Am I stupid for pairing a DAC/Amp dongle with a desktop Amp?

[needswisdom]

posted once before but i thought id try again. maybe an actual engineer might reply.

context: i have saved a bit of cash and am investing it all into a good headphone setup for mixing and producing music. (Trap, RnB, Orchestral)

i picked Fiio JT7 to be the can of choice and found a used AMP for it, namely the Schiit Magni 3, for 40 dollars.

I can't really afford a real Desktop DAC... not even used, not after i just invested into the first two items.

I was told by many on the headphones.com discord that a cheap apple dongle or similar would do + a 3.5 to RCA to connect the DAC to the AMP. i asked The Honest Audiophile on youtube he also remarked that the setup is great and the cheap DAC wouldn't be any problem.

However, a couple members of the B-media discord basically explained to me how:

1. apple dongle won't do because its a DAC and has an AMP circuit, resulting in double amping which is not at all ideal.
   
   
   
2. Cheap dongles dont put out a true line level signal that the Magni's input allegedly requires...

The two points seem to make sense, and honestly i am not good at this niche audio equipment synergies and non-synergies. I hope someone with data and knowledge can advise me on how to move forward with my purchases and the setup. how much of a setback could it be, a desktop dac vs a dongle dac?

(side note, i also found a used shanling ua2, also for 40 dollars but i dont believe it holds a candle to powering planars like magni does, although i am also not certain)

TIA.

 

[staticV3]

All that matters is what comes out of the device, and what comes out of the Apple dongle is an audio signal with 1Vrms peak amplitude, zero voicing/coloration, and full transparency as far as the human ear is concerned:

Review: Apple vs Google USB-C Headphone Adapters

This is a review, detailed measurements and comparison of Apple's USB-C adapter to the current and last version of Google Pixel headphone adapters. The Apple adapter costs just $9 including one day shipping for free. The Google dongle costs $12. Not that any of these are large by any stretch...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Whatever electronics are behind this output, whether there's is none, one, or ten Amp circuits which you then plug into your external headphone Amp, matters not.
Why would it?

And as for the Schiit Magni, it simply amplifies what you plug into it regardless of how loud that input is, so there is no signal requirement that has to be met before the Magni can function.

 

[NTK]

You've already asked this question, and it was answered. The Magni 3 has 18 dB (= 8X) gain, and is more than enough to amplify the Apple dongle output to ear destroying sound levels.

Can i pair a cheap dongle DAC/AMP with my Magni 3?

Im new here and forgive me if this isn't posted into the right category... context: i have saved a bit of cash and am investing it all into a good headphone setup for mixing and producing music. (Trap, RnB, Orchestral) i picked Fiio JT7 to be the can of choice and found a used AMP for it...

www.audiosciencereview.com

So to repeat, the Apple dongle will work just fine. However, it is not very robust and you can break it easily. Otherwise, you can search the review index for dongles and choose anyone that is recommended.

Or you can pick one that performed well in jkim's review of the various Cirrus Logic based dongles. I would pick one that has built-in PEQ functions.

On the Distortion of Cirrus Logic CS431xx-Based Devices: A Comparative Review

TL;DR / Changelog [5/20/25] Eleven DAC/HP amp combo devices adopting either the Cirrus Logic CS43131 or CS43198 were tested, and seven of them were found produce the distortion dubbed a "Cirrus hump." Based on measurements from multiple sources (including this review), a list of...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[needswisdom]

All that matters is what comes out of the device, and what comes out of the Apple dongle is an audio signal with 1Vrms peak amplitude, zero voicing/coloration, and full transparency as far as the human ear is concerned:

Review: Apple vs Google USB-C Headphone Adapters

This is a review, detailed measurements and comparison of Apple's USB-C adapter to the current and last version of Google Pixel headphone adapters. The Apple adapter costs just $9 including one day shipping for free. The Google dongle costs $12. Not that any of these are large by any stretch...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Whatever electronics are behind this output, whether there's is none, one, or ten Amp circuits which you then plug into your external headphone Amp, matters not.
Why would it?

Whatever electronics are behind this output, whether there's is none, one, or ten Amp circuits which you then plug into your external headphone Amp, matters not.
Why would it?

i dont know! genuinely curious please tell me why

 

[staticV3]

i dont know! genuinely curious please tell me why

There is no reason. That's the point.

 

[needswisdom]

There is no reason. That's the point.

uhhh... i suppose there is....? since the magni is 8x whatever signal comes in, everything along with the noise and distortion will be 8x

 

[NTK]

uhhh... i suppose there is....? since the magni is 8x whatever signal comes in, everything along with the noise and distortion will be 8x

One gallon of water with 1 oz of salt tastes as salty as 100 gallons of water with 100 oz of salt.

 

[staticV3]

uhhh... i suppose there is....?

No, it does not matter if a DAC's noise amplitude is the result of a pure DAC signal chain or a DAC+Amp signal chain.

All that matters is the noise amplitude, which on the Apple headphone adapter is ridiculously low.

All discussion beyond that, like what kind of circuitry is behind that noise or what chips and Opamps are used is pointless and semantic.

 

[Spkrdctr]

I don't think your stupid!

 

[needswisdom]

I don't think your stupid!

as in?

 

[Johnkeizer]

The Schiit Magni Mk3 is an excellent headphone amplifier, I had one and it ran all my headphones from basic up to Sennheiser HD800s beautifully. Only sold it to get the Asgard 3.
It probably deserves something like the SMSL SU1 dac, a pairing I can vouch for.

 

[NTK]

I don't think your stupid!

as in?

As in answering the question you posed in the title of this thread?