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Truly portable dac/amp combos, which are available and which to buy

Distordera

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Hi there! Long time lurker here.
I guess the question has been asked before, please advice in that case. Couldn't find it by myself.

I am after a truly portable dac/amp for my headphones. I have read about several portable dac/amps that demands ac connection to the wall socket.. I mean come on. Everything is portable if you have strong enough arms and long enough extension cords.

I am after the ones that draws current from a USB outlet and/or internal battery for primary use with a Macbook or maybe directly from my iPhone even though the main use will be from a Macbook.

For now I have a pair of Audio Technica ATH2000TI that are easy to drive. Also have Audeze LCD-2 and in a future I see a pair of Dan Clark Stealth.
It would be nice to be able to play with low distortion to 100dB and I guess a little headroom for peaks would be great. I know this is no good for the ears but I would hate to set a lower figure and regret it.

Are there anu truly portable combos out there that could drive the headphones listed above?
Thanks!
 

staticV3

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E1DA 9038SG3 (same Amp as G1 shown here)
Screenshot_20220223-140203_Sheets.jpg Screenshot_20220223-135805_Sheets.jpg

If you need more power, Topping NX7 plus Apple/Meizu dongle.
 
OP
D

Distordera

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Oh thats interesting. I thought I had to dish out $2500 for a Chord product..

Extra plus that I can buy both products from the EU.

Do you of any adapters from the output of the E1DA amp to 3.5 or 6.3 mm plug?

Also, isnt that the Atari logo on the E1DA-product?
 

nyxnyxnyx

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For best portable factor, you should probably look for dongles. Start from the best-measured devices and then widen your search. But be aware that some of those dongles might have issues with certain phones or so.
My vote on portable amps are the iDSD series from iFI, Aune B1S and Topping NX series.... although some of them are quite bulky.
 

Phorize

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An nx4 would be a good solution-it drives my hd6xx adequately. For the stealth you'd definitely need @JohnYang1997 and colleagues to produce an updated nx4 with a balanced output.
 

Keened

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Already measured by @WolfX-700 : https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/fiio-btr7/

Gains are moderate. At 32Ω, the BTR7 gets 2dB louder than the BTR5, or about 15% in terms of perceived loudness.

I'm most interested in the (potentially) better BT reception, integrated mic, wireless charging, and the (promised) software interface. This seems like the perfect bridge device for headphones since you can get up and walk around, answer calls, place it down to charge when at the desk, and use it as a normal desktop amp when you are going to settle in for a bit.

Of course the minimum threshold is good performance with almost any headphone so it's good to see an improvement/continued standards.
 

Latent333

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I'm most interested in the (potentially) better BT reception, integrated mic, wireless charging, and the (promised) software interface. This seems like the perfect bridge device for headphones since you can get up and walk around, answer calls, place it down to charge when at the desk, and use it as a normal desktop amp when you are going to settle in for a bit.

Of course the minimum threshold is good performance with almost any headphone so it's good to see an improvement/continued standards.

Officially released today: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004473518477.html
 

ZolaIII

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Check the; TempoTec Sonata HD Pro as a budget dongle and Luxury & Precision W2 as a higher end one.
As a BT see Topping BC3 and for a good old flask Hidizs HF80S for a budget DAP see HiBy R3Pro (CS43131 version) if you still can find one.
 
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