Hi-Fi Streaming Device with headphone jack

[Karma’s Left Hand]

Hello. I apologize if there is a discussion for this already. Frankly, I don’t understand most of the acronyms etc for this stuff. My nephew is 13 and heard the term audiophile and looked it up and once he saw that to really have the true experience you need equipment that costs hundreds to thousands of dollars. Well, he isn’t the best at taking care of his things yet so I don’t want to spend real money yet. I bought him the Phillips Fidelio X3 headphones but he says he can’t tell any difference at all when he listens to Ultra HD songs from Amazon Music thru his iPhone with the headphones converter. I know that converter is terrible and I know that those headphones are just decent but could someone tell me if there is a relatively inexpensive standalone streaming device whose built in headphone jack supports Ultra HD or Apple Music’s best format? Thank you and again all apologies if this has already been answered.

 

[gvl]

Budget? And to set the expectations, he may not be able to hear differences with a better device as they tend to be pretty small. Real gains are in better headphones most of the time, but you may need a more powerful amp to drive them.

 

[Karma’s Left Hand]

Hi. Thanks for responding. With him being 13 and a bit irresponsible I don’t really want to spend more than $300.
Could you please clarify if it is streaming device he is using not being able to process the Lossless format or the device’s DAC/Amp not being strong enough to power the headphones? Combo of both? Thanks again.

 

[gvl]

What adapter (or streaming device as you say) is he using?

 

[Karma’s Left Hand]

Right now he is just listening to it through his iPhone 14 with Apple’s lightning to 3.5mm jack. And he tried listening through my laptop as well. I know it isn’t expensive but would like an Amazon Echo Pro or Dot 4 make a difference?

 

[ZolaIII]

Apple dongle DAC is fine (for earphones/headphones with higher sensitivity), Fidelio X3 is OK tho not very low THD for headphones but still good compared even to very expensive big speakers. Let the nephew play with inexpensive but good IEM's for now and concept of EQ. There are DAP's (with WiFi streaming from services they support mostly Tidal and so on) and BT receiver's (not really that good choice with iOS limited to AAC) but for now let's stay on mentioned.
You can find a lot of fresh threads about budget IEM's hire and elsewhere so read and show him to pick some. Regarding EQ read about (wiki) and try it together Auto-EQ.

AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization

autoeq.app

Explicitly in a strict tone, emphasized to him several time's not to exaggerate with loudness and try to control that.
BT/WiFi speak is a bad idea, regarding fidelity at least.

 

[gvl]

Hi. Thanks for responding. With him being 13 and a bit irresponsible I don’t really want to spend more than $300.
Could you please clarify if it is streaming device he is using not being able to process the Lossless format or the device’s DAC/Amp not being strong enough to power the headphones? Combo of both? Thanks again.

Hi-res vs. lossless CD quality or even high rate compressed mp3s there’s very little difference in sound, so it’s important to have correct expectations.
The Apple dongle is rather weak so you may want to try adding a headphone amp for more power. If a desktop setup works you can get a JDS Atom amp and use a 3.5mm cable to connect it to his Apple adapter.