[benyovszki4]

Hey guys!

I am a bit lost in the variations of the numerous setups so I'm asking for your help.

I need a decent source to use for a pair of Grado GR10s, for mostly travelling.

The options that have crystallized so far:
- A high end smartphone with dedicated DAC i.e. Marshall London, HTC 10, LG V20 etc.

-A basic DAP with Line Out i.e. Fiio X1 + headphone amp strapped on it

-Strapping a portable AMP on my Galaxy J3

I want a decent SQ while keeping the cost low. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Grimbles]

Whats your budget? Chord mojo and ifi dsd nano black edition might be decent choices (phone as dap to dac/amp) and provide good flexibility. Cheaper than a new phone, transferrable etc.

Ive just bought a hidizs ap200 but no idea if its any good yet!

 

[TYATYA]

Smartphones battery heavily drain when link to any dac in usb mode, esp when no option like "Charging off" setting on the dac.
You should try Shalling M2S. Best p/p dap to me

 

[cossix]

I prefer the DAP + amp combo because 1) you can stack them together with a kit a day it'll be much cleaner than an amp strapped to a phone, which is a problem because the phone would be hard to use that way, and 2) phone battery will drain pretty quickly and having a dedicated player prevents that

 

[benyovszki4]

I don't want to pay more than the headphones itself, and the price of the cord mojo could easily go above a decent phone with a dedicated dac. Im not sure I can use any usb fed dac with my phone and feeding with jack means no sense, i just realised that. So there are two options left and those are the DAP+AMP or Smartphone with dedicated DAC

 

[benyovszki4]

The real question now is how good is the SQ with for example a Marshall London, compared to a Line Out from a Fiio X1 feeding an external amp.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I want a decent SQ while keeping the cost low. Any suggestions?

Well if you want to keep the costs low a Fiio X1 and A3 or A5 amp will be a heck of a lot cheaper than a flagship smartphone whose DAC you don't even plan on using.

If you need a smartphone upgrade for all its other newer features (faster CPU, better camera and screen, etc) then just get the flagship phone and just pick one with a decent audiochip (you can see measurements on GSMArena reviews). You're using a GR10 anyway - it's not too hard to drive for a smartphone audio chip. The only problem you have is if it has EU Nanny State volume limitations that doesn't take into account how much power the audiochip produces at the load vs the sensitivity of the headphone/IEM, which can fall short even on IEMs when they hamstring the chip.