Our choose
This compact, inexpensive headphone amp affords spectacular energy by means of its balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs. However its quantity buttons don’t sync along with your cell gadget’s quantity controls.
The Fosi Audio DS1 is concerning the dimension of a domino, but it has sufficient energy to get most efficiency from all however probably the most demanding headphones. This amp has a easy design with balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs on prime, plus quantity controls on the aspect.
The DS1 is powered off your cell gadget through its USB-C port, and our testing confirmed that the battery drain isn’t important. The amp’s steel enclosure and removable USB-C cable ought to make the DS1 rugged sufficient for years of use.
The primary draw back is that the DS1’s quantity buttons don’t sync along with your cell gadget’s quantity controls. It’s a must to regulate the 2 individually. Nonetheless, because the amp remembers your earlier quantity setting every time you join it, this isn’t that large of an issue.
Finances choose
This headphone amp is slim sufficient to suit into any pocket but affords spectacular energy and a management app for tweaking the sound. Nevertheless it lacks a balanced headphone output.
In the event you don’t need to spend greater than $50, the Shanling UA1 Plus places out loads of energy to drive most mainstream headphones, and it’s one of many smallest amp/DACs we’ve examined.
The UA1 Plus is powered off your cell gadget through its USB-C port, and it has a single button to regulate playback and quantity. Shanling’s useful Eddict cell app allows you to fine-tune the channel stability and quantity and select between 5 totally different digital filters to vary the sound profile (an choice many audiophiles like).
The downsides are that the UA1 Plus lacks a balanced headphone output and the amount management is clumsy to make use of—although you’ll be able to simply management the amount out of your cell gadget as an alternative.
Improve choose
This huge headphone amp is nearly twice as highly effective as our prime choose and might run on a built-in rechargeable battery, nevertheless it feels virtually like carrying an additional telephone with you.
The iFi Hip-dac 3 is a complete totally different animal than our different picks. It’s a lot bulkier, nevertheless it’ll offer you just a few extra clicks of quantity than our prime choose can, and it may possibly run off its personal inside, rechargeable battery—so it received’t drain your telephone’s battery.
The Hip-dac 3 has each balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs, two USB-C ports, a bass-boost function, and an old school (though comfy, intuitive, and quick) quantity knob. It’s the one one in every of our picks that features MQA audio decoding, a controversial expertise embraced by some audiophiles.
The draw back is that the Hip-dac 3 is nearly as massive and heavy as a typical smartphone, so it most likely is sensible provided that you personal a really power-hungry set of headphones or if you wish to protect each final minute of your telephone’s battery life.
Additionally nice
This Bluetooth receiver can be linked as a USB DAC—one with spectacular energy, balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs, and plenty of superior options. However the controls are considerably unintuitive.
If you’d like one gadget that may function a Bluetooth headphone adapter if you’re on the go and a USB amp/DAC if you’re not, the Qudelix-5K is a wonderful and surprisingly versatile alternative.
This Bluetooth receiver helps all the main Bluetooth codecs, affords balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs, has spectacular energy output, and works with a cell app that gives plenty of superior changes.
The unit has a built-in battery that prices through its USB-C port, in addition to controls for quantity, observe skip, play/pause, and pairing (which we discovered a bit complicated to make use of). You may learn extra about its efficiency as a Bluetooth headphone adapter in this information.