Advise me on “dongle” type HiRes DAC/HP amp for iPad?

[Miska]

With camera kit USB dongle you can get hires... Best dongle type DAC I've had has been Resonessence Labs HERUS.

 

P.S. I never got Chord Mojo work reliably with my iPhone. Sooner or later I always end up getting full volume blast of white noise with it. And it is always out of battery, since it consumes power also when turned off (less though).

 

[Miska]

2 hours ago, Norton said:

Thanks, that’s a great suggestion (other than price).  Despite being a Mirus owner I’d forgotten about the Herus.  So this should work with the current Apple lightning to usb converter without any additional power supply?

 

Yes, just testing it once again. As writing this, I'm listening Spotify on my iPhone XS to the Herus using camera connection kit.

 

[Miska]

5 hours ago, davide256 said:

Thanks for the post, its a topic thats on my mind. Brick like DAC's such as the Mojo may sound good but are user unfriendly for on the go use.... a better design

would be if they were integrated as part of a phone case to minimize cord issues. The issue with dongles is that the iPhone USB current limits you

to higher efficiency headphones, whereas a Mojo has the current to drive a planar headphone.

 

Well, Herus works decently with the headphones I have. Like Sennheiser HD800 and AKG K601. But on the go I use more Shure SRH1540 closed backs which also work fine with it.

 

Usually some headphone devices fall short on enough voltage output for high impedance headphones, rather than being limited with necessary current. Herus has quite plenty of voltage output, enough to be somewhat annoying with some low impedance ones like Beyerdynamic T70p because suitable volume is only some of the lowest steps.

 

I tried to use my Mojo for the purpose, but discarded the idea after host of issues.