DAC connection to an iPod

[stevee1966]

I'm new to the world of DAC's and to what they can offer so a bit of advise is sought. At home i listen to cd's through my seperates - I don't use a pc to listen to my music. However, all of my music is copied onto my ipod for portable use and when listening to music in work. I was looking at the HRT Microstreamer review on these pages and thought about giving one a demo, but then realised that the connection of this DAC is via a mini usb. So my question is, can this DAC be connected to an iPod as that's what i would want it for mostly, i have very little / no use of playing music via my laptop. Thanks

 

[tristaaan]

as far as i'm aware, this particular dac would not work with an iPod.. although you can get mini usb-iphone female adapters, so with that and a regular ipod-usb cable it may be possible, but with it being a 'mini-dac' and only using power from the usb cable, the ipod may not provide enough power for the dac. Saying that though, you can get portable dacs that can connect to ipods etc, such as the FIIO range (the e07, e17, e07k and e17k) they all come with ipod/iphone connectivity. i'd maybe do a little research first though, or if possible find a store where you can try them, and see if they know whether it would work with an ipod

good luck!!

 

[quadpatch]

Careful here, none of the Fiio devices can connect to i-devices as far as I know. Their amps can if they have analogue input and batteries like the E7, E17 etc), but they will not use their DACs.

I have just found a few good DACs that connect to iPhones with the camera connection. They are the Just Audio 120ds, the new small Ifi DAC (can't remember what it's called) and the Resonessence Herus. The two latter ones will even play back DSD files off the iPhone (or some Android + any Windows, OS-X or Linux PC).