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iphone SE finally died, I guess it's dongle time

Dana reed

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Mar 13, 2018
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Sad day, my trusty iphone SE finally bit it. I guess I could get a screen replacement, but I've already noted it's gotten slower as the iOS updates have rolled in, and is lacking in storage. The SE2 is out now, and is at least smaller than the other behemoth phones they have, but it'll be my first phone without a native headphone port.
Any better options than the apple lightning dongle? it seems to measure well, as discussed here, and the fact that it only outputs up to 48 Khz doesn't really bother me, since 99% of my music is ALAC files ripped from CDs. It ought to drive Grados and IEMs just fine, but I'm guessing any planars or high impedance dynamics are out of the question, kind of like with my old phone's port.
I see a few other options, but all are kind of bulky, and add enough mass that one might as well just lug around an outboard DAC/Amp like a Mojo, or a higher power DAP like the R6 Pro or a Fiio M11 if you need more power.

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dc655321

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Mar 4, 2018
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I was in that same boat - replaced first gen SE with second gen + Lightening dongle. The combo will drive my hd-6xx louder than I care to listen for very long. YMMV.

Loved my old SE phone... ☹️
 

Head_Unit

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This thread is old, but I'll note I replaced an iPhone 7 with a 2020 SE and saw zero improvement in anything. Well, maybe a bit less hesitation changing between apps sometimes, but I still have the same errors where Apple Music won't load an album, Safari pages don't load, sometimes no calls. So I guess website and/or network weakness. (I'm on T-Mobile but hear others are no better. It does enrage me how I'll show several bars of signal but nothing happens. Also how Apple SUCKS at letting go of WiFi and switching to cellular when the WiFi is weak).
 

makinao

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May 11, 2019
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I got a 2020 SE last year. A Fiio BTR3 works fine with all my wired headphones and in-ears. HD58x, HD598cs, HD 25 SP II, ATH-M70x, IE 40 Pro, assorted earbuds.
 
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