![]() ![]() I personally didn’t want to spend big money on Apple’s adapters and I bought this instead (advertisement link) which works really great and costs only half as much. Again, connect your DAC from the USB output of the adapter. Newer generation iOS devices including the iPhone 6 require Apple’s Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (part number MD821ZM) (advertisement). You are going to need Apple’s 30-pin Camera Connection Kit (CCK) adapter (part number MC531ZM/A) (advertisement) and take the USB output to your DAC. Here’s where things differ slightly depending on your iOS device generation: Next, you need an adapter for your iOS device that provides a USB output. If your DAC provides self-powered USB ports, however such as my RME ADi2 DAC (my Gustard X20 has it, too) you won’t need a USB hub. Of course this means you have to manage yet another device but it’s a minor pain compared to larger music server projects. You can typically find USB hubs for less than 20 bucks on (advertisement). I personally use a cheap powered USB hub from SIGMA which unfortunately is no longer available. ![]() Apple will alert you so don’t worry – you can’t break anything. If however your DAC does rely on USB power or if it declares itself as more power-hungry than Apple allows upon connecting, you are going to need a powered USB hub. This is important because Apple intentionally limits the power consumption by software to about 5mA. Self-powered means your DAC won’t draw additional power from the USB port. Self-powered USB DAC with optional USB hubĪ self-powered USB DAC is an ideal starting point. There’s a limitation of bitrate however so you are not going to be able to play high-resolution 24bit tracks directly. ![]() That’s great news because it means you can practically take any iDevice running iOS 7 or later – this includes iPads, iPhones or iPod Touches – and connect an external DAC (digital-to-audio converter) with USB input. With the advent of iOS 7, Apple has officially announced support for streaming digital audio. Heck, more than 95% of my CD collection is available “in the cloud” anyway, so why bother setting up complicated streaming servers when Qobuz does the trick? But I just don’t see the value when I’m mostly streamig these days and rarely go back to my local library. After all, why do I have to pay when the native apps already output full high-res material, right? Don’t get me wrong, I really love Roon (also still have an Audirvana license as backup – although I refuse to go with their subscription plan) and will probably continue using it. I’m also tired of paying boatloads of cash for “audiophile” specialist software like Roon or Audirvana just to get a good digital output signal. Of course being an audiophile, I kept wondering whether I could outperform Apple’s built-in DAC chip. My plan is to use my favorite apps including Qobuz, Tidal and Apple Music with the hope of the sound quality being good enough for my main rig. But you CAN get way better sound quality by using an external DAC! Why use an external DAC? A simple 3.5mm to RCA cable is all it takes to hook up your iDevice to your stereo system. The sound quality is actually more than decent at full volume level. Apple has been using Wolfson chipsets from the very beginning but later moved to Cirrus Logic chipsets – pretty good choices for a mobile device. IntroductionĪpple’s iPhone is pretty well known to offer excellent sound quality through its analog outputs that is head and shoulders above the competition. Click the button "Affiliate Links" above to learn more about my Affiliate Disclosure. It's even more difficult on iOS because there's only the system wide volume control.As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If I want to listen at a "quiet" volume, on some tracks I need to set windows' system wide output to 1/100 and use Tidal's in-app volume control. I have CIEM's which are very well isolating, and in a quiet office environment volume level 1 or 2 out of 100 is a perfectly fine "moderate" listening volume. Kind of a pain to use with my more sensitive (110db+) IEM's though. Great if you're using it with inefficient full sized planars or something. One thing to keep in mind about the Onyx that is both a blessing and a curse is that it has a LOT of gain on offer (for a dongle). If anyone has a better solution, I'm all ears (like a small lighting to female USB-C adapter.does that exist?) I'm using the apple lighting camera connector into the Onyx, via the USB-A to -C adapter that comes with the Onyx. I have the THX Onyx, and while I love using it with my laptop, it feels like a bit too much of a cable salad to use on the go with my iphone. ![]()
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