourselves)
i agree...(the videographer is too negative aboutem!!!)
True for Bluetooth I enjoy AirPods max over the Sony headphones!
Agree with you
Yes, because 320 kbps aac is far better than 990 kbps LDAC...these iSheep LMAO..never a dull moment.
@@common_sense_supreme acc is 256kbps but acc is on Apple System so much better than on any android system .
waiting for the Zen Dac Sundara report
I have a quick question, in my opinion the iPhone audio quality sounds way better than any android, however if im using the Dragonfly Red on either device (Iphone or Android) would the audio sound exactly the same, or would there be a difference per device?
@Joel O since I asked this question, I purchased the iPhone 14 pro max, you can tell (in my opinion) that apple really put some serious thought into their audio quality, for me it’s Apple iPhone and Apple Music for the win
why wouldn't you suggest apple to 3.5mm adapter dongle for about 10 bucks; reviewers say it's great. and what about fiio bluetooth dac's?
Anything Bluetooth from any manufacturer is not lossless, it is not High Res.
Since my denon avr 7200 wa has hi res dacs can’t I just use my iPhone lightning cord and hook if straight to my avr to get hi res ?
Can you use the dragonfly red to connect your iPhone to a car stereo?
Yes, if your car stereo has an aux in port
@@AudioFixation or HDMI
how di i get dsd/ flac files into the cloud? i have Onko player but cant seem to get any music into it from a macbook m1
I have a problem with my airpods pro, when I connect it to my dell laptop which runs on windows 10 the sound and bass quality is noticeably better compared to when I connect to my iphone 8 plus. My airpods pro and my iphone are both at their latest firmware, I don't know why it sounds better when connected to a third party laptop, do laptops use a different type of bluetooth or something?
Last I checked 1 laptop is the size of a 100iphones bud 😂
The sound card aka the dac built into your laptop is likely newer and has more processing power than that of your iPhone 8. But you could have at the time still connected the white apple lightening to headphone adapter on that iPhone8 at the time and experienced better audio output when connecting headphone thru the lightening adapter vs going directly into the phones headphone jack
Have you tried using the Audirect Atom 2? I think the form factor has certain advantages over dongles. Plus, it can play MQA.
I apologize. I’m trying to understand. I have an iPhone. The Apple camera adapter combined with the Audioquest DACS are only used for wired headphones and not wireless Headphones? Thanks.
Yes all this is for wired headphones. If you use Bluetooth headphones you don’t need anything else
@@AudioFixation Thanks 👍🏻
Então com meu iPhone xs max 512gb e meu kz zax com cabo com dac não é 100% compatível?
Does anyone know of a Lightning Card reader with power option where the Power plug will pass through the CarPlay features?
If there was only a way to plug the headphones directly into the phone
Haha you jest
I am about to give up on my apple 12 pro max. Can’t use hifi wired headset
Is the dac can support call function?
Yes, off course but your DAC and IEM both should support mic pass through
What would you use to plug into a bowers and Wilkins system in a car ? The aux in is in the centre console. Thank you.
You could buy a DAP, Digital Audio Player. Much better than the Audioquest usb DAC’s and all the other dongles etc….
@@CarAudioHorizons thank you
Can the Apple dongle properly drive (thru a proper cable) a line input on my home stereo amplifier? The input impedance of the line input is 50k ohms, typical for line level inputs. Anyone try this?